Which kind of gasoline is best for a Camaro?

[Iris]

I have run 87,89,91,93 and 94 in the Camaro. Other than the increased performance due to the wallet being lighter, it did nothing.

[IceBird]

Im not too sure about HP gains or what not but i do know one thing... The difference in price in different gas grades is about $60 a year and if the price of gas grades even enters your mind then you dont need to be driving a performance vehicle. I piss away more that $60 a year in beef jerky. Nothing pisses me off more that pulling into my local gas station and finding it packed with a bunch of poor *** fukers cramed in line trying to save $1.20 on an entire tank of gas because the gas is $.10 cheaper there that the gas station down the street from their house. I have a little advice for you... Put a condom on your diks a little more often and youed be amazed at the money youll save in the long run! So anyway jo blow says use 87 and granny fuk nuts says use 92. So the prosess of elimination would tell me to use something between 89 and 91 and dont worry about the hand full of change youll be saving. Life is too short to save pennies unless your saving up for a kidney.

[navyblue2000]

Originally posted by Iris:
I have run 87,89,91,93 and 94 in the Camaro. Other than the increased performance due to the wallet being lighter, it did nothing.

run 87 and 93 at the track, you'll see differences.

I logged with auto tap, and I saw less advance with 87 than 93.

[andrew.brandon]

Originally posted by lizzardfire:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Pewter99Camaro:
I always ran 91 in mine cause it knocked with 89, but if I remember correctly from the owners manual, its made for 89

Actually, Owner's Manual recommends 87 octane gas for the f-bodys. </font>[/QUOTE]mine says 89

[98Camaro3.8]

Originally posted by andrew.brandon:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by lizzardfire:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Pewter99Camaro:
I always ran 91 in mine cause it knocked with 89, but if I remember correctly from the owners manual, its made for 89

Actually, Owner's Manual recommends 87 octane gas for the f-bodys. </font>[/QUOTE]mine says 89 </font>[/QUOTE]FWIW, the manual for your car here says 87.

[andrew.brandon]

Originally posted by 98Camaro3.8:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by andrew.brandon:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by lizzardfire:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Pewter99Camaro:
I always ran 91 in mine cause it knocked with 89, but if I remember correctly from the owners manual, its made for 89

Actually, Owner's Manual recommends 87 octane gas for the f-bodys. </font>[/QUOTE]mine says 89 </font>[/QUOTE]FWIW, the manual for your car here says 87. </font>[/QUOTE]WTF is a rar file??? and yes the manual that came with the car said 89. I even tested it at the pump. I get the most miles out of 89

[lizzardfire]

Originally posted by andrew.brandon:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by 98Camaro3.8:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by andrew.brandon:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by lizzardfire:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Pewter99Camaro:
I always ran 91 in mine cause it knocked with 89, but if I remember correctly from the owners manual, its made for 89

Actually, Owner's Manual recommends 87 octane gas for the f-bodys. </font>[/QUOTE]mine says 89 </font>[/QUOTE]FWIW, the manual for your car here says 87. </font>[/QUOTE]WTF is a rar file??? and yes the manual that came with the car said 89. I even tested it at the pump. I get the most miles out of 89 </font>[/QUOTE]RAR files are like ZIP files, except they use a program called WinRAR.

If you have your manual, please turn to page 6-3 where it says

"Use regular unleaded gasoline rated at 87 octane or higher."

This only applies to the V6s though... later on in the manual it states that V8s should use 91 octane or higher gas :D

[95DGcamaro]

I beg to differ on this one. When I use 87 i get less gas mileage than if i use 89 to 91. In fact, I get enough better gas mileage to SAVE myself money per tank. The difference per gallon per tank is less the amount of additional miles i get from it. I end up saving like $.50-1.50. I also believe it runs better. Don't ask me, I was confused at my own findings as well. Go 3.4L.

[mjparme]

I have a custom performance tune for 91 octane gas so that is what I run.

However, before I had the tune if I ran 87 octane I would get about 40 miles less to a tank for pure interstate driving compared to 91 (no diff in city mileage). There was no difference in track times when running 87 and 91.

[Need4Camaro]

Premium gave me just a slight boost in performance but it wasn't worth the cost and it's WAY more than $60 a year to pour in premium per fillup... $60 would be closer to maybe 2 months period of time...

Also for some of you who don't know, running premium in cars that were designed for 87 octane can clog your fuel injector's... Here's why... Octane has a lower resistance to drying up than pure gas does. Fuel Injectors for most 87 octane cars are SIGNIFFICANTLY smaller than those designed for 93. When you turn your engine off the heat wave is great enough to instantly dry off the excess octane 91 or 93 provides which will eventually, if not INSTANTLY clog your injectors. After this happens then your car will have multiple misfires or plain won't start period. I've seen too many people have fuel injectors replaced because of using premium in a car that was designed for 87.

For me 87 was the way to go because I get the best gas milage with it and it's the cheapest and what do ya know... It's what the owners manual reccomended.

[IceBird]

Geeze Need4Camaro where do you commute to work to for god sake !! :eek:
Average fillup is around 13 gallons thats about $2.50 differance between regular and premium per fillup . That comes to 24 fillups to equal $60. Do you really fill your car up 12 times a month? Thats 3 times a week! Are you sure you dont have a gas leak.... I usually fillup 3 times a month at most which is about 1000 miles. And yes i have tested it atleast 6 or 7 times and every time like clockwork i get 20-30 more more miles per tank (13ish gallons) with 93 than i do with 87. If you dont believe me just try it your self.
it may not be $60 a year ill give you that but you see how silly it is when i break it down.
But on the up side with the money you save on a fillup you can go halfsies with someone on a Big Mac value meal :D

[ May 10, 2005, 09:28 PM: Message edited by: IceBird ]

[Brett Garret]

I've always been told higher octane burns slower and cooler compared to lower grade which burns hotter. Personally, I run mid grade. I seem to pick up more gas mileage, maybe that's because my car's older and reduces some of the knock. I keep it well tuned but still see light knock esp when I first start her in the morning. First time you fill your car up with higher octane gas (93) it won't make much difference because your ecu hasn't altered to the change. I'm not stating one is better than the other, rather just information I know that is rather common.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally posted by IceBird:
Geeze Need4Camaro where do you commute to work to for god sake !! :eek:
Average fillup is around 13 gallons thats about $2.50 differance between regular and premium per fillup . That comes to 24 fillups to equal $60. Do you really fill your car up 12 times a month? Thats 3 times a week! Are you sure you dont have a gas leak.... I usually fillup 3 times a month at most which is about 1000 miles. And yes i have tested it atleast 6 or 7 times and every time like clockwork i get 20-30 more more miles per tank (13ish gallons) with 93 than i do with 87. If you dont believe me just try it your self.
it may not be $60 a year ill give you that but you see how silly it is when i break it down.
But on the up side with the money you save on a fillup you can go halfsies with someone on a Big Mac value meal :D

I fillup alittle over twice a week. My first job is about 2 hours away (50 miles, hella traffic), through some city driving and mostly highway. From there ny school is about two hours (90 Miles - night school). From there my second job is around the vincinity (5 miles) and going back home is about an hour and a half drive, half highway half street.(55 miles).

Thats 200 miles per day... Think that over and trust me it will be far over $60 annually... ;)

Even still everytime I use premium, even for exstended periods I lose from 30 to 60 miles to the tank and I don't drive any different. If 87 can take thrashing then why can't 91 - 93? Also there's that possability of locking up my fuel injector's too some I'm staying away from it...

[ May 11, 2005, 10:57 AM: Message edited by: Need4Camaro ]

[IceBird]

Yea well thats you. The average person drives 1000 miles a week. And there is something seriously wrong with your car or the gas at the station you filled up at when you tested if your up to 60 miles off. Or you could just be bull****ting for argument sake (which is what i think ).But i guess its a matter of what your compression ratio is .If you've read How Car Engines Work, you know that almost all cars use four-stroke gasoline engines. One of the strokes is the compression stroke, where the engine compresses a cylinder-full of air and gas into a much smaller volume before igniting it with a spark plug. The amount of compression is called the compression ratio of the engine. A typical engine might have a compression ratio of 8-to-1. (See How Car Engines Work for details.)

The octane rating of gasoline tells you how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites. When gas ignites by compression rather than because of the spark from the spark plug, it causes knocking in the engine. Knocking can damage an engine, so it is not something you want to have happening. Lower-octane gas (like "regular" 87-octane gasoline) can handle the least amount of compression before igniting.

The compression ratio of your engine determines the octane rating of the gas you must use in the car. One way to increase the horsepower of an engine of a given displacement is to increase its compression ratio. So a "high-performance engine" has a higher compression ratio and requires higher-octane fuel. The advantage of a high compression ratio is that it gives your engine a higher horsepower rating for a given engine weight -- that is what makes the engine "high performance." The disadvantage is that the gasoline for your engine costs more.

The name "octane" comes from the following fact: When you take crude oil and "crack" it in a refinery, you end up getting hydrocarbon chains of different lengths. These different chain lengths can then be separated from each other and blended to form different fuels. For example, you may have heard of methane, propane and butane. All three of them are hydrocarbons. Methane has just a single carbon atom. Propane has three carbon atoms chained together. Butane has four carbon atoms chained together. Pentane has five, hexane has six, heptane has seven and octane has eight carbons chained together.

It turns out that heptane handles compression very poorly. Compress it just a little and it ignites spontaneously. Octane handles compression very well -- you can compress it a lot and nothing happens. Eighty-seven-octane gasoline is gasoline that contains 87-percent octane and 13-percent heptane (or some other combination of fuels that has the same performance of the 87/13 combination of octane/heptane). It spontaneously ignites at a given compression level, and can only be used in engines that do not exceed that compression ratio.

[ May 11, 2005, 09:23 PM: Message edited by: IceBird ]

[Need4Camaro]

Originally posted by IceBird:
Yea well thats you. The average person drives 1000 miles a week. And there is something seriously wrong with your car or the gas at the station you filled up at when you tested if your up to 60 miles off. Or you could just be bull****ting for argument sake (which is what i think ).But i guess its a matter of what your compression ratio is .If you've read How Car Engines Work, you know that almost all cars use four-stroke gasoline engines. One of the strokes is the compression stroke, where the engine compresses a cylinder-full of air and gas into a much smaller volume before igniting it with a spark plug. The amount of compression is called the compression ratio of the engine. A typical engine might have a compression ratio of 8-to-1. (See How Car Engines Work for details.)

The octane rating of gasoline tells you how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites. When gas ignites by compression rather than because of the spark from the spark plug, it causes knocking in the engine. Knocking can damage an engine, so it is not something you want to have happening. Lower-octane gas (like "regular" 87-octane gasoline) can handle the least amount of compression before igniting.

The compression ratio of your engine determines the octane rating of the gas you must use in the car. One way to increase the horsepower of an engine of a given displacement is to increase its compression ratio. So a "high-performance engine" has a higher compression ratio and requires higher-octane fuel. The advantage of a high compression ratio is that it gives your engine a higher horsepower rating for a given engine weight -- that is what makes the engine "high performance." The disadvantage is that the gasoline for your engine costs more.

The name "octane" comes from the following fact: When you take crude oil and "crack" it in a refinery, you end up getting hydrocarbon chains of different lengths. These different chain lengths can then be separated from each other and blended to form different fuels. For example, you may have heard of methane, propane and butane. All three of them are hydrocarbons. Methane has just a single carbon atom. Propane has three carbon atoms chained together. Butane has four carbon atoms chained together. Pentane has five, hexane has six, heptane has seven and octane has eight carbons chained together.

It turns out that heptane handles compression very poorly. Compress it just a little and it ignites spontaneously. Octane handles compression very well -- you can compress it a lot and nothing happens. Eighty-seven-octane gasoline is gasoline that contains 87-percent octane and 13-percent heptane (or some other combination of fuels that has the same performance of the 87/13 combination of octane/heptane). It spontaneously ignites at a given compression level, and can only be used in engines that do not exceed that compression ratio.

Okay... What works for you good... I know perfectly well what Octane is... But you have to realise "Howstuffworks" is just a generalization... All cars are different and mine just happens to get the best MPG on what the OWNERS MANUAL RECCOMENDED... Wow isn't THAT a jinx?

With 87 I'm seeing about 360 - 380 to the tank and considering I'm not the most pedal feather of drivers thats pretty darn good so I don't see how anything could be wrong with it? I mean... whats wrong with being able to get the farthest on the cheapest pump price? [img]graemlins/stickpoke.gif[/img]

89 yields me no difference...

91 - 93 lowers it to about 320 - 350 to the tank. There's a very very SLIGHT increase in performance but not enough to justify spending .20 more per gallon on it...