I don't know if others have noticed, but my Chevron High Octane gas has been dropped down to 91 octane. My question to you Mike is I'm running a Jetchip (yes, I know I should get one of yours, but the jetchip was priced right...free). Should I pull it out until the octane rating goes back up? I've noticed some lose in performance, is there potential to damage my engine?

Any information would be appreciated.

Matt

 

I can't really help you out too much, but I don't think the octane ratings are going to go back up anythime soon, if at all.

 

Hey 99,
So it's in the Bay Area too huh'? (I actually grew up in Fremont). Have you seen any other company offer 92 still (76, Arco, Texaco)?

 

Hi 5150,

I would suggest just running for a few days with the radio off and a window down, and listen carefully for any sounds of detonation (pinging) under load. As long as you don't hear any detoaniton, chances are you're probably just fine, in this particular case.

Chevron is one of the better fuels there in California, so you shouldn't have any problems with it.

We're not having any problems with our California customers who bought their Superchips when it was 92 octane, and now that California has lowered premium to 91, so far, no issues to report.

You'll be fine, I'm sure. And any difference from 1 point of octane you aren't *ever* going to be able to feel in the seat of the pants in that vehicle. If you're feeling any performance drop, it doesn't have anything to do with 1 point less octane, you'll never feel a 3 horsepower difference in a 2-ton truck.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the reassurances Mike! I'll keep you posted on any problems if any occur.

Thanks Again.

 

You're very welcome, as always!

Chevron is a great fuel out West there, many people are getting excellent results with Chevron out West, so I don't think you'll have any problems.

 

Hey Mike,I thought that the supership only required 90 octane anyway,did I read that or did I just dream that..lol

 

5150phd,

Question. Is that ET and trap speed with those mods? Seems kind of slow for those mods, doesnt it??

No flaming here!

 

Hey Fast54Triton,
Yeah that time is with those mods. From what I understand that time is pretty darn good for a supercab. I hope to work with Crash! on getting a magnacharger installed and drop my times into the 14's.

What kind of times have you gotten (curiousity)? Maybe there is something I'm missing.

 

We have yet to run my fathers truck at the track.

My cousin and I are going saturday, and Im hoping he'll run our truck for us.



I can tell you it runs neck and neck with my cousins 5-speed Neon that runs a 15 second 1/4 mile.

 

Cool,
Be safe and let me know how it turns out. What kind of mods are on that truck?

 

Just an air filter (nice mod eh)
Our dealer has VERY strict rules on mods.

www.bobthibford.com

They dont allow chips, but they allow Intake mods, and exhaust mods. Those will be coming soon.


I was thinking about the 40$ B&M Shift kit, are those easy to install, and are they worth it?

 

Hi Linedog,

I think you may have misunderstood perhaps, and it's easy to do, as a few posts lately we talked about different octane levels, 92, 91, 90, etc., so you may have seen that perhaps.

The Superchip can be run on any good quality 91 octane or higher gasoline, 92-94 octane is better, but a good quality 91 will work just fine. 90 octane just isn't enough in most cases, I say that just because most 90 octane premiums are lower in energy content, like the "gasahol" blends used in the Mid West in some areas, and the other place you can sometimes see 90 octane premium is at very high elevations, usually above 7000 ft. or so.

So it's 91 & higher octane for the Superchip!

 

Isn't there a +/- of 2 points given to gas companies? So 92 could be anywhere from 90 to 94 octane? Another question Mike. Some higher elevation areas sell lower octane gas. 86 for example. If yould only buy 90 or so in the upper elevations would that be OK?

 

Hi V-10 man,

I don't know all of the actual legal requirements the oil companies have to meet/abide by specifically, but from talking to some friends of mine in the industry, one thing I do know that if it says 92 octane on the pump, that is the *minimum* octane value it can be by law. So if the sticker on the pump says 92, no, it cannot be 90 or even 91, it has to be at least 92 octane as determined by the R+M/2 method (the average of the Motors + Research methods). Actually, most of the yellow octane stickers on the pump actually say something to the effect of "minimum octane".

You're right about seeing lower octanes at some of the highest elevations, that is usually where you'll see a premium of only 90 octane, or a regular of only 86, and in a couple of places, only 85 octane. As you go up in altitude, oxygen content in the atmosphere drops of course, so less fuel can be burned. It's been explained to me that the demand for octane also decreases a bit as you go up in very high in altitude, but I couldn't tell you the "why's" behind it or explain it properly, I just don't have that knowledge. Of course performance suffers at altitude, you lose 3% of your power for every 1000 ft. in altitude above sea level in a normally aspirated gasoline engine, that's just a function of less oxygen being available and thus less fuel can be burned, so the motor makes less power.

To answer your question of whether 90 octane would be OK to use with the Superchip at those high altitudes, that will depend on a number of thigns, such as the energy content of the fuel, a higher energy fuel is more forgiving of course, as well as the effective compensation range of the knock sensor system in your particular vehicle, as they vary. 90 octane at high altitude sometimes is not enough with our regular performance program. However, for vehicles that are going to be consistently operated at 7000 ft. or above, we can have a high-altitude program made so it will be compatible with that 90 octane. We can make a program for operation at any altitude an engine can run at, of course, but that isn't what you asked.

If someone is in a situation where they need to be able to run at anything from sea level to 10,000 ft., then the best way to approach that might be in a 2-program Flip Chip, so you have a high-altitude and a lower altitude program. It just all depends on where and load and local fuel quality, etc.

We do have people at higher altitudes, up to about 6500 ft. or so, who can use the "standard" Superchip program for their vehicle's computer code, and don't have any problems. And then there are some who are at or above 7000 ft. consistently, and that is usually when we need to do a high-altitude program.

So the real ansser is, it depends on a few factors. Some can use the "standard" performance program at high altitude on 90 octane, and some cannot. Anyone who is *consistently* running at those altitudes and on 90 octane should have a high-altitude program done for those conditions of course. Only driving under those conditions on occasion, you may well be able to do it, you'll know when you try it, is the most accurate answer, and if any adjustments need to be made, that can always be done too.