I went synthetic the other day and then put half a tank of 100 octane racing fuel in with half a tank of 91. My car feels sooooo smooth now. At WOT, my car seems to be much happier than before—the engine makes less noise and I feel less vibration through the peddles. It’s not faster, but my car is now much more enjoyable. Unfortunately for me and my car, racing fuel cost a fortune ($5 per gallon at 76), so I will only be getting it when I’m going out to play.

I swear, that sh*t's like crack. Well, I'm addicted, my friend's addicted (wrx owner), are you? Anyone else here use racing fuel??? Impressions? Comments?

 

It's the oil that gives you that feeling! How stock is your engine? the "racing" fuel is doing nothing and probably hurting performance.

 

I've been to a Unocal 76 station that sold the 100 octane grade, but just couldn't get myself to pay $5 a gallon for it. I was tempted though. I'm sure our engines and others that require premium fuel can take advantage of it.

 

Ahhh... the power of the placebo!!!

 

Hmmmmmm...How is the higher octane hurting my performance? From what I understand, the maxima needs good premium gas. In cali we only get 91 octane, which is often sh*tty, so I figure balancing it out with some 100 octane should be good.

I've read lots of threads on this and everyone seems really divided on the issue. I think if I put strait 100 octane into my basically stock engine, it would probably not be good, but I'm only runnig about 93-96. I recall people in other states raving about the 93 and pittying us cali sucker who are stuck with 91. I just wanted to see for myself. I did the oil and the gas at the same time, so it's hard to say what I'm feeling here.

 

You ecu is only programmed to use up to 92-93 octane gas. So if you put anything more than that, it's a complete waste of time on a non-forced inducted car.

Note: if you buy octane booster, it will probably ruin your cat. Not sure about regular has that has an octane rating of 100 though.

 

Actually, your friend with the WRX is getting more out of the 100 octane than you ever will. Gaining from high octane fuel is more a matter of compression ratio and timing. Obviously, our cars cannot change their compression ratio, but a turbo car (or SC car) does. That's why most non-NA cars CR is lower than 9:1. But crank up the boost, and you could be looking at a CR somewhere in the range of 9-10.5:1 and up (depending on boost pressure)! Well, when you add in gas that does not detonate as easy as 91 or 93 octane, the turbo cars' ECU doesn't see knock and let's it go (depending on programming) until the maximum performance parameters are met.

On the timing side of things, our cars are designed to use premium fuel. The engineers know that most regular folks (unlike the mod freaks here ) will put regular fuel in. So they design the car with that in mind, add knock sensors and variable timing (with limited range, not user adjustable) so the masses will not complain about poor performance. Those tools (sensors & timing) are made for those folks. But for us performance freaks, they know we will put in premium and will not need the anti-knock tools they have built into the car. So the car will be performing as they designed it to with premium fuel. In short, I think the variable timing is only to retard (for 89 and lower octane), not advance (although I could be wrong).

 

any special instruction on switching from regular to syn? like how to flush out the regular clean?

 

That makes sense. And yes, the racing fuel does AMAZING things in the wrx. So what can be done about our timing anyway--just ecu? Do you guys think its worth it to get a little 100 at the pump to make the 91 into 93?

 

I just poured a little more than a quart through. I asked a mechanic about it and he didn't give me any special instructions. Hope I didn't f*ck up.

 

Probably true but their ecus are also only tuned for a certain octane rating. If he turned up the boost, then maybe. It's more for a safety thing really.



Most engines today(including the maximas are well over 9:1 compression. Actually most turbocharged engines today are 9:1 now. The maxima is somewhere around 10:1 to 11:1 compression. When you crank up the boost you are not changing the static compression. You are changing the dynamic compression.



The turbo car's ecu HAD BETTER SEE the knock. Or else it will detonate it'self to oblivion. Some turbo cars have sensors that read the octane rating that you put into the car and then adjusts the premapped fuel/boost/ignition for that. Then the knock sensor comes in to clean up any other knock issues.

 

alright, thx....I am on 23k...about to switch soon.

 

Just switch and stay switched....you'll be fine.

 

If you are that worried about have more then 91, then just buy some octane booter rather then race fuel, it's a lot cheaper.

 

Are synetheic oil really better??

Anyway...which brand of oil do u guys use? (Synethic or not.)
I rather trust ur suggestions than the local lube guys.

 

Under what conditions? for normal everyday driving and even driving hard on the steert regular oil is fine, just change it on a regular basis.

 

NO! As Jeff92se already pointed out, octane booster is sh*t and will mess your cat up. I don't mind paying extra now and then, when I know I'm going to enjoy it on the freeway.

By the way, I am fairly sure that adding the racing fuel did something. When I re-fueled today I slowly reved my engine to 3000 and took note of the sound with the 96 (aprox.) octane and then the 91. The 96 was smoother and made less noise than the 91. After driving them side by side, I feel that there is a noticable difference. Am I crazy? Anyone tried this?

 

 

I bought ROYAL PURPLE RACING OIL-21 online & it just arrived today. I wish my freakin K&N filter would also arrive so I can change my oil. *mad* This is expensive ****, though... Like $8 a qt. But I read a thread in another group posted by a guy that owns a Dyno & he did multiple runs on alot of $$synthetics (and non), and found that Royal Purple Racing Oil-0W30 (i think) produced anywhere from 8-20Hps (big blocks), while some Amsoil runs would actually decrease performance. But I'm sure both products are better than regular motor oil. Mobil-1 came in second, while QuakerState (or was it Castrol GTX) was #3 (surprise). He also had a chart posted, but I couldn't find that link again. I wish I could find it, cause it was a VERY informative comparison.

"On hand during the day was Rich Ambler, distributor of "Royal Purple" synthetic lubricants, made by Union 76. He claims that by running "Royal Purple", hp gains of 1-1.5% can be seen over using Mobile 1. Putting his money first, he offered to fill Perry's car with 10 quarts, and Perrys car was rerun. However, the air temperature had changed by 14F, and no net gain was seen. Both Rich and Phil have seen net gains when using "Royal Purple" when the dyno pulls are run back to back. Rich has invited us to his shop in Pacific Beach, so we will hear more about this later." from http://www.geocities.com/hottr6/pantera/dyno.html

and Royal Purple Vs. Mobil-1 Dyno here:



from here: http://stropespeedshop.com/oil_products_&_fuel.htm

Here's what one guy said about Amsoil here: "Don't use amsoil it turns toa hard sludge in the bottom of your oil pan. I work at jiffy lube and a guy came in that has used for a year, he was ready to change it so we took out the plug, nothing came out because there was a hard thing of sludge covering the hole. We had to poke thru it with a screwdriver."

and this on the same site:

"like I said, the IL state police use royal purple. I seen squads with 200,000+ miles... and when the oil comes out of the pan after 5k miles, it is fine, no excessive burn smell. I personally use valvoline synpower, thats some good $hi+... noticed a tad... teeny tad power increse on my 2k2 z24... valvoline is my first choice then I would choose royal purple (cause it's harder to find)"

Do some online searches & you'll be surprised how much info is out there on all lube products. The choice is up to you.

OFF TOPIC:
HERE'S A LINK WITH K&N FILTER ELEMENT VS. AMSOIL FILTER ELEMENT DYNO RUNS

Hehe, I'm probably pssing off some Amway... I mean Amsoil folks, but they don't seem to mind trashing Mobil-1 & other great products all the time... Which probably makes alot of people wonder about the products they bought & makes 'em feel bad for buying them in the first place. I hope this makes the K&N filter owners & Mobil-1 users feel better! And if you guys want a stankin oil analysis after I run the Royal Purple, just pay for it & I will supply it.

G

 

I am using AMSOIL 0W-30 oil. I did quite a bit of research and decided it was the best. You can check out their website at
WWW.AMSOIL.COM, it contains lots of info on testing and results comparing their oil to other major brands. They publish this info and are not being sued so I figured it must be true. There is an Amsoil Engine Oil Flush that I used prior to converting family cars. So far I have converted a 97 Maxima SE, 97 Maxima GLE, 97 Infiniti I30, 96 Honda Civic DX, 98 Honda Civic EX and 2000 Nissan Altima. Engines run quieter and seem to also run smoother. I am now changing oil filters evey 6 months and oil once a year or 35,000 miles which ever comes first. No adverse problems on any of the cars so far. Also installed AMSOIL air filter on the 97 Infinti I30 and 98 Honda Civic EX at the same time I converted them to Synthetic synthetic oil and achieved approximately 8% to 10% increase in gas milage. The oil and flter cost per car is $35. The savings on oil changes and gasoline is significant. You can do the math on savings, all I after was to reduce wear the savings are a pleasant bonus. I am also converting the I30 to use AMSOIL ATF in the near future.

 

Nobody but Nissan knows what the upper limit of the timing is in the Max but from a lot of reading and butt testing it appears the engine will make good use of additional octane up to 93-94 anyway. There's also some evidence that some specific gas formulations aren't as good either, I have certainly found Amoco lacking. In my area it's 89 or 93 and the difference is noticeable, as is the falloff of gas mileage with 89.

 

Racing oil is the wrong type to use in a street car, but if you don't mind the extra wear, that's cool, it's your engine.

There is a lot of info out there on lube products, but one holdout seems to be the Royal Purple. It's extremely difficult to find out info about it. Even their website is so general it's a joke. They have charts there that don't really say anything but try to look impressive. Whatever.

Do you really think we should be taking advice from a Jiffy Lube guy?? You forgot to post the rest of the comments from that thread as well. The original quote was so vague as to be totally useless. How long was the oil in use and under what type of driving conditions. It doesn't matter what type of oil is in there, if you abuse and neglect your car you're asking for trouble. I think this post from that thread you posted pretty much says it all.

Hey Brent Havenga, if you are working at Jiffy Lube that must make you an expert on oils!!!!! The only thing that turns oil to crap, synthetic or petrolium is improper care of you vehical.

All the other petrolium companys came on board in the past decade or so cause it have been proven over and again that synthetic is better, AmsOil has been around for 30 years, you do the math.

 

any oil will turn to sludge if it goes beyond it's normal life. that person probably doesn't bother testing his oil and goes one year... it doesn't state how many miles.. could be 10k, 20k, 30k, etc.

One case makes Amsoil bad? I think not. If you look at the oil analysis you have clear objective data on the Amsoil fluid used within it's useful life. My Amsoil has been in the car since last July and has approx 30 autoX runs on it so it's not babied. After 8k miles, the oil is fine according to the oil analysis. Show me an oil analysis to prove Amsoil sucks and I might change my opinion but until then, Amsoil > Mobil 1

 

You are absolutely right about changing the dynamic compression vs. the static compression. The VQ35, I'm willing to bet, is around 10.5:1, which is why they recommend premium fuel.

As far as the turbo car seeing knock, I meant that with 100 octane (or higher), it most likely will not knock, allowing the ecu to let the car go to maximum performance (to the ecu's limit).

 

I'm Impressed. You know your stuff

 

this is so tru i smoked a O2 sensor with 103octane gas and yeah it was mixed with 89 octane