Which fuel to use?...

[KBone]

Hi guys,

I wanted to know which fuel and or additives is best for EFI 202's? Is it worth putting in Premium or Optimax, or just regular unleaded?

Thanks,
Shaun.

[DenchY]

my car likes to be really slugish and stall on normal unleaded fuel.. so i run Optimax only and it goes alot better, more responsive and dosent stall

try it and see.. youll have to put acouple of tank fulls in to see any differents (get the normal unleaded out)

octane in a bottle - wow!

[KBone]

Yeah, I only put Optimax in my VT and it's way better than Unleaded. I'll give it a few tanks in the 202 and see how it goes.

Thanks DenchY!

[VKNutt]

I've used optimax before and it was great until one fill which was crap. I since found out that Optimax has a shelf life of about 1 month, so unless you fill up at a busy shell, you don't really know how old the fuel is. Vortex has a longer life and will also mean that if it is in your tank for a while, there will be no disadvantages... also I recomend the Nulon lead replacement if it hasn't had the conversion done.

Have fun with the VK dude!!

[vkberlina]

I have posted before about fuels to use, have a look int he archives for further info but in short...
As long as you run a fuel with sufficient otane for your engine you wont require a LR additive, 98 octane fuels such as Shell Optimax, BP ultimate, Mobile Synergy 8000 (I think), Vortex 98 all should meet your engines requirements.
I have stored optimax for several months before In airtight sealed drums, out of light and it was just fine, I guess what happens say in a fuel tank etc the hydrocarbos evaporate causing the octane levels to drop.
another FYI bit of info the guys on the different turbo skyline & toyota forums etc swear by the BP flavour and have dyno results to prove it, generally its a little more expensive & out of my way than optimax for where I buy fuel.

cheers
Scott

[50 stevo]

premium is the biggest rort this century its been proven that it makes very little difference in most cars, and no difference to many. out of the tests done bp95 was the best even better bp ultimate but if you dont believe me do a web search on insider fuel tests, youll be surprised at what you see

[craigvk]

Yeah I believe premium is a bit of garbage as to coming off better on your wallet and kilometres your car might do.

But I do know for a fact that octane ratings do make sense. Take my cousins performance Ford Cobra 351 replica for example. If he runs on normal unleaded, the car would ping like crazy. He needs higher octane fuel and even then it pings a bit.

You can buy octane additive in case people here didn't know!

[Chode]

Regular unleaded + Flashlube.

My car absolutely loves it.

[VKNutt]

does anybody know anything about the fuel you can buy from the "United Servo's" called "United plus" its a 95 octain (I think) with ethonol... I've been told its amazing and about 2 cents cheaper than normal unleaded...

[9898989]

Premium doesn't get you as far as normal unleaded, TT did a test a while ago and showed some amaizing results

[Demons1964]

does anybody know anything about the fuel you can buy from the "United Servo's" called "United plus" its a 95 octain (I think) with ethonol... I've been told its amazing and about 2 cents cheaper than normal unleaded...

I think the 95 octane sold at United has 10% ethanol. The general guideline is that ethanol in pre-1986 cars is unacceptable. I worked out that using 50 litres per week, it equates to a saving of $50 over the full year. Not something I'm willing to take a chance on for the negligible cost saving.

[50 stevo]

the only reason people have trouble with ethanol in old cars is it mixes with water where fuel doesn't, so as long as you drop your tank and get rid of any moisture and make sure its sealed properly you should never have a problem as long as you don't let fuel sit in the tank for months without use. Getting back to premium unleaded, i ain't no expert but i was at the test track where i saw with my own eyes that premium had no great advantage over reg, infact they found changing from one brand of fuel filter to another made more difference than premium. So unless they wasted twenty grand on a test for nothing i would say they proved premium to be bullshit, not because 95 was better than 98, it was because unless you raise the octain level to 99.9 it makes bugger all difference . And on this test day it was the older stockers that got better results than the sports and performance models 50 cars tested

[VHSLX]

Plus ULP is the worst fuel , Go for the Optimax or if your feeling rich , fill up on BP Ultimate , Works wonders on my VH ,

[Goon]

I put unleaded prem in my VC the otherday with a nylon lead add and it seems to be running smoother then unlead with the add, but im still to try this optimax..

[synoptica]

To everyone saying that PULP is crap and a rort and that TT did a test to prove it:

1. PULP is crap in a car designed for 91 RON fuel. End of story.

2. PULP doesn't give better economy in a car designed to take 91 RON fuel. It gives more power in cars designed to harness it through it's slower, more controlled burn.

3. Today Tonight is the most biassed, bullshit, tell-the-public-what-they-want-to-hear-so-they'll-keep-our-ratings-up-but-really-we're-just-making-it-all-up show that there is on television.

Any Holden 6 is designed to run on the leaded fuel of its time - namely 97 RON Leaded. Unleaded is 91 RON. You can retard the timing at the cost of power (given they have none anyway you've not got much to lose). In this car, you will certainly get better economy because no doubt the thing will be pinging it's tits off half the time!

Another benefit of PULP is more consistent quality, smoother accelleration (quite possibly in all cars, not just ones designed to take higher RON fuel) and less carbon deposits. For my 4-6cpl more I think that's gotta be good value for money.

I notice no difference between PULP and Optimax in my VK. Going from LRP to PULP was the single biggest performance gain I've ever seen. After one tank the car felt so smooth on accelleration I'd thought it'd lost traction!

edit: ooh and I didn't like the Plus ULP either. Car didn't feel as nice on it. Though I am itching to try the Boost 98... like us revheads have known for years - alky fuels are GOOD!

[VX_KN079]

Take my cousins performance Ford Cobra 351 replica for example. If he runs on normal unleaded, the car would ping like crazy. He needs higher octane fuel and even then it pings a bit.

The problem isn't the fuel... It's the compression and timing. TRUST ME! I know this for a fact. If the compression and timing are tuned to the petrol, no matter what RON the petrol is, it will run like a dream.

[ausmaniac]

For all it's worth, I run my 202 VK on Shell '95 with Flash Lube drip fed into the intake manifold and there's no ping, plenty of go and better fuel economy.

[craigvk]

The problem isn't the fuel... It's the compression and timing. TRUST ME! I know this for a fact. If the compression and timing are tuned to the petrol, no matter what RON the petrol is, it will run like a dream.

If you know so much about it, maybe you can tell me why when he disconnects the vacuum advance, the car runs alright?

[WhiteLion85]

I have a question for all U VK nuts out there. I recently purchased my VK berlina with a 308 (black) motor. The engine was recenty rebuilt by the previous owner but he did not tell me if he rebuilt it with hardened valves and seats. Have been running the car on 95ron bowzer juice with fuel additive or would 98ron with no fuel additive be better. Cheers.

P.S will update pics of my Commy soon.

[vkberlina]

I have a question for all U VK nuts out there. I recently purchased my VK berlina with a 308 (black) motor. The engine was recenty rebuilt by the previous owner but he did not tell me if he rebuilt it with hardened valves and seats. Have been running the car on 95ron bowzer juice with fuel additive or would 98ron with no fuel additive be better. Cheers.

P.S will update pics of my Commy soon.

Personally if it was my car I would run it on 98-100 octane without an additive.
I have actually just stripped down, ported & freshened a carbie 202 head that has been run on 98 octane fuel since it was built approx 60,000km ago (needed stem seals basically), I checked the exhaust valves for signs of pitting and they were in excellent condition, a leakdown test showed very minor seepage which was recified by repasting in the valves.

I have said this on numerous occasions, what actually causes valve seat recession is combustion temps reaching a point where they actually cause the exhaust valves to glow red hot and soften, when the valve closes against the seat it cools enough to microweld tiny hotspots with the seat when the valve opened they tear appart causing very fine pitting over time causing valve seat recession.
The higer the octane fuel the lower the combustion temp meaning the valves wont get to a temperature that will allow this circumstance to occur. Considering your car was designed to run on 96 octane fuel, 98 octane will be sufficient.
Mind you is a car is poorly maintained experiencing lean outs or is miss timed etc using the correct fuel still wont help.

I will see if I can dig up some photos of valves to show what im talking about.

cheers
Scott

[darkmoon]

I have posted before about fuels to use, have a look int he archives for further info but in short...
As long as you run a fuel with sufficient otane for your engine you wont require a LR additive, 98 octane fuels such as Shell Optimax, BP ultimate, Mobile Synergy 8000 (I think), Vortex 98 all should meet your engines requirements.
I have stored optimax for several months before In airtight sealed drums, out of light and it was just fine, I guess what happens say in a fuel tank etc the hydrocarbos evaporate causing the octane levels to drop.
another FYI bit of info the guys on the different turbo skyline & toyota forums etc swear by the BP flavour and have dyno results to prove it, generally its a little more expensive & out of my way than optimax for where I buy fuel.

cheers
Scott

I have to agree with the nissan/toyota guys, my EFI 202 loves ultimate. There is a definate noticable performance difference. I have also noticed that my consumption has dropped since I used it and have roughly worked out that it would be the same cost as running premium after the consumtion had be taken into consideration.
Kain

[RagZ]

You have got to use the highest octane you can get, the higher the octane the more explosive the fuel is going to be the better performance, its also good to change the plugs and leads with some good quality ones, fuel filter etc all the little things make a massive difference.

[BrookvaleBoy]

There have been some good things said, notably: "If you're feeling rich fill up on BP ultimate" and synoptica's 3rd point.

i drive my VH (stock motor) pretty much everyday, what i've found from experience/my little experiment is that the higher the octane, the better the car runs and the more milage, which makes sense- you get what you pay for.

on that note notice how shell fuel is usually a bit cheeper (well in Syd anyways), well you definitely get less milage out of it compared to caltex or BP - weather it's the equivalent 91, the 95, or the 98 stuff Shell gets owned.

[Darcon666]

Hmmmmm.... 2006 OP...

Jan 2010 MAJOR thread dig by RagZ.... & now BrookvaleBoy....

[vk.jonno]

You have got to use the highest octane you can get, the higher the octane the more explosive the fuel is going to be the better performance, its also good to change the plugs and leads with some good quality ones, fuel filter etc all the little things make a massive difference.

There have been some good things said, notably: "If you're feeling rich fill up on BP ultimate" and synoptica's 3rd point.

i drive my VH (stock motor) pretty much everyday, what i've found from experience/my little experiment is that the higher the octane, the better the car runs and the more milage, which makes sense- you get what you pay for.

on that note notice how shell fuel is usually a bit cheeper (well in Syd anyways), well you definitely get less milage out of it compared to caltex or BP - weather it's the equivalent 91, the 95, or the 98 stuff Shell gets owned.

i bet people would have cared in 2006,
read the date on the thread before u post.