The Ohio Random Thread... aka We Should Probably Be Working

Almost all gasoline comes from the same refineries so ignoring the "detergents" and other "additives" individual companies add later it's all the same. 87 octane is 87 octane and so on. The only advantage you might see is using gas with lower levels of ethanol in it. Obviously this "GE" case is an exception because someone screwed up. Running 93 octane in a car that doesn't need it is a waste of money. The ECU will not increase boost or advance timing if it detects higher octane gasoline so you're paying more money for the same performance/fuel economy. Adding injector cleaner is also a waste. It made sense way back when with leaded gasoline, gasoline quality was all over the place and we relied on carbs and poorly designed fuel injectors. Now injectors are designed to better handle impurities and gasoline standards are much higher. The general rule of thumb is to stick with whatever's cheapest from one of the major fuel companies.

Speaking of gasoline, I've heard that Get Go gas is loaded with lots of ethanol to cheapen up the gas (since they lose a lot on those fuel perks). Too much ethanol will destroy and older car that wasn't made to run on it. Also, I usually always fill up with BP -- they use good detergents (invigorate) and the only reason they are not considered 'top tier' on that website is that they use less ethanol than other gasoline blends, which I think is a good thing! Keep that ethanol that destroys fuel systems and lowers gas mileage away from me!
 
Also, a friend of mine is a Honda tech and says he sees a lot of cars that come in have problems from using Get Go gas. Since he's told me that I've never used it.
 
Torque steer competition!
Sad to see the focus is faster. I think ford does some things to make their demo cars faster.. but that's just a theory. I know if the MS3 had the same size tires as the ST and a stiffer rear sway bar it would eat the ST on that track.
 
I don't agree than ethanol blended fuels destroy older cars. Ethanol is a very effective cleaning agent in itself, and is what causes a lot of problems, particularly in older cars, that have built up deposits over the years.

First hand experience: I live on a farm and we have a fuel tank on site, gasoline is delivered to it via a fuel truck once a month, and that's what I use in my car(s). A couple years ago they switched to an ethanol blend. I continued to use the gas in my Miata, and eventually I started noticing some weirdness happening, at one point it wouldn't start, or would just stall immediately from fuel starvation. It ended up being a clogged fuel filter because the ethanol (which is alcohol), had cleaned the deposits from my fuel lines and gas tank and clogged the filter. I changed the fuel filter twice and since then it hasn't missed a beat.

There are other issues with ethanol blends concerning water content and separation, but that's a whole different discussion.

Gas with a percentage ethanol will yield slightly lower gas mileage when compared to fuel that has no ethanol blend due to ethanol having a lower energy content than purely petroleum based fuel. But when I say slightly, we are talking 2-3% less with a 10% ethanol blend. Ethanol does only have 2/3 the energy capacity of traditional gasoline, but at the same time you're only blending 10% in with gasoline, so the math is easy at that point.

Interesting facts: Ethanol is actually a net energy loss... in other words, it takes more energy to produce ethanol than there is energy to be consumed by burning it. Ohio doesn't require labeling of fuel that contains ethanol.
 
Sad to see the focus is faster. I think ford does some things to make their demo cars faster.. but that's just a theory. I know if the MS3 had the same size tires as the ST and a stiffer rear sway bar it would eat the ST on that track.

Agreed

Had they disabled SWAS on the ms3, it probably wouldve run a faster time. They even talk about it cutting power coming out of turns. Also, the stock tires are not great. With good tires, an rsb, and swas disabled (or even holding the dsc button for 5 seconds) its a completely different animal
 
The water content and separation are very serious issues and I think that is why some of these cars are having problems. Also being a harsher fuel it can cause problems like you stated yourself with the fuel filters. My friend was describing some more serious issues which I can't remember off the top of my head, but I believe it had to do with water in the fuel from Get Go. ps: I'm against ethanol as a fuel, if you haven't noticed. The fact that it is a net energy loss is redicuolous.
 
Speaking of gasoline, I've heard that Get Go gas is loaded with lots of ethanol to cheapen up the gas (since they lose a lot on those fuel perks). Too much ethanol will destroy and older car that wasn't made to run on it. Also, I usually always fill up with BP -- they use good detergents (invigorate) and the only reason they are not considered 'top tier' on that website is that they use less ethanol than other gasoline blends, which I think is a good thing! Keep that ethanol that destroys fuel systems and lowers gas mileage away from me!

Just wondering. Does anyone know where they list now much ethanol these companies use?
 
There has been up to 10% ethanol in gas since the early 80s. The problem came when they decided to allow E15. I don't know if the study was ever conducted but I know for a while there they said it was only approved for vehicles 2007 and newer....

I haven't heard much about it since a few years ago but I don't exactly pay that much attention.
 
e15-sticker-623x526.jpg


The sticker they put on fuel pumps dispensing E15.
 
Those head to head videos are pretty entertaining. This is one of the best FR-S/BRZ to Miata comparisons I've seen:

 
Speaking of gasoline, I've heard that Get Go gas is loaded with lots of ethanol to cheapen up the gas (since they lose a lot on those fuel perks). Too much ethanol will destroy and older car that wasn't made to run on it. Also, I usually always fill up with BP -- they use good detergents (invigorate) and the only reason they are not considered 'top tier' on that website is that they use less ethanol than other gasoline blends, which I think is a good thing! Keep that ethanol that destroys fuel systems and lowers gas mileage away from me!

I don't agree than ethanol blended fuels destroy older cars. Ethanol is a very effective cleaning agent in itself, and is what causes a lot of problems, particularly in older cars, that have built up deposits over the years.

First hand experience: I live on a farm and we have a fuel tank on site, gasoline is delivered to it via a fuel truck once a month, and that's what I use in my car(s). A couple years ago they switched to an ethanol blend. I continued to use the gas in my Miata, and eventually I started noticing some weirdness happening, at one point it wouldn't start, or would just stall immediately from fuel starvation. It ended up being a clogged fuel filter because the ethanol (which is alcohol), had cleaned the deposits from my fuel lines and gas tank and clogged the filter. I changed the fuel filter twice and since then it hasn't missed a beat.

There are other issues with ethanol blends concerning water content and separation, but that's a whole different discussion.

Gas with a percentage ethanol will yield slightly lower gas mileage when compared to fuel that has no ethanol blend due to ethanol having a lower energy content than purely petroleum based fuel. But when I say slightly, we are talking 2-3% less with a 10% ethanol blend. Ethanol does only have 2/3 the energy capacity of traditional gasoline, but at the same time you're only blending 10% in with gasoline, so the math is easy at that point.

Interesting facts: Ethanol is actually a net energy loss... in other words, it takes more energy to produce ethanol than there is energy to be consumed by burning it. Ohio doesn't require labeling of fuel that contains ethanol.

The water content and separation are very serious issues and I think that is why some of these cars are having problems. Also being a harsher fuel it can cause problems like you stated yourself with the fuel filters. My friend was describing some more serious issues which I can't remember off the top of my head, but I believe it had to do with water in the fuel from Get Go. ps: I'm against ethanol as a fuel, if you haven't noticed. The fact that it is a net energy loss is redicuolous.

These are all good points I was too lazy to type out concerning ethanol :)

A lot of the gas stations around here are selling E15, which always made me nervous with the RX-7 because it was never designed for that ethanol content. Yeah it's nice a gas station uses that little sticker but it doesn't do me any good when that's all that's available. Fortunately the entirely new system I build for the RX-7 will survive just fine.

Regarding ethanol always being a net energy loss I thought there were certain methods of manufacture/source that were at least energy neutral like using sugar cane or something. I'm actually a big proponent of synthetic fuels (think Fischer-Tropsch) and the biggest issue is getting over the net negative energy issue. Imagine a synthetic gasoline that's 100% pure or a completely sulfur-free diesel. It wouldn't completely solve the pollution issue but it would certainly solve the energy crisis looming.
 
Heaven forbid a car is quicker than the MS3!!!!! Stop the ******* presses! We need to put all our resources on the project of writing different articles saying its not true, and that it was driver error.

s***, we all know its not about how quick a car is in a straight line. Look at any RX car. Compared to any modern equivalent... they are slow as balls.


Ethanol laden gas is one of the reasons my Bavaria is now running an electric fuel pump, as well as having the carbs recently rebuilt. It does tend to eat away at older gaskets.
 
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Heaven forbid a car is quicker than the MS3!!!!! Stop the ******* presses! We need to put all our resources on the project of writing different articles saying its not true, and that it was driver error.

Hahaha
 
Suspension gurus: i have a question for ya.

I have koni yellows and the hotchkis Front and rear sway bars and the ride is bone rattling the way its set up on our roads. Whats a good rate for the dampning on the konis? Right now, the fronts are a full turn from softest setting and the rears are medium. Rear sway is at the stiffest setting. I dont really want to go back to the stock sway bar in the front due to how much of a pain it is...

Phen can chime in since he has driven/ridden in my car a good bit, I personally LOVE the combo of Koni Yellows with Tein S-tech, im running the front and rear konis around half way on the damping. its solid and planted but doesnt beat you up daily drive... i feel its a good combo of sport and comfort and ive driven nearly 40k on this combo, nearly 90k on the stechs (40k with stock struts/shocks)



and on another note, i cant wait for my new headlights to come in... either this weekend or early next week (dance)
 
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Torque steer competition!

His videos are some of my favorite on YouTube right now. Him cracking up during the torque steer test was hilarious. And Randy Probst seems like he would be an awesome guy to hang out with.




Heaven forbid a car is quicker than the MS3!!!!! Stop the ******* presses! We need to put all our resources on the project of writing different articles saying its not true, and that it was driver error.

(rofl)
 
Heaven forbid a car is quicker than the MS3!!!!! Stop the ******* presses! We need to put all our resources on the project of writing different articles saying its not true, and that it was driver error.

atleast the ms3 was still happy even though it lost, cant say the same for ol frownie fucus haha
 
celebrating St. Patty's at work, KCCO

2013-03-14_08-32-58_572_zpsabc533e0.jpg

who's the leprechaun?

His videos are some of my favorite on YouTube right now. Him cracking up during the torque steer test was hilarious. And Randy Probst seems like he would be an awesome guy to hang out with.






(rofl)

Randy Pobst IS an awesome guy to hang out with!!! We miss seeing him at the track as we don't get to many World Challenge races since we're so busy with Grand-Am.
 

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