When I bought premium at mobil the other day, I was looking at the sticker, and it said that the 93 had "other additives" in it to help performance, or something like that. I can't remember the exact phrasing. Might be worth asking about though.
in michigan, BY LAW, if ethanol is added, it must CLEARLY state that.
in michigan to my knowledge only this gas has ethanol:
speedway, citgo, sunoco, (local stores possible), pilot
dont have ethanol: mobil, shell, amoco, bp, meijer
no difference in the 93/94 octane...but if they sell 94 for the same, id get it.
Ethanol is added to gas to help reduce emissions, since its combustible alcohol, and not a hydrocarbon.
In fact, ethanol is a hydrocarbon.
Formula: CH3CH2OH
All auto manufacturers in the US approve of ethanol up to 10% mixture in gasoline. It increases the octane rating of gasoline and helps to reduce emissions. In addition, it has a cooling effect on the combustion process because it has a higher latent heat of vaporization than gasoline. Note that "Indy" cars use straight methanol (an alcohol very similar to ethanol) which permits very high boost pressures over what gasoline would allow because methanol is a "cooler" burning fuel and delays the onset of detonation.
Water/alcohol injection was used to cool the intake charge in many WWII combat aircraft and of course is still used today by drag racers for similar reasons.
Finally, since fuel grade ethanol is 200 proof grain alcohol, if you had a spare can of it lying around I suppose you could drink it if things got bad enough. Just kidding! Don't ever try to drink methanol (wood alcohol) however, as it is a deadly poison.
damn its been too long since my organic chemistry class.
I meant to say its a hydrocarbon, but it has a different ending chain than gas... something about an o2 somewhere added in.
Ohh well, i need to take a college level class.
Howd the homemade race gas go discreet? I ran 13psi with no audible detonation, and no signs of detonation on my plugs when i changed them. Its probably good for 15psi, but i think youd get detonation there no matter what octane, since the a/f just gets too lean.
I have heard in these cases that gas mixing might yield the best results. So half a tank of 92 and half a tank of 94 makes 93.....YAY!!! Then you can drive happily away into the sunset with your 93 gas just like us brave Americans!!! Except for those that live in the lame-ass emmision reduction states.
