Bummer - Sunoco has discontinued 94 Octane

[jluetjen]

I just discovered this yesterday when I drove up to my local Sunoco. Now I'm sure the California folks won't shed a tear for us, but just the change from 94 to 93 octane made my 9.9:1 2.0E ping a lot more yesterday. A quick search in Pelican's archives found this wisdom from those who have gone there before. I don't know about anyone else, but I feel like contacting Sunoco and letting them know that they lost a dedicated customer who searched for their stations because they had 94 octane. Now that the best that they offer is 93, why bother...

[Jim Garfield]

Hmmm, I just got gas at that Sunoco off of 3 on the way to Scituate and I didn't even notice that it was 93 instead of 94. The only reason I looked for Sunoco was the 94 - damn. I'll check my local station down here, hopefully it's only a MA thing.

[kach22i]

Do this little experiment, fill up on regular (once) and tell me your car doesn't run 10 degrees cooler.

[Jim Richards]

Geez John, that completely sucks. I use Sunoco 94 in the 993. I don't know of it's still available here or not, but I was planning on filling it up in the next day or two. I guess there might not be any reason to keep going to Sunoco.

[Bill Verburg]

We lost our 94 in Jan. At least 93 is still available. Curious that I also lost my O₂ sensor this spring

[Cornpanzer]

uh-oh, that is no good at all. That is all I use in both the Pcar and the VW

[dd74]

I think the last time we've had 94 octane here was in the 1970s. I'm sorry to hear they're taking your good gas away in the Northeast.

So what is the main reason for the oil companies to sell lower-octane fuel? Is lower-octane fuel cheaper to produce, or do the companies think modern cars can withstand lower-octane fuel? Both? Neither?

[ChrisBennet]

I wonder if I can get away with 10.5:1 CR and twin plugs on 93 octane?
-Chris

[Steve@Rennsport]

Gents:

Its all due to the Federally mandated phaseout of MTBE.

Ethanol is the replacement oxygenate and I'll let you figure out how that happened,.....



Chris:

93 octane and 10.5:1 in hot weather is quite marginal, even with twin-ignition.

[Tim Walsh]

mm that sucks.. I was looking forward to a tank of it on my trip up to PA.

[dd74]

I guess what this means is one way or the other, they're determined to take our old cars from us.

[Az911]

Be glad you can get 93 still. Here in AZ 91 is the best you are going to get.

[3liter914-6]

Originally posted by Steve@Rennsport

Chris:

93 octane and 10.5:1 in hot weather is quite marginal, even with twin-ignition.

I was planning on driving my 10.3:1 Twin Plugged short stroke 3.3L out to CA this month, am I gonna be in trouble?

[campbellcj]

LOL, here we have our "choice" between 91 at about $2.49/gal and 100 at $4.25. So stop yer whinin'

[Steve@Rennsport]

Hi:

Two things;

1) I would make sure that you can maintain oil temperatures around 180-190 deg in hot weather.

2) You should try to mix unleaded race gas 75% premium/25% race gas, if you can.


Bear in mind that detonation thresholds really go down in hot weather.

[dd74]

Originally posted by campbellcj
LOL, here we have our "choice" between 91 at about $2.49/gal and 100 at $4.25. So stop yer whinin'

Huh? Where? In Studio City, it's $2.57!

[ChrisBennet]

Originally posted by Steve@Rennsport
Hi:

Two things;

1) I would make sure that you can maintain oil temperatures around 180-190 deg in hot weather.

2) You should try to mix unleaded race gas 75% premium/25% race gas, if you can.


Bear in mind that detonation thresholds really go down in hot weather.

Steve,
Looks like I'll be taking out some compression. Any idea what would be a safer compression for twin plugs, 98 mm bore, JE pistons?

I like the deck height where it is now so I was thinking of machining some material from the either the piston top or bevelling the valve pockets. Any tips?
-Chris

[Wayne 962]

Originally posted by 3liter914-6
I was planning on driving my 10.3:1 Twin Plugged short stroke 3.3L out to CA this month, am I gonna be in trouble?

You can also back off your timing too...

-Wayne

[campbellcj]

OOPS, sorry I guess my price data was a day or two old I think I paid 2.58 yesterday in Calabasas.

I have found that my pseudo 2.2S seems happiest with a blend of 91 and 100 in hot weather. (By hot I mean 100+ ambient temps which we see regularly around here.) I'm not sure of the ideal proportions so I usually aim for 50/50 give or take. In cool weather I run almost straight 91.

Originally posted by dd74
Huh? Where? In Studio City, it's $2.57!

[dd74]

My monthly Mobil bill is heading to $300.