Octane from Sunoco

[napkinthief]

Sunoco stations in NJ have a 94 octane gas. I dont know where else to ask this so I threw it in here. I know many people run 91 octane because thats the best they have in thier area. Where I live there is 89 91 93 and 94. Is there any power increases from using the 94 over the 93, and same for 93 over the 91. The 94 is about a quarter more a gallon.

 

[marcmsj]

Sunoco stations in NJ have a 94 octane gas. I dont know where else to ask this so I threw it in here. I know many people run 91 octane because thats the best they have in thier area. Where I live there is 89 91 93 and 94. Is there any power increases from using the 94 over the 93, and same for 93 over the 91. The 94 is about a quarter more a gallon.

Running higher octane gas won't necessarly give you more power. You have to tune accordingly to take advantage of this. In a non-turbo vehicle, you won't notice a difference at all however. But yes, 94 is better then 93 and could definately help you get a tenth or 2 of a second at the track for a turbo car.

 

[CanadianTSi]

If your right on the edge, like say around 24ish psi on pump gas then yes 94 will make a difference, but otherwise no.

 

[napkinthief]

I will eventually get to those numbers after my rebuild, but I will be boosting 8 psi when I start off. Would using the 94 octane be of any benefit to me? I am not tuning just yet, using a Walbro 255 and a 12:1 vortech for fuel management

 

[silvah_gsx]

No, no benefit.

If your right on the edge, like say around 24ish psi on pump gas then yes 94 will make a difference, but otherwise no.

 

[c5chris]

I wonder why Sunoco never made it here to California. We have other brands here (Thrifty, Ultramar, etc.) that I would not even dream of putting in my GSX's gas tank.

 

[Spooling99]

At least 93 is available to you, I gotta drive cross town to get it at the ONLY place that has 93. Only one place has better and thats 110

 

[robs90tsi]

Wow, you guys all seem to have wierd gas stations and octance ratings, I use Shell 93 as of............well, tomorrow, hehe, I've been using this Marathon brand, 93, but its the cheapest, never heard of Marathon before, im from CT..........

 

[JusMX141]

I would stick with a comfortable brand of gasoline, preferrably not Sunoco. Sunoco's pumps basically announce that their gas contains 10% Ethanol, which can hurt fuel mileage slightly but will be hard to tune if you switch from station to station on a regular basis. I like Exxon fuel best but they're sometimes hard to find. Amoco and BP use the same fuels, so either one of those would be fine, too. I'd stay away from places like Marathon, Sheetz or other discount gas stations because they will buy their gas from whatever supplier is selling it the cheapest, so it can be very inconsistent.

In Sunoco's defense, their Ultra 94 is definetly a better gas than what they sell in their other pumps. I used it in my motocross bikes before I switched to race fuel. My bikes ran much more crisp on Ultra 94 than on plain 93, and engine parts would have much less carbon at rebuild time. However, once I switched to VP C12 I noticed a huge difference in engine performance and tunability over any pump gas, so I've never switched back.

 

[keymaster]

Um...almost all gas stations put up to 10% ethanol in their gas. BP/Amoco, Shell, Citgo, etc. It ain't just Sunoco, son.

 

[xveganxcowboyx]

As others have said, I doubt you'll see much of a difference between the two unless you're running high boost. Remember, the 4G63T calls for 91. Anything above and beyond that is just breathing room, so to speak. I can't imagine 8 PSI on your engine would require much more. 93 should suit you fine.

 

[fourreGsixty3]

Yep, as many others have stated 91 is fine for your aplications, and as to the kid up 3 replies, if you read info about the gas it says 10%ethanol for nearly all gas stations, sunoco just advertises it more, and in big bold letters.

 

[Marc91GSX]

Higher octane fuels burn colder and slower than lower octane fuel. This will allow you to run more aggressive timing, boost, compression, or all three because it is less likely to have pre-ignition problems. Basicaly you can see more performance out of that change but only you tune for it. Running a lower octane fuel (ie more than just 1 point difference) could cause pre-ignition probelms which will cause your car to pull timing and you will lose power. Your computer will not add timing in just because you are running good gas, it is just less likely to pull timing from you. running the 94 will better but it is not really enogh of a differnece to warrant a higher price.

 

[kevstyle]

OOH i work at a Sunoco in South Jersey 1min from my house right down the street anyway. I get like 10bucks in free gas a week