Anything I missed?

 

Personally I have always used VP C-12 but I'm thinking I need
C-16 with the new motor. I can get the Unocal stuff fairly cheap though.

 

Sunoco, since it's the only one I can get more often. I believe we have Phillips and a couple other ones around here.

 

You forgot TORCO.

I normally run VP C10 unleaded,but when the new combo get done (if it ever does) i'll go to Torco or 116 VP.

Pat Musi did some dyno testing and he did make a few more hp with VP,the Torco carried a much more consistent blend batch to batch where as vp varied greatly.

 

C-16 here.

 

I prefer VP.. No real rationale though.

 

Is there an "Advanced Tech" question to go with this thread?

 

Ok.... a tech question....

I've been using VP Fuels C-16. One day I went to the local speed shop, and all they carried was Sunoco. The guy in the speed shop was trying to sell me on the Sunoco, claiming that VP fuels were "synthetic, and therefore hydroscopic". His pitch was that the VP fuel would absorb water and deteriorate over time. The guys at Second Street feel that is pure BS.... VP is all they use, and a lot of partial, tightly sealed drums are kept in their outdoor storage building over the winter months. I have about 10 gallons of C-16 left in a closed 30-gal drum since last Fall.

Any thoughts on "synthetic" vs...... "natural????"

 

I've always heard that VP is a blended fuel, whereas Phillips is all good stuff. I do know that I have melted pistons with Sunoco and blown head gaskets with VP but I've never hurt anything with Phillips

 

Could you expand a little on the tech meaning of "good stuff".... I don't think we used that term when I worked for Exxon..... .

 

Fuel is a very complicated subject that goes well beyond octane. If you are running a motor "on the edge" you better be real careful when changing fuels. For example, fuels may differ considerably in specific gravity. Since you fuel system delivers a given volume of fuel over time, use of a lighter fuel will mean a lower mass of fuel over time and the mixture will be leaner. Too lean, and you will have a big problem. Ditto for oxygen content. Different fuels burn at different rates and need different amounts of advance. And so on.

At the track, when using nitrous, I use 100 octane unleaded. Usually, I use 94 octane on the street but at times, I use the 100 octane. I have different programs for 94 octane, 100 octane, and a nitrous program. Each program is different with respect to timing and fuel due to the different properties of each fuel.

I certainly don't know enough about fuel to "prefer" one over the other. However, I do use specific gravity and oxygen content to get an idea of what tuning changes will be needed. This years setup is going to have a higher octane requirement than last years. I plan to run 100 octane on the street and either go to 104 octane unleaded for the track or go ahead and use leaded race gas at the track. If I go with leaded I'll just have to change the O2 sensors periodically.

Rich Krause

 

I like 94 Sunoco. No joke, no need for a street car to run race gas IMHO. In times like Rich's case you need the 100 every once in a while. Boost and a big shot of Dope needs octane, but most street cars should look for power in other places rather than compression.

BTW different types of octane make a difference between WOT and driving around detonation tolerance. Something to look at, figure out how each race gas got it said Octane. That helps alot.

I've seen "92" beat the snot out of 94 when it comes to WOT anti detonation tendencies. 11.7:1 SCR or 8.9:1 DCR likes 94 anyways. Maybe more even.

Bret

 

According to Steve Burns, founder VP Racing Fuels...

"While pump gas uses refined crude oil, race gas only uses certain parts of the crude. The rest of its make-up is from other chemicals and agents that are added to it in exacting specifications. In basic terms, we take the crude oil from the ground, distill it into hundreds of different parts and then use just some parts. Other components get broken apart and recombined. These are the components that are called 'synthesized'. When you see a molecule of something in our product, there's a reason its in there."

Synthetic or no? I don't know that it matters all that much other than bragging rights for those who can say, "ours is all natural". Yes, and we've come to the conclusion that synthetic oils are better also.

Considering the fact that VP has been the choice of every Pro Stock points champion for the past 27 years should tell you quite a bit. VP's also worked with quite few Pro Stock builders... Reher-Morrison, Billy Glidden, Warren Johnson to name a few. Burns also states that it is surprising just how different the fuels actually were from builder to builder. So different that you couldn't successfully exchange fuel from one to the other. Of course all of that has changed with Pro Stock, because VP C-25 is the only fuel used now and your engine takes a urine tests at each even, before each run and is tested with a gas chromatic graph machine..... no way to cheat.

On the subject, I use VP fuels as I feel VP has done more homework than any other supplier out there. Their success should speak volumes.

-Mindgame

 

WRT to what I've used, usually low lead avgas... mostly because I used to have a source where I could get it cheaper then normal 93 octane pump gas and never had a problem with it.

Actually, the engine I've tinkered with the most lately is running a little over 10psi boost (no intercooler, nothing special, built about 8 years ago on my mom's kitchen floor at her condo while she was in Europe for 2 weeks and stored for a while under a tarp on the back porch) and making enough power to put a 4 door LTD into the 10's with no detonation on 87 octane, so does 87 from the Shell on the corner count?

(yea, I know, I’m not being very helpful, but I also don’t see much of a point in building a car that is going to see any street time and require race gas, power can be had without it)

 

My car ran 10s on pump gas with no problems as well but after a couple of years it got boring. Now I'm trying to make enough power to run 8s and I don't feel like throwing money away on melted or broken pistons, hence the need for race fuel.

It looks like VP is the clear winner