I'm 19 and i just bought a 99 Z28. The guy that i bought it from, told my parents that he put 92 octane and some times mid-grade gasoline. Well i live in northwest indiana and the gas prices for 92 octane is 2.29 a gallon. Well since iam a full time college student, and i work only part-time. I really dont have the cash right now to pay for the 92. So i was wondering if it was alright for my engine that i put mid-grade gas untill the prices go down. The reason why im asking this ? is bc i paid alot of money for this car and i dont want to f it up. For the secound ?, i was wondering if it makes a difference in speed if i have the car in overdrive or drive when i race. Also will the car be faster if i switch off the traction control when iam about to race somebody.

Thanks alot for your help
Sean

 

Well, I don't know how your traction control works, but my SGS (traction control; acronym for Second Gear Start) on my A4 transmission ('98 Camaro) starts me in 2nd gear so I start off slower...

 

Yes, you should turn the TCS off when you race someone. It senses when your wheels are spinning and cuts power until you regain traction.

You can leave the car in overdrive when you race.

Does the car have any real mods done to it? You can run the mid grade so long as you run a tank of premium every few tanks and add a bottle of injector cleaner every couple thousand miles.

BTW, welcome to the F-Body family!

 

Running a lower octane fuel isn't going to do much harm to your engine but you may notice a lack of performance. With a lower octane fuel, if there's any spark knock, the computer will detect the knock through the knock sensor and retard the timing to prevent any damage. Retarding the timing will reduce HP and performance. You're not really going to notice anything unless you're hard on the throttle a lot.

Make sure your tank is close to empty before you go racing and put 1/2 tank of premium in it. Once you're done racing, fill it back up with mid grade.

$2.29 for premium. Gee I wish. According to www.gasbuddy.com, I'm paying about $2.60 for 87 regular. But then my race car uses methynol. It costs even more but compared to race gas it's still cheap.

Leave the car in D when racing. If you bracket race, leave traction control on. You might not run as fast but bracket racing isn't about speed but consistency. With traction control on the car will be very consistent. We had a Chev Tahoe racing here a few years ago with traction control. The thing ran consistent 18.3 second 1/4 miles. He finished in third place overall at the end of the year. First in Sportsman class and third against all the other racers.