What Octane do you use in your ZL?

[SandstoneSmitty]

Due to the raising cost of gas, I wonder why I am still putting Premium in my ZL. Last year a few cents for the ‘Good Stuff’ was easy, now at $4.00/gal I am asking: “Is high octane a requirement or a luxury?”

Octane Myths
* High octane gasoline improves mileage.
In general, if your car is designed to run on 87 octane gasoline, high octane gasoline will not improve mileage. If switching to high octane gasoline does improve mileage, you might find that your engine, or its control systems, need repair.
* High octane gasoline gives quicker starting.
No, it doesn’t.
* High octane gasoline increases power.
If your car is designed to run on 87 octane gasoline, you shouldn’t notice any more power on high octane gasoline. Again, if it does make a noticeable difference, your engine, or the engine’s electronic control systems, may need repair.
* High octane gasoline has been refined more – it is just a better product.
Additional refining steps are used to increase the octane; however, these additional steps do not necessarily make the gasoline a “better” product for all engines. They just yield a different blend of hydrocarbons that burn more slowly. The additional steps also increase the price.

[zlMark]

I think they call for 89 or higher? I use an advancer plate in my zl900 so I run at least 91

[CHRIS]

i use premium in my zl always !!!!!!! & on occassionally add octane booster . CHRIS

[furchin]

Always use 87 octane. Have tried using the higher grade and found no difference in performance or mpg's. As long as I can get around 38 to 40 mgp's on the interstate I'm not going to change the routine.

[Elim8u]

I concur with our ZL cult leader!

[lowlife]

i usually run premium. just because... i am thinking of blending some e85 to see if there is an increase in power.

[zot]

let us know your findings on that....

[Elim8u]

Hey Lowlife, you know alcohol a/f ratio is 7 to 1.
Can you find jets big enough?

[GGRA]

I have always put premium in the bike, but I at the prices now I am thinking of dropping to Mid-grade.

It's hard for me to justify Premium for the bike, when my Honda Civic gets about the same mileage on regular.

[lowlife]

Just have to watch her for running lean on the fuel curve. I run my vehicles upwards of 30-40% ethanol on a couple of them will no ill effects. Makes a huge difference on my supercharged truck. Wouldn't start that high but we already run 10%

[paulfun]

I simply cant get myself to pay for premium at the current prices.
So I have been taking it easy and running the cheap (LOL) stuff for now.
If I plan on going wild with the RPM s or a day of radical all out riding I will fill it with octaine booster or premium.

For those of you who have access to the e-fuels they are not exactly the same as running alchohol and should not require a rejet. Just listen to the engine at Idle and very light throttle before swithing over and if she gets real noisy after you introduce the new fuel try mixing a bit of reg gass in with it but this probably wont be nessasary.

By the way my 85 made 94.48 HP on 87 octaine fuel with no boosters added.
wish it could do that on water!

[kawboy]

I always use use premium. It will occasionally knock under load with regular. Don't know about mid-grade.

[Elim8u]

Lowlife sounds like you know what you are doing.
Let us know how e-85 works out, and rough range of jeting
that works out?

[kbug]

We get such great gas milage with our bikes they deserve the love and respect of the very best the pumps have to offer,

[jmac]

I was always told,that the higher the compresion the higher the octane you had to use.I think(not sure without looking)the compresion on the 900 is 11to1.I think this is why the manual recomends 89 or better.I always use the good stuff in the bike,and my old cars.
My 72 camaro is very hard to start,if it has any thing less than 92oct in it.It is 10 3/4to 1 compresion.Most cars and trucks are only 8 1/2 or 9 to 1 compresion.So thay have no problem with 87oct,That is also what there manuals recomend.
On a side note.Won't the E85 eat the seals?

[oldmate]

Last fill I used 50/50 premium and avgas(100 low lead). Haven't done too many miles yet, but no ill effects so far.

[jmac]

I used avgas in my old zl 900.It works fine.I have also used this in race cars(drag race)It works great .Plus it is about half price of turbo blue,or other race gas.There is a small airport close to me,and they sell alot to racer's.The only thing is you have to put it in a gascan,they will not pump it into a car or bike.I think that is because there is no road tax on it.It is also a very clean fuel,because airplanes don't run fuel filters.That is what I was told by the airport gasman.

[oldmate]

jmac, thats good to know, but your airport gas man must be a little confused because depending on the aircraft, they usually have numerous inline filters and water drain points.

[jmac]

Maybe he had been sniffing some of that gas when he told me that.I thought it sounded a little fishy.But I have never looked under the hood of a airplane.This could also be why he is the gas man,and not the mechenic.lol.

[gds]

i usually run premium. just because... i am thinking of blending some e85 to see if there is an increase in power.

Unless you've read something different:

Running E85 in a normal vehicle is bad all around. It will eat your fuel system, give less performance, and less fuel milage.

E85 has to be run in a specially modified vehicle called a 'flexible-fuel vehicle' (FFV).
E85 is corrosive to aluminum, rubber and other materials in a normal fuel system.
E85 is less dense and creates less energy than gasoline, which means lower horsepower and lower fuel milage. In a FFV the computer senses when E85 is present so it can remap the fuel delivery criteria and send more fuel thru larger injectors to maintain the same power.

Pat Goss of "Goss' Garage" did a segment involving aftermarket kits that costs hundreds of dollars to convert normal vehicles into FFV's. He said "DON'T DO IT" it would take thousands of dollars and twice as many parts to do it properly, otherwise your vehicle will not run properly and will break down.

(no, I refuse to use a funny little icon)

[TerminalVelocity]

Our bikes have 10:1 compression which should be fed Premium or you may "detonate" a piston, (lean it out and burn a hole in it).
As for the "High Octane myths" higher octane burns colder which means lower engine temps and better gas mileage.

You know what my 06 GMC crew Z71 gets about 15-18 mpg, so my bike is SOO cheap to fill up, I use 92 or better.

[kawboy]

(no, I refuse to use a funny little icon)

me too

[RebelRus]

I use 95 octane. Sometimes 92, the quantity of consumed fuel increases, and the difference in the price is not great, it is not always favourable.
In Russia 95 octane do from 92 by means of chemical additives.

[zot]

When I lived in S.Carolina many of the gas stations around had 'race' gas 115+ type stuff you could put in a container (not your vehicle) I used to run this in the ZL every now and again and it did run cooler. smoother, and more miles to the gallon. Very spendy stuph though.

[rkerg]

Where I live premium is 91 octane and that is what I use, and, whenever possible, I use Chevron because I once had a KZ1000 that only ran right with
Chevron supreme.

[paulfun]

with my 86 900, a set of F1 mufflers,stock jets with the needles shimmed .020 I managed 41MPG 3 tanks back to back with 87 octaine fuel.

I think I will try and test the MPG this week with premium

[Prostreet]

Our bikes have 10:1 compression which should be fed Premium or you may "detonate" a piston, (lean it out and burn a hole in it).
As for the "High Octane myths" higher octane burns colder which means lower engine temps and better gas mileage.

You know what my 06 GMC crew Z71 gets about 15-18 mpg, so my bike is SOO cheap to fill up, I use 92 or better.

Actually the 900 has 11.0 to 1 compression. As odd as it may sound, compression really has very little to do with what octane to use. No, I'm not nuts, its the ignition timing that predicates the octane. You could have 13 to one compression, but if the combustion timing is retarded enough, you could use 87 grade with no problems. I currently use 87 on my ZL and my zzr1200 (11.2 to 1) I plan on installing the factory pro ign advancer ( plus 4 degrees) soon. When I do that, I will bump up to 89 octane. All octane is is an anti-knock additive to slow down the burning of the fuel. Thats all it does!

[Stormy]

There are two types of octane quantifiers, the RON (Research Octane Number) and the MON (Motor Octane Number). The RON is the level of the fuel's pre-detonation or "knock" resistance (compress a fuel quickly and hard enough and it will self-detonate, hence the invention of the diesel engine, which has the highest fuel efficiency rating), whereas the MON (usually the lesser octane number of the two) is the level of the amount of energy (BTU's) the fuel will provide under an adjustable engine compression ratio at a specific engine speed and load / torque. To achieve the RON number, the engines compression is steadily increased until pre-detonation of the fuel is detectable, so the higher the number, the less likely it is that any particular fuel will pre-detonate in a particular engine at a certain compression ratio. The octane number that a fuel is rated at at the fuel pump, is actually an average between the RON and the MON numbers.

A fuel's relationship to how much energy it will provide is also determined by many other factors, including the engine's compression ratio, the actual temperature of the fuel itself and it's vapourisation level (volatility), the ambient air temperature, altitude and relative humidity, but more importantly is the altitude, at sea level (or a barometric pressure of 1000mB / hPa), the pre-set engine timing is matched to the engine's intended compression ratio, to provide the most effective burn time and rate, but as you climb higher in altitude the compression ratio lower's, and the burn time and rate the fuel will burn will also increase, therefore the less power you will be able to extract from the same octane rated fuel. I know at sea level (1000 mB / hPa) my bike runs a little lean and isn't as responsive and is more prone to knock, whereas at my normal altitude of 640 metres / 2099 feet, it runs a little richer but is heaps more responsive because of the slightly slower burn time of the higher 98 octane and is therefore extracting more energy from the 98 octane than with using 87 octane, that's why I use the higher rated 98 octane fuel.

Lead was a great additive, because it didn't detract anything from the MON octane level but increased the fuels knock resistance (RON), plus providing a cushion for the valve seats and assisted in case hardening the valve seats themselves during the combustion process and helped to lubricate the piston rings and bore.