My 2cents: i started out with 91 on my SS, changed over to 89 when prices went nutty, i don't fell any loss in power,MPG ( 27.2 ) has stayed the same or went up a little.

 

Who remembers the old days???

 

Old days - how about carrying a spare set of jets so you can lean the carb out for high altitude operation!

 

Whatever you are smoking send some my way. You drive a vehicle that uses 87. You don't even own a SS so all those questions you answered are irrelevant and don't pertain to this discussion.
Who's talking down? Are you that thin skinned? Did you not see the big smile face in my post so you could see the levity in my post? It is true, I am so sick and tired of people buying a car that they know calls for premium and then whining about it. I do find it laughable when people say there is no performance loss from using 87 in a vehicle that is designed for premium use. Well, I hope I haven't hurt your feelings that much. If so then go save some whales or baby seals and let these fine people fend for themselves and learn something.

 

We all know under the right conditions that octane matters. High heat, altitude, pulling heavy loads, drag racing..lol. I don't think anyone with an SS will dispute that. What I was talking about was mileage, and for 98.9% of my time in my hhr all the octane i need is 87. That will change when there is competition in tune category later this year and pick a winner.

 

Wow! What did I start? The car is driven to work and she grannys the car. She liked the look of the SS over the LT. She also like the extra kick when she needs it. We drive it always looking at the Instant milage reading. I don't think the car has been really kicked to the floor in launch mode.

As for the E85 vs gasoline. This is an area that I have professional experinace. What you are looking for is a BTU rating. Someone stated energy density and you are correct. Ethenol has a lower BTU rating than good old gas. So E85 should be bad for the SS. The 10% ethenol that you see at the pump is an additive that replaces the MTBE, anyway it was a very bad stuff to be adding in to the fuel. Very unhealthy for humans. They have been finding this chemical in the ground water. To read more follow these links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methyl_tert-butyl_ether
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_additive

So in the end it will not kill our car. Part of the reason behind this question is that we buy our gas from Sam's Club and they only offer two grades of gas. There is a 7-11 around the corner that has 87, 88, 89, 91, 93.
I see where you are coming from with the math for better mileage but my wife freaks out when she gases up with 93.

87 octane is $3.84 and 93 octane is $4.08. So that is 24 cents a gallon. That ends up being about $3.80 a tank difference. Now my wife will point out that that is $190 a year wasted. She is tight with a dollar. If you don't believe me, ask the poor salesmanger at the Chevy dealer. They went on for about a half hour after two weeks of negotions and then there was extra tanks of gas, free first oil change, a cargo mat. I also forgot that was after she pitted every dealer in the area against one another. Man it is brutal but I will never be poor.

 

While E85 is fraught with problems (sustainability, distribution channels, etc.), to say that it's "bad" is silly.

I submit the following...


Typical fuel energy content:
1 gallon of gasoline = 125,000 BTU
1 gallon of E-85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) = 90,500 BTU

However, it's not simply a matter of BTUs...

E85 specific energy at stoichiometry is higher than gasoline, which allows a greater release of energy per unit of air. Gasoline's thermal energy = 19,000 BTU/lb with a maximum power fuel air mixture of 12.5:1. Typical E85 thermal energy = 13,475 BTU/lb maximum power fuel air mixture of 6.975:1

So, per 100# of air consumption...

100/12.5 = 8 lbs of gasoline @ 19,000 BTU/lb = 152,000 BTU = 100% (baseline)

100/6.975 = 14.337 lbs of E85 @ 13,475 BTU/lb = 193,189.9 BTU = 127% heat energy of baseline

This means less fuel/air mixture is needed to propel a vehicle with E85 than the same car with gasoline.

In addition, E85 burns cooler, which reduces heat losses to the cooling system. It also produces more exhaust gas volume than gasoline, which provides more "push" to the engine's rotating assembly during the power stroke. Also, E85 burn characteristics during the fast burn phase (after TDC) are more thorough, which means more useful work is done in a shorter time period (the best mechanical advantage to apply pressure to the rotating assembly of the engine is in the first few degrees after TDC). In the area of intake charge management, because E85 has a wider flamability limit, over-rich and over-lean conditions are far less likely (one of the reasons e85 produces fewer unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide). And the biggest bang for the buck in my estimation is that, because E85 has a higher evaporative cooling characteristics than gasoline, you can run leaner fuel/air mixtures without detonation.

Don't agree? Take a look at the Koenigsegg CCXR... the 1018hp version of the CCX. Their engineers managed to eek an additional _200_ horsepower out of their already impressive CCX by tuning the CCX engine for E85. Yowza!

 

XXL your a monster thanks for putting the science behind E85 most People think E85 is a bad thing because they run it in flexfuel engines which is tuned for both and get crappy mileage with E85 but with an E85 tuned engine you can get decent mileage and gobs of power. I am done with this subject cause everyone has there own opinion and I really dont care who is right or wrong I run 93 in my engine cause thats what I feel like running.

 

any body tried aviation fuel yet
I have been putting 87 in my 2.4 for quite awhile from a Valero station in Stockton and last Thursday I went to a Chevron in San Ramon and put in 91 on accident There pumps are reversed from all other stations I use. Then tonight i was out farting around town and made a Uturn and had another car try to go out and around me so I dropped the hammer and launched passed the other Ahole (I think it was a sea bring) but maybe its just because I was driving my wifes Surban earlier in the day but sure as hell felt like 91 added more go to the motor

Any body know how to can up a FART and tune the engine to run off it my wife made some Chile the other night holy hell ran the dog right out of the room it was at least 120 octane.So whats the BTU on a beer and Chile fart

lol just Stirring up the pot a little

 

In my younger years I used to do a lot of camping. When unleaded gasoline first came on the market, we used to use it in our coleman stoves for cooking becaues it was much cheaper then coleman fuel. I haven't checked lately but what is a gallon of coleman fuel run these days?