Do you run premium or regular in your 1965 383 2 barels
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Newport 66
Old Man with a Hat
I run premium in all my cycles, mowers, blowers and in my 66 and 69 Mopars. All "regular" gas here has ethanol in it (min.10%) and is usually 87 or 89 octane. The premium fuels have no ethanol and are 92 octane. Performance is better, it stores longer and doesn't corrode the fuel systems.
mrfury68
Senior Member
The 89 octane mid grade today is way different than it was back in the day. The ethanol is wreaking havoc on fuel systems in everything that runs on gas. I too use premium in my Fury as well as all of my small engines. I also use Sea Foam in all of my fuel. Especially for the small engines that sit over the winter months. It helps to stabilize the fuel.
68 4spd Fury
Senior Member
I use the non-ethanol premium. It costs more obviously but the car runs better with no knocking. Don't know about Canada but in New York you can only get non ethanol in 91-92 octane premium. You have to look for it though, not all brands offer premium as ethanol free.
Aquaman
Member
No-E High Test! for all the above reasons. My 68 383 also Knocks with the low grade stuff.
jct
Senior Member
mine doesn't ping on 87 octane yet
I do drive cross border often enough to notice that certain stations promote or advertise ethanol free premium gas from Watertown NY all the way down to PA and Joisey.
On the Canuck side,I use Shell V-Power,and when in the U.S anything with no ethanol.
Only non-ethanol in the highest octane that I can find if I have to get fuel while on the road. A tip for finding non-ethanol, look around a body of water or find a marina. There was an app called pure gas that would locate non-E gas around you.
MrMoparCHP
Old Man with a Hat
ALL gas in California is ethanol, no getting non-ethanol at the lakes, etc. The only non-ethanol in California is aviation fuel and you do not want to run it in you car without mixing it (also not legal to pump into car).
Just run the regular unless it is pinging, then go to the mid grade unless it is pinging, then go to premium.
Alan
Just run the regular unless it is pinging, then go to the mid grade unless it is pinging, then go to premium.
Alan
A useful site, although a little out of date. Gives you a starting point for your search.
When our '66 Newport Town Sedan (383 2bbl) was new, it clattered on normal regular gas back then, although it was spec'd to run it. So we used premium as a matter of course. This was in '67 and later (we got it when it was a year old).
When I started driving it to college, I continued to use premium as every time I tried anything of lesser octane, it clattered on acceleration. I was also able to advance the base timing from 12.5 degrees BTDC to 15 degrees BTDC with no problems.
Regular grade gas, back then was 95 Research Octane fuel. Premium was 99-100 Research Octane fuel. A pump octane label of "95" would be the same as 99 Research Octane, by my calculations back then.
In reality, set the timing to specs (12.5 degrees BTDC) and see how it runs on "93" pump octane fuel. Then back it down a notch to "midgrade" and see how it works.
Although all of the engines were built to the same specs, there was "a range" of allowable power output from each of them. Some worked with "regular", others needed "premium", by observation. Don't worry about what the factory specs were back then, just use what works best in YOUR car for the way you drive it.
"Research Octane" is NOT what the "Pump Octane" number is. Back then, many knew the difference (what the (R+M)/2 equation represented), but probably not that way anymore as that's the only number many NOW understand or know about. I believe there's a decent explanation in Wikipedia. ALL of the service manual/owners manual literature from that 1965 era uses "Research Octane".
Also, in those earlier days, every major gasoline company distributed their own gasoline, typically. NOT that way any more! A contract carrier pulls up and dumps their gasoline load. They picked it up at "a terminal" and brought it to the designated station. So, as long as the brand is "Top Tier Fuel", that's all you really need to know, regardless of which brand it's sold as, best I can tell. Things are much more generic now than in prior decades, but DO buy the "good brands" rather than "no-name" stuff.
In those prior times, some brands just seemed to work better in some engines than in others, too. Things you could feel in throttle response and whether or not it trace-rattled on acceleration. THAT much difference, even with the name brand/major brand fuels, by observation. And, of course, all of the electronics on modern engines have numbed how things work with various fuels, too.
So, find what works best in YOUR car, starting with "Premium" and working down in octane at the factory settings. If you might be able to get it to work well by backing the base timing back to 10 degrees BTDC, with the "Mid-Grade 89" pump octane, that might work too if $$$ is important.
Key thing is to have it tuned as well as it can be tuned, for best mpg, at which ever octane level you end up.
CBODY67
When I started driving it to college, I continued to use premium as every time I tried anything of lesser octane, it clattered on acceleration. I was also able to advance the base timing from 12.5 degrees BTDC to 15 degrees BTDC with no problems.
Regular grade gas, back then was 95 Research Octane fuel. Premium was 99-100 Research Octane fuel. A pump octane label of "95" would be the same as 99 Research Octane, by my calculations back then.
In reality, set the timing to specs (12.5 degrees BTDC) and see how it runs on "93" pump octane fuel. Then back it down a notch to "midgrade" and see how it works.
Although all of the engines were built to the same specs, there was "a range" of allowable power output from each of them. Some worked with "regular", others needed "premium", by observation. Don't worry about what the factory specs were back then, just use what works best in YOUR car for the way you drive it.
"Research Octane" is NOT what the "Pump Octane" number is. Back then, many knew the difference (what the (R+M)/2 equation represented), but probably not that way anymore as that's the only number many NOW understand or know about. I believe there's a decent explanation in Wikipedia. ALL of the service manual/owners manual literature from that 1965 era uses "Research Octane".
Also, in those earlier days, every major gasoline company distributed their own gasoline, typically. NOT that way any more! A contract carrier pulls up and dumps their gasoline load. They picked it up at "a terminal" and brought it to the designated station. So, as long as the brand is "Top Tier Fuel", that's all you really need to know, regardless of which brand it's sold as, best I can tell. Things are much more generic now than in prior decades, but DO buy the "good brands" rather than "no-name" stuff.
In those prior times, some brands just seemed to work better in some engines than in others, too. Things you could feel in throttle response and whether or not it trace-rattled on acceleration. THAT much difference, even with the name brand/major brand fuels, by observation. And, of course, all of the electronics on modern engines have numbed how things work with various fuels, too.
So, find what works best in YOUR car, starting with "Premium" and working down in octane at the factory settings. If you might be able to get it to work well by backing the base timing back to 10 degrees BTDC, with the "Mid-Grade 89" pump octane, that might work too if $$$ is important.
Key thing is to have it tuned as well as it can be tuned, for best mpg, at which ever octane level you end up.
CBODY67
70bigblockdodge
Old Man with a Hat
Whatever is cheap from a busy station (no stale gas). I don't have anything that will run on less than 89 mid grade.
Only thing I've had problems with on ethonol is chain saws and weed wackers (plastic fuel tubes fall to pieces) you will get some jelly/snot like crap that forms in float bowls but after 5-6 years of random driving you will probably need to re-gasket it anyway.
Only thing I've had problems with on ethonol is chain saws and weed wackers (plastic fuel tubes fall to pieces) you will get some jelly/snot like crap that forms in float bowls but after 5-6 years of random driving you will probably need to re-gasket it anyway.
It seems that if the car is a "daily use" vehicle, no real issues with ethano'd fuel. IF the neoprene/rubber ever is dry for a while, then it can get brittle and fail. NOT discounting that it dries the rubber fuel lines from the inside out! Or that "an acid" can result from contact with some metals in the fuel system! Nothing happens "immediately", but over time. The first reformulated/oxygenated fuel had about 4.5% ethanol, with MTBE making up the rest of the 10% oxygenate. That was in the earlier 1990s. Only after MTBE showed up in municipal water supplies (from atmospheric fallout from automotive exhaust emissions) did the ethanol get to be "Up to 10%".
CBODY67
CBODY67
Newport 66
Old Man with a Hat
Ethanol doesn't store at All! You can treat it with sta-bil, SeaFoam or whatever and it still rusts and corrodes metal fuel components and deteriorates rubber lines, seals etc. I know this from experience unfortunately. Yes, ok on a daily driver as stated if it meets your requirements for octane and performance, but for occasional use or term storage vehicles..no way!!
Do the search for ethanol-free gas in your area. Just don't expect to find it in anything except 87 pump octane. There might be some gas stations that also sell "unleaded 100 Research Octane fuel", from a pump. It'll be expensive, though.
When I did the e-free search a year or so ago, I found that some convenience store chain/gas stations were selling e-free gas exclusively. Most were in the Midwest, though. Full range of octane choices. In more recent times, many are now adding E15 at 7 cents/gallon less than E10.
CBODY67
When I did the e-free search a year or so ago, I found that some convenience store chain/gas stations were selling e-free gas exclusively. Most were in the Midwest, though. Full range of octane choices. In more recent times, many are now adding E15 at 7 cents/gallon less than E10.
CBODY67
That sucks for classic CA gear heads, but I guess that's what the voters want. Care to elaborate why you say that AvGas shouldn't be run in cars, specifically old/classic/antique cars? Sine the op is asking about a 65' 383 I assume that you are applying this to the pre catalytic converter/hardened valve seat engines.
78Brougham
"Chump"
I run 100 LL Avgas in my '67 Imperial, my '73 Imperial when I still had it, my '79 300, my '72 MGB, my '77 Lotus and my '89 Lotus. Great stuff. Obviously you don't want to put it in anything with cat.
It's nothing more than good old fashioned leaded gas, 100 octane of course, tinted blue (like windshield washer fluid).
Even smells good when burning it. Oh, I also run it in my lawn equipment to towards the end of the year, that way everything starts in the spring.
As far as the road tax thing, the FAA gets the tax revenue as well as your states' DOT Aviation Branch. The money collected from the sales of aviation fuel goes into a big pot and is used for airport improvement projects, so don't feel guilty, believe me you're paying taxes.
It's not cheap however, $4.75 Here at my airport.
It's nothing more than good old fashioned leaded gas, 100 octane of course, tinted blue (like windshield washer fluid).
Even smells good when burning it. Oh, I also run it in my lawn equipment to towards the end of the year, that way everything starts in the spring.
As far as the road tax thing, the FAA gets the tax revenue as well as your states' DOT Aviation Branch. The money collected from the sales of aviation fuel goes into a big pot and is used for airport improvement projects, so don't feel guilty, believe me you're paying taxes.
It's not cheap however, $4.75 Here at my airport.
I also burn 100LL. Sometimes I'll mix in a little unleaded non-E. No problems here. I tuned my car close to factory specs and my car seems to love it. My only problem is getting fuel in quantity since they wont let me pull up to the pump. I think I paid $4.35 last week, so it's not the cheapest, but my car is a weekend cruiser so I really don't care so much about price as long as it's good for the car. Oh, and no guilt felt here just in case anyone is worried.
Buster Hyman
New Member
My 67 383/2 barrel runs fine on regular but I add a little tcw3 2 stoke oil thinned with marvel mystery oil.
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