A few of the previous postings re carbs and pinking, have brought to mind a
question I have had sitting at the back of my mind for a while with regards
to what gas I should be burning in my 1968 MGB and whether or not I should use
octane boost. I'll try to state the question succinctly but the engineer in me
wants to explain it in excruciating circular detail until it has been totaly
obfuscated :)
Anyway I have a 1968 canadian spec MGB (That shouldn't be much of a suprise
since I live in Canada, but their aren't that many of them due to the influx
of US spec cars over the years) (Aside, canadian spec 1968 cars still have
the metal dash, but have the full syncro transmission, negative ground, and
NO polution control IMHO the best possible MGB, but then I'm biased :). The
owners manual states the for the high compression engine which I have, to use
leaded gas with octane of 98 or higher. My car has had the head converted over
to run on unleaded gas (Hardend valve seats, Stelite valves, bronze valve
guides), but the highest octane available is only 92 for super unleaded.
The question(s) is (yes, there is a question here), should I use octane boost
with this gas in my car. I have not really had any problems with gas in my car
except when I was traveling through the states last year. The gas I was getting
down there seem to cause slugish response and poor idle, but it seem to get
better with a can of octane boost. (Although I was told my problems could
be due to increased amounts of alchol in U.S. gas, as apperently it can have a
larger percentage than is allowed in Canada).
If I use octane boost, can I expect any problems, gumming up of things?
Is all this a non issue, are there different ways of measuring octane. If so
how do you convert between "british" octane and "North american" octane?
Gary Burrell
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