Gas - 90 Octane

[usranger74]

My 07 Nomad (new to me) needs 90 octane or better gas. Problem is, in rural NE and IA (and maybe everywhere) a lot of gas stations do not carry Premium gas. The closest you can get to it is 89 octane which has 10% corn it]n it.

Also noted - a lot of stations that do offer Premium gas offer it with 10% corn.

Several questions if I may

1. If I can't find Premium, should I use regular w/o corn (87 octane) or mid-grade with corn and 89 octane.

2. Does anyone use an octane booster?

I seldom ride Interstates where this is not a problem, but out in the hinterland I need a "gas" plan

Txs

Bill

[ells]

Mid grade will be fine as long as you don't get pinging. Running one of the fuel processors (see lots of threads here) would allow you to use regular all the time without worries.

[Cajunrider]

What Ells said +1.

[MarkG]

I use 87 with no pinging and have never had any problems. Some of the guys can't go that low.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

I use 89 octane or better. I do have the Cobra FI2000R fuel processor so could probably use the 87 octane. I try to get the straight gas if at all possible. Nothing against corn but I don't want it in my fuel tank. Unless you have a fuel processor I would use the 89 octane. I would try to run as close to the 90 octane as possible.

[zoom45]

I use 87 and it's fine but mine is a carbed bike. I can't tell any difference in 87 or 93.
Zoom45

[ringadingh]

As long as it doesn't ping, your ok with 87 - 89 octane. Thats something you will have to try for yourself and see how it runs.
Usually climbing an uphill grade at 50 - 60 mph will let you know if its pinging or not.
Or you can install a fuel processor like others have said and then you should be able to run regular gas with no problems.

[snarleybill08]

yep, i got the cobra 2000r fuel proccessor and run 87 all the time. more. power too.

[jd01]

I use 87 and it's fine but mine is a carbed bike. I can't tell any difference in 87 or 93.
Zoom45

Same here

[Jared]

I use the cheap stuff too and I don't get any pinging. In Utah the gas doesn't have any ethanol.

[usranger74]

Good day:

I want to thank you for the good advise. In fact I am adding cobra 2000r fuel processor.

As far as pinging goes, heck I don't know If I would hear it!! Is it really that loud?

Bill

[ringadingh]

You should be able to hear it ping, its like a fast paced knock in rapid succession that youll hear mainly when the motor is under load.

[ponch]

I live in Iowa and the 89 makes my bike ping. Oh well.


My 07 Nomad (new to me) needs 90 octane or better gas. Problem is, in rural NE and IA (and maybe everywhere) a lot of gas stations do not carry Premium gas. The closest you can get to it is 89 octane which has 10% corn it]n it.

Also noted - a lot of stations that do offer Premium gas offer it with 10% corn.

Several questions if I may

1. If I can't find Premium, should I use regular w/o corn (87 octane) or mid-grade with corn and 89 octane.

2. Does anyone use an octane booster?

I seldom ride Interstates where this is not a problem, but out in the hinterland I need a "gas" plan

Txs

Bill

[flavor]

Hot day going up a hill with less than 90 octane was a definite ping for my bike. Now with the Dobeck TFI, I could probably pee in the gas tank and the bike wouldn't knock.

[macmac]

There is more bang for the buck in regular gas.. A part of the reason I go further is that bang. Hi octanes has pre ignition reducers in it which slow the burn rate, so it won't fire the mix before it should, and for high compression engines, which the Nomad isn't.

The ping is solely caused by the overly lean mix. The area of overly lean is at idle, and lower rpm power bands exactly where we want power.

The corn is just filler, and does nothing but take up space. More or less this means you have 10% less fuel in the tank that is useable.

The best thing I can say about corn in the fuel is that if you get rain in the tank you stand a better chance of mixing the rain into the gas.

These engines are not designed to burn ethanol, we are just being cheated of 10% gas every fill up. Unless you live in Utah I guess.

I can get 100% gas from Marinas if i want, since most won't sell fuel that attracts water. So far I never have. Pumps there are designed for a boat to pull up to, and so I would need a truck and a few gas jugs, and before I usually get done with a ride I need more fuel.

So far as I am concered we all need a fuel modual, even if it is the only thing we ever do to a Nomad.

Just installing them I can see the engine look relived and not need to strain to just run at idle.

[blowndodge]

I saw some corn this morning!! http://s2.images.proboards.com/grin.gif

[timebandit]

I run corn with a tfi.

I guess you could call it running "Processed Corn" http://s2.images.proboards.com/grin.gif

[MAS Tequila]

Find out if it run without pinging on regular. If it will then run that. You'll save a few pennies, but more important you won't carbon up as fast. The higher octane fuel lowers the combustion temp and this will cause the unburned fuel to carbon up your engine. Especially on FI bikes.

Don't ask me how I know.

The ethanol is fine. It hurts nothing.

MT

[Yellow Jacket]

. . . The ethanol is fine. It hurts nothing.

Except your fuel mileage, it's pretty well documented that E85 gets at least 25% to 33% fewer miles per gallon than undiluted gasoline.

http://zfacts.com/p/436.html

[MAS Tequila]

Not any more. The newer Flex-Fuel vehicles get about the same. If the FI is set up where it can compensate for the different fuels mileage won't suffer. My '07 F150 mileage doesn't drop on E85.

I saw a review on TV recently with a vehicle that actually got better mileage on the ethanol than straight gas.

As Dylan sang 'The times they are a changin'.

MT

[ponch]

My suburban gets about 4 mpg less with E85, if not more at times. When I went to Colorado and used non-ethanol gas, my mileage went to as high as 19 on the highway at 75 mph. That ain't happening with corn based crap back in Iowa.


Not any more. The newer Flex-Fuel vehicles get about the same. If the FI is set up where it can compensate for the different fuels mileage won't suffer. My '07 F150 mileage doesn't drop on E85.

I saw a review on TV recently with a vehicle that actually got better mileage on the ethanol than straight gas.

As Dylan sang 'The times they are a changin'.

MT

[flavor]

I never even heard of E-85 until this post. In RI almost every gas station has 10% ethanol. And I've never heard anyone call it
E-10.

Either way gimmie straight gas for my engines. (I don't own anything made to run on flex fuel).