Pump Gas

What do you consider pump gas?


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From a discussion on a thread yesterday, I want to know your thoughts on what defines "pump gas."

Whatever the highest you can get out of the pump that's "standard" fuel. in other words, no race fuel. Lots of places sell race gas right out of the pump......at least they do here.

That said, When I do a build for me, I want it to be able to run on 87. End of story.
 
Whatever the highest you can get out of the pump that's "standard" fuel. in other words, no race fuel. Lots of places sell race gas right out of the pump......at least they do here.

That said, When I do a build for me, I want it to be able to run on 87. End of story.
I guess the whole thing with pump gas to me are the racers who say pump gas, but never say if it's 87, 89, 93, e85 or whatever. It has always made me wonder what they're really pumping.
 
pump gas is whatever they sell at the local gas station

if they sell 110, then 110 is pump gas

if you're an engine builder, i expect your "pump gas" engine to run well on 91
 
pump gas is whatever they sell at the local gas station

if they sell 110, then 110 is pump gas

if you're an engine builder, i expect your "pump gas" engine to run well on 91

110 is leaded race gas man. That's not even in the same ball park. Pump gas is legal to be driven on the road in a vehicle. Race gas is not.
 
To me, a "pump gas" claim means it will run on premium available at any corner gas station, not what comes out of a pump. In cali that means 91 octane (at best) with 10% alcohol. Pump gas e85 to me is not pump gas, because at best, one in a hundred stations have e85 pumps here, and even fewer pump 100 octane unleaded.
My cars can run on the crap premium here, but i now have access to 100LL avgas, so i run a little sweetener, cause i can.
I tend to disbelieve anybody that claims their power-adder car runs on pump gas.
 
Yes, pump 91 premium. But would be more impressive if it ran well on 87.

The problem is the regulations on pump fuel. They can vary from state to state but the commonality is that low grade pump fuel can have (and usually does) way more fillers and junk, more detergents and other additives that I can’t think of than premium pump fuel.

The regs for premium pump fuel are much more strict. They (whoever is blending the fuel) can’t just add in a bunch of cheap fillers and send it.

Even premium pump fuel has a bunch of detergent in it and like I said other stuff but nowhere near what the low grade fuel has.

Even if you are going to run an additive to clean the fuel up a bit (they make them and if you are going to beat on a pump gas engine especially if the RPM will be over about it 6000ish you should probably use one because the burn rate of pump fuel isn’t designed to use that much or more RPM) you have to make sure it is chelated. If it’s not it may raise the octane but it won’t clean up the additives in pump gas.

Most of this is going off my memory from however long ago OBDII came along, because IIRC when that hit they changed the formulation of the fuel.

I know I’m pretty close on it though.
 
General knowledge. When you walk into a engine builders shop and say you want your engine to run on pump gas, he doesn't say "ok, I'll set it up to require 110". LOL That's racing fuel. Pump gas is when you can pull up to ANY gas station across the fruited plains of this great country and "fill-er-up" without issue. That is a engine that runs off of pump gas. I didn't even take the poll. Aviation fuel comes from a pump too... LOL
 
The problem is the regulations on pump fuel. They can vary from state to state but the commonality is that low grade pump fuel can have (and usually does) way more fillers and junk, more detergents and other additives that I can’t think of than premium pump fuel.

The regs for premium pump fuel are much more strict. They (whoever is blending the fuel) can’t just add in a bunch of cheap fillers and send it.

Even premium pump fuel has a bunch of detergent in it and like I said other stuff but nowhere near what the low grade fuel has.

Even if you are going to run an additive to clean the fuel up a bit (they make them and if you are going to beat on a pump gas engine especially if the RPM will be over about it 6000ish you should probably use one because the burn rate of pump fuel isn’t designed to use that much or more RPM) you have to make sure it is chelated. If it’s not it may raise the octane but it won’t clean up the additives in pump gas.

Most of this is going off my memory from however long ago OBDII came along, because IIRC when that hit they changed the formulation of the fuel.

I know I’m pretty close on it though.
What fuel additive would you recommend?
 
General knowledge. When you walk into a engine builders shop and say you want your engine to run on pump gas, he doesn't say "ok, I'll set it up to require 110". LOL That's racing fuel. Pump gas is when you can pull up to ANY gas station across the fruited plains of this great country and "fill-er-up" without issue. That is a engine that runs off of pump gas.
So let's say somebody has a "pump gas" engine built to run on 93 and it might be at the very edge of safely running 93 (unbeknownst to the owner since they didn't build it), takes said engine across the country to somewhere where the "premium" gas may not be as good as their state's, like Oregon or California where their top tier is 91 and may not be the quality of gas the engine was built for. This is exactly why I say there is no generic, cut and dry pump gas definition that works across the board. Even e85 has been proven to be of different ethanol content across several stations. I have had issues with one stations 87 vs another station, and that's local to me. My opinion, the pump gas terminology has to have a qualifier, it can't be generic.
 
So let's say somebody has a "pump gas" engine built to run on 93 and it might be at the very edge of safely running 93 (unbeknownst to the owner since they didn't build it), takes said engine across the country to somewhere where the "premium" gas may not be as good as their state's, like Oregon or California where their top tier is 91 and may not be the quality of gas the engine was built for. This is exactly why I say there is no generic, cut and dry pump gas definition that works across the board. Even e85 has been proven to be of different ethanol content across several stations. I have had issues with one stations 87 vs another station, and that's local to me. My opinion, the pump gas terminology has to have a qualifier, it can't be generic.
LOL.. If your engine lives on the edge with 93 and 91 detonates it, then you need race gas mix though you survive on 93. I'll say it again, pump gas means you can pull into Casey's, Walmart, BP, Phillip 66, Kwik Star, grab whatever the best they have and fill er up and head on out on your merry way.
 
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