Aviation fuel is great, it is 100 octane and ethanol free...but the show-stopping reason that you couldn't use it in your car was that it was leaded. Until now that
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08-25-2023, 11:18 AM | #1 (permalink) |
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In the next couple years, you'll be able to fill up with aviation fuel
Aviation fuel is great, it is 100 octane and ethanol free...but the show-stopping reason that you couldn't use it in your car was that it was leaded.
Until now that is; for 'environmental-reasons' in the next couple of years unleaded aviation fuel will become available and will gradually phase out the leaded version. It will still be 100 octane and ethanol free, but now fully usable in a car. Could it be a E85 alternative to those wanting to get more power from their Z? It could also be an option for those who want ethanol-free gas but isn't available in their market. Lastly, if you live long enough till after the last gas stations have been shut down in your area (long time, talking the year 2050+), aviation fuel or avgas as its also called may be the only way to still get gas for your ICE sports car. Last edited by viiv; 08-25-2023 at 11:23 AM. |
08-25-2023, 12:19 PM | #2 (permalink) |
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An SCCA instructor at my last track day was preaching about how great Avgas is in his dedicated track cars. We don’t have E85 fuel nearby so I guess avgas is the next best thing besides spending big bucks for high octane race gas. For any track cars without catalytic converters it seems like you can start using avgas now even though it’s leaded fuel
For a road car though it doesn’t make much sense because I’ve heard a lot of airports won’t sell it unless it’s directly being pumped into a plane. Probably have to find a small airport somewhere that overlooks the rules and let’s you fill up some fuel jugs Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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08-25-2023, 03:57 PM | #3 (permalink) |
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Dunno about Canada, but in the southern US it is not legal to use AVGAS in a car because it doesn’t have road tax in the price, like pump gasoline does.
Farm diesel is similar, no road tax on it either. So farmers ain’t supposed to using it in thier pickups. This was the case even when we still had leaded pump gas available. Yes I am that old, and grew up at the airport.
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08-25-2023, 05:57 PM | #4 (permalink) |
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Off road diesel is dyed red. There is no road tax on it. Over the road diesel is a light green/clear tint. Big fine if you get caught with a red tint diesel fuel in your fuel tank.
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08-26-2023, 09:51 PM | #6 (permalink) |
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As a user of 100LL in my airplane, and as an Aircraft maintenance dude, I can tell you, the only reason they use 100 LL (Low Lead) is to prevent detonation in LARGER, high compression piston engines.
There used to be two grades 80/87 and 100/130. The slash represented to the left the lean octane rating and rich rating to the right. The smaller engines could use 80/87 but obviously the higher compression engines needed at least 100. In WWII planes they needed 130 Octane for supercharged, high altitude flyers so thats what they only made. Eventually, someone saw that it was too costly and cumbersome to store and maintain two types of aviation gas, so 100LL was born to be used safely ALL types of engines. Lead was added as the cheapest form of octane boost and made in only one facility in the world, in England. As we all know ( or should know) Octane rating does not made more HP. It burns at a slower rate or resistant to early ignition to to high cylinder temps, to prevent detonation. Timing can be adjusted, but gains would be minimal. In fact, 87 octane has the same heat energy as 94 octane. Enter Ethanol and Alcohol. Back to airplanes. A lot of samller piston engine aircraft owners can and do use 94 Octane. Some airports provide that service known as MoGas. Certified aircraft need certification. However, it ALL needs to be Ethanol free. Since 100LL was the standard, piston aircraft manufacturers, engine and parts manufacturers did not make airplane fuel systems compatible with ethanol. Dont fix whats not broke or Required. Here we are in 2023 and the mandate for NO Lead gas has pushed the invention of 100UL. Cost more than AvGas and gonna take a long time to set up. Unfortunately, only a couple of manufactures, and only one really shipping out. So stick to your 93 or 94 octane and deal with Ethanol. Canada use to have Ethanol free from Chevron 94 octane and Shell 93. Often same or very close to Aviation 100LL. I just stuck with 100LL for the plane. It would have been nickle and dime and a pain in the A$$ to Gerry can. As of 2022, current Canadian govm't mandated Ethanol to up to 10% in all Auto gas. The Lead is bad for everything. It's poisonous, it fouls Spark plugs (balls of lead), covers the belly with grey soot (like clay) and we can't use synthetic oils because they do not scavenge the Lead blow-by like mineral oil. Hope that clarify's a few things about 100LL and 100UL.
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08-26-2023, 10:41 PM | #7 (permalink) |
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100LL is about $6/gal here without road taxes.
I prefer E85 at $2.84/gal.
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