WEDGE WORLD Tech
From Hughes Engines
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World of Mopar wedge engines
Issue #15 Gasoline Octane Etc.
Gasoline is the fuel we burn in our engines to make the power we want…
Think of the flames you see when you slowly turn on the burner on your gas stove, it goes “woomph!” As the flame runs around the burner, that is a beautiful sounds, gas being ignited and burning rapidly-expanding. Gasoline has an octane rating that tells you how much pressure the burning gasoline will tolerate before it detonates. You don’t want detonation - IT DESTROYS PARTS!! Think of setting your pistons on a railroad track and hitting it with a sledge hammer, that’s detonation - “It goes bam!”
Anyway, the higher octane gasoline you use, the more pressure (compression ratio) your engine can tolerate in the combustion without “BAM.”(That is a part destroying sound) and you can use parts like cams, heads, and pistons that provide the power you want. The object is to have as much cylinder pressure as possible with the octane you are going to use ALL THE TIME. We get some poor misguided individuals who think they can build an engine with high cylinder pressure (high compression) that requires 105 octane when they race but only 89 octane when they drive it on the street. Where do these people come from??? Maybe they just change to low compression pistons when they drive on the street! Duh!
They probably read this type of nonsense in chat rooms.
High powered engines require high octane gas. If you can’t afford to run it for a drive to Walmart then don’t. Don’t ruin your engine with low octane gas just because you want to race Saturday and the next day take your girlfriend for a Sunday drive.
