would higher octane gas? help?

[Scorpion1]

Did a search and kinda found some of the answers I was looking for but no one really elaborated on "mods". I have a CAI and true duals on this car and Ill be hollowing the cats as the mufflers the previous owner put on it are pretty restrictive. Would this increase airflow enough to use at least medium grade octane gas in my car? its a 99 3.8l. I know Ive run high octane in my Neon and 2k3 4.2l olds bravada and noticed much better mileage and a minor pick up. Should I just wait till I chip it?

[girlandherstang]

i've always been told that u don't really need it with the CAI unless u get the chip. but don't hold me 100% to that. the more experienced peeps on here could give u a better answer. but as far as my knowledge goes i don't think so, i wouldn't with the way gas prices are now a days...

[Scorpion1]

alright, thanks for the help.

[SimplyOrange]

you can run premium octane fuel already,the programmer is not a requirement to run higher octane. when you run the programmer, u set it to 93 octane and then you have to run premium fuel but its an option in the programmer. the cats wont change a thing as far as what octane you can run, btw i dont reccomend gutting the cats, i just had a car come in with gutted cats and it was creating turbulence in the exhaust and burning 02 sensors so the car wouldnt run right. i suggest getting an o/r h pipe.

[SpectorV]

if the car is not tuned for it it is a waste of time to run anything other than regular.

[SimplyOrange]

agreed but it wont hurt anything

[05RedDevil]

Higher octane will burn cleaner. Is that worth an extra 20 cents per gallon? And there will be a bit more power but who can notice 1 or 2 hp?

[girlandherstang]

yeah about the cats, i had mentioned to my dad that 'didn't u take mom's off on her firebird?' he said ya but u couldn't really take em off of mine b/c of the computer. my mom's car doesn't have one, so it wouldn't screw things up them not being there. other than the fact that it stinks like crap.

[PureVenom]

The only thing running higher octane gas will help you with is your power to weight ratio after filling up. If you're not tuned for 93, all you're doing is pulling more money out of your wallet than you need to.

[SimplyOrange]

Quote: Originally Posted by girlandherstang yeah about the cats, i had mentioned to my dad that 'didn't u take mom's off on her firebird?' he said ya but u couldn't really take em off of mine b/c of the computer. my mom's car doesn't have one, so it wouldn't screw things up them not being there. other than the fact that it stinks like crap.

they make mil eliminaters and programmers let you turn off the o2s, thats not why they mess up, if you gut the cats, it creates a hot air pocket inside of the system that overheats the sensor and doesent let it operate correctly.

[girlandherstang]

yeah i had read about that in another post, doesn't sound worth it to me. lol i don't know what i'm going to be getting. just have to see.

[Scorpion1]

Id love to just eliminate them but it needs to pass a visual inspection every year. Them being MIA=FAIL. I guess Ill get dynomax bullet mufflers and slip em in where the cats belong. Id assume this would eliminate the nasty turbulance...

[PureVenom]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scorpion1 Id love to just eliminate them but it needs to pass a visual inspection every year. Them being MIA=FAIL. I guess Ill get dynomax bullet mufflers and slip em in where the cats belong. Id assume this would eliminate the nasty turbulance...

Do what a guy that wanted to buy the stock cats off my car was doing...

Buy an offroad piple...take your cats and cut them down the middle. weld them in over top of the pipe giving the impression there are cats there....all the while you still have a clear free flowing pipe wearing a cat scarf.

[SimplyOrange]

Quote: Originally Posted by PureVenom Do what a guy that wanted to buy the stock cats off my car was doing... Buy an offroad piple...take your cats and cut them down the middle. weld them in over top of the pipe giving the impression there are cats there....all the while you still have a clear free flowing pipe wearing a cat scarf.

that is fucking genius!!!! i would do it in a heartbeat...

[Scorpion1]

I talked to a buddy of mine who used to hollow them out and run a pipe down the middle. I think I may try that, no evidence of being "modified"

[jedwards242000]

the reason for higher octane gas is to raise the detonation point, for instance high compression engines need it and boosted engines need it aslo when you tune your car to run on it, it advances the timing to give the car more power howevever doing this requires higher octane gas , it reduces the pinging and detonation, the way it does this is its harder to burn, than lower octane gas, thus if you use a higher octane gas on a vehicle that doesnt need it you wont gain any advantage over reg gas in some cases dyno results have proved you actually lose hp

[Scorpion1]

Quote: Originally Posted by jedwards242000 the reason for higher octane gas is to raise the detonation point, for instance high compression engines need it and boosted engines need it aslo when you tune your car to run on it, it advances the timing to give the car more power howevever doing this requires higher octane gas , it reduces the pinging and detonation, the way it does this is its harder to burn, than lower octane gas, thus if you use a higher octane gas on a vehicle that doesnt need it you wont gain any advantage over reg gas in some cases dyno results have proved you actually lose hp

Good info. Thanks for all the help guys.