Laurie, They might have used gasoline with an octane rating of 110 octane,
but it was a different method of rating octane than what is used today. It
is comparing apples and oranges to compare today's octane rating to the ones
used in the past. The ratings at the pumps today use the average between
the two methods (motor protocol and research protocol).

As far as adding mothballs to gasoline, I recommend you read the attached
cut from the Landfield Group, it can be extremely dangerous and expensive to
add mothballs to your gas.

Can mothballs increase octane?

The legend of mothballs as an octane enhancer arose well before WWII when
naphthalene was used as the active ingredient. Today, the majority of
mothballs use para-dichlorobenzene in place of naphthalene, so choose
carefully if you wish to experiment :-). There have been some concerns about
the toxicity of para-dichlorobenzene, and naphthalene mothballs have again
become popular. In the 1920s, typical gasoline octane ratings were 40-60
[11], and during the 1930s and 40s, the ratings increased by approximately
20
units as alkyl leads and improved refining processes became widespread [12].

Naphthalene has a blending motor octane number of 90 [52], so the addition
of
a significant amount of mothballs could increase the octane, and they were
soluble in gasoline. The amount usually required to appreciably increase the
octane also had some adverse effects. The most obvious was due to the high
melting point ( 80C ), when the fuel evaporated the naphthalene would
precipitate out, blocking jets and filters. With modern gasolines,
naphthalene is more likely to reduce the octane rating, and the amount
required for low octane fuels will also create operational and emissions
problems.

If you are interested in reading more about gas and octane visit:

http://www.r-t-o-l.com/laboratory/learning/faq1.htm#q20


"Laurie Sokol" wrote in message
news:erlfc.40886$rg5.70428@attbi_s52...
50:1 is cool, itsa liquid cooled motor. More oil burns plugs. Plugs are
cheap. Top end jobs are not. OMC motors come with cranks mated to a block.
Blow it up and it's an anchor. Today's synthetic lubes can be run as lean
as
100:1. I prefer regular oil at 50:1. I also add one mothball to 20 gallons
of 90 octane. Don't do it to a catalytic convertor on your chevy...but
they
used to make 110 plus octane in 1973. You'll feel the difference. Most
OMC's
(johnson evinrude ford;industrial) will provide a port in the water jacket
allowing for an external water temp guage...stay below 185 degrees F.
Maybe
go 1 step colder on plugs. If you're nervous go 32:1 on oil, but carry a
spare set of plugs.

peace out

G
"John Smith" wrote in message
news:y4bfc.142795$JO3.84436@attbi_s04...
According to the experts, premium gas run in engines designed for
regular
gas does not improve performance and will actually hurt performance.
While
there are some people who swear the engine runs better using premium,
the
experts say they must have smoked too much pot and have fried their
brain
cells.


Why use premium gas when regular will do?
By James R. Healey, USA TODAY
Marti Mayne once fueled her low-octane Subaru with high-octane gas. Not
now.
Premium-gas prices "went sky high, and now I just use low grade" to
motor
around Yarmouth, Maine, where she runs a marketing business.

Cost differences between regular and premium is as plain as,
well,
the sign at the station, like this one in Chicago.
By Scott Olson, Getty Images

When prices dropped earlier this year, she stuck with cheaper fuel
because
"I don't think that my car runs any differently on high, medium or lower
grade."

She's right. Engines designed for regular fuel don't improve on premium
and
sometimes run worse. And today's engines designed for premium run fine
on
regular, too, their makers say, though power declines slightly.
(Background:
About Octane ratings)

But premium lovers are passionate. "I would simply curtail driving
rather
than switch grades," says Bill Teater of Mount Vernon, Ohio, who puts
high-test in both his Cadillacs, though only one recommends it. He's
sure
both the DeVille and the Escalade run rough and lack pep on regular.

Prejudice and preference aside, engineers, scientists and the federal
government say there's little need for premium.

When fuel's cheap, motorists are willing to pay 20 cents or so more for
premium. But as gas prices sneak back up, the mental wrangle begins anew
over whether it's OK to burn cheaper, regular-grade gas.

AS PRICES RISE, CONSUMERS
SHUN PREMIUM GAS
Average price of a gallon of premium
gasoline:
1993 $1.30
1999 $1.36
2002 $1.58
20031 $1.80
Premium gas share of all gas sold:
1993 19.9%
1999 16.8%
2002 13.5%
2003 12.1%
Sources: Energy Information
Administration,
American Petroleum Institute






The answer almost always is yes.

"I personally use regular even though my owner's manual says you'll get
better performance with premium," says Lewis Gibbs, consulting engineer
and
45-year veteran at Chevron oil company. He's chairman of Technical
Committee
7 on Fuels, part of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Fuels &
Lubricants Council. Gibbs knows gas.

"My wife runs midgrade (89 octane) in her car, and it's a turbocharged
engine" meant for 91-octane premium, he says.

Premium - gasoline having an octane rating 91 or higher - is just 12.1%
of
sales this year, down from 13.5% in 2002, when it was 22 cents a gallon
cheaper, and well below the modern high of 20.3% in 1994, when it was 49
cents cheaper, according to industry and government data. Despite the
allure
of premium, once they abandon it, most motorists don't come back, the
data
suggest.

For every dime increase in the price, sales of premium gas drop 1%, Bob
Johnson, general manager of gasoline and environmental services for the
7-Eleven chain, figures, based on data back to 1998.

The main advantage of premium-grade gas is that it allows automakers to
advertise a few more horsepower by designing and tuning engines to take
advantage of premium's anti-knock properties. But auto engineers
generally
agree that if you use regular in a premium engine, the power loss is so
slight, most drivers can't tell.

"I go back and forth, and I'm hard-pressed to notice" whether there's
regular or premium in the tank, says Jeff Jetter, principal chemist at
Honda
Research and Development Americas. He drives an Acura designed for
premium.

Import brands, especially, use premium fuel to distinguish their
upmarket
models. Most Toyotas, for instance, are designed to run on regular or
midgrade, while the automaker's Lexus luxury brand prefers premium. Same
with Honda and its Acura luxury line.

"Generally, the more expensive the vehicle, the higher the expectation
for
performance and the more the customer is willing to pay for fuel," says
Pete
Haidos, head of product planning for Nissan in the USA.

Actually, the price debate is nearly worthless. At 20 cents more for
premium, pumping 20 gallons of it instead of regular would cost $4 more.
Annually, that's a difference of $171 for a vehicle that averages 14
miles
per gallon - as some big sport-utility vehicles do - and is driven
12,000
miles a year.

Gasoline retailers and refiners like high-test because it's more
profitable
than regular-grade gas is. The retailer paid about 8 cents more for the
premium you pay 20 cents more for - though that margin can swing wildly.
Refiners make a few cents a gallon more on premium than on regular when
they
sell to wholesale distributors.

As long as it's clean

Profit is meaningless to the modern engine, which, regardless of what's
specified in the owner's manual, hardly cares what you use - as long as
it's
clean.

Today's engines use highly evolved versions of a device called a knock
sensor to adjust settings automatically for low-octane gas. And more
engine
control computers have adequate memory to allow separate sets of
instructions for various octanes. The engine control computers keep
pushing
to maximize performance on whatever grade of fuel is used.

Extreme pressure inside the cylinders causes knock, which is the sound
of
the pistons literally rattling inside the cylinders. Too much too long
can
damage the engine. A little now and then won't.

The only modern engines that should really need premium are those with
superchargers, which force-feed fuel into the cylinders. "You're driving
along and just tramp the gas and the knock sensor cannot sense the knock
fast enough in some cases," because the supercharger boosts pressure so
fast, says Bob Furey, chemist and fuels specialist at General Motors.

Burning regular when the owner's manual specifies premium won't void the
warranty, nor damage the engine, even the most finicky automakers say.
"You're giving up perhaps just a little bit of performance that a
customer
wouldn't really even notice, it's so slight," says Furey.

Automakers say they don't test premium engines on regular to check the
difference, but some auto engineers estimate that power declines roughly
5%.

"We can't guarantee the vehicle will perform as specified if other than
premium fuel is used," says Mercedes-Benz spokeswoman Michelle Murad.
All
U.S. Mercedes engines specify premium.

All Porsche engines are designed for premium, too, but it's not
available
everywhere. "Our cars must be able to drive all over the world, and so
we
are able to run on regular," says Jakob Neusser, director of powertrain
development at Porsche's research and development center in Weissach,
Germany. "You don't have to feel that a mechanical problem or anything
else
will happen" using regular gas, even in the highest-performance,
regular-production Porsches.

Premium, in fact, sometimes is worse fuel than regular. It resists knock
because it's harder to ignite than lower-octane fuels. As a result, some
engines won't start as quickly or run as smoothly on premium, notes
Gibbs,
the SAE fuel expert.

High-test does have a potential fuel economy benefit. It is slightly
denser
than lower-octane gas, meaning there's a little more energy in a gallon.
But
the small difference is hard to measure in real-world use, and that same
density can contribute to undesirable buildup of waste products inside
the
engine.

No data show that engines designed strictly for regular run better or
longer
on premium.

The Federal Trade Commission, in a consumer notice, emphasizes: "(I)n
most
cases, using a higher-octane gasoline than your owner's manual
recommends
offers absolutely no benefit. It won't make your car perform better, go
faster, get better mileage or run cleaner."

There is "no way of taking advantage of premium in a regular-grade car,"
says Furey.

"There is no gain. You're wasting money," insists Jim Blenkarn, in
charge
of
powertrains at Nissan in the USA.

"No customer should ever be deluded into thinking there's any value in
buying a higher grade of octane than we specify," says Toyota's Paul
Williamsen, technical expert and trainer.

But premium retains a mystique.

Even Mayne, the sensible Subaru owner who has switched to regular, says
she'll buy premium when her neighborhood station has a special price.
"It's
my perception that I might get better gas mileage or that it might be
better
for my engine," she says.

"I would stop driving rather than use a lower grade of gasoline," says
Andrew Martschenko of Boston, who drives a 2003 Nissan Maxima. Nissan
says
premium is "recommended" for that engine - automaker code for regular is
OK,
but you'll only get the advertised power on premium.

If the price difference between regular and premium grew to $1,
Martschenko
says, "Then I might consider trading down" to regular.

Guilt plays a part

Some people feel almost guilty, as if they are abusing their cars, when
they
don't burn premium, says gasoline retailer Jay Ricker, president of
Ricker
Oil of Anderson, Ind., which operates 28 stations. "They go all the way
down
to 87 (octane), but maybe every fourth tank they put in the good stuff."

Sam Turner has seen the appeal, too. He's president of Favorite Markets
of
Dalton, Ga., which operates 139 outlets in three states.

He recalls visiting one of his stations during a price war with a nearby
station, which had cut the price of premium to just 4 cents more than
regular, instead of the usual 20-cent difference.

"A customer was waiting and asked me if I was going to match the guy
across
the street. I said, 'Yeah,' and he said, 'Good. For 4 cents, I'm gonna
buy
super.' "

Basskisser wrote At the advice of an OMC tech who used to post here, I
started using
high test in my 1973 135 Evinrude, and it made a hell of a difference.
I had trouble getting the thing to idle smoothly in gear. I rebuilt
the carbs, did a link and sync, etc. The high test instantly cured my
idle problem, and ran great at wot.