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10%ethanol, regular gas, 76 Race Gas!


Fishn4four

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I am upgrading from a jet drive to a brand new T22. I was reading through the indmar manual and they recommend top tier fuel...but what about the ethanol fuels? I run regular gas sometimes in our vehicles, but I really want the most performance out of this new boat and will probably use only "real" gas in it in the beginning and hopefully foerever. What do you guys know about Race gas. I live near a NASCAR track and there are several stations around me that sell race gas. I was thinking to throw 10 gallons in the tank when I fill up to get a little extra Getty up and go. These boats are no carbureted 2 stroke and I don't want to harm the engine. Should be ok right?

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to get a little extra Getty up and go

Higher Octane, despite the gas station commercials, doesnt actually work that way. Theres no more getty up in "race gas" as there is in 87 oct. The performance gain is when the engine is running on the proper oct fuel, not more. Save your money and use the recommended oct fuel.

Ethanol is a different matter. If you can avoid it and still run the recommended oct or just higher, great. But preventative maintenance is key to avoiding ethanol related issues.

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dont know where my post went. but i know nothing about gas.

couple points.

1. tow boat comprable to pickup

2. jet boat probably more get up and go like sports car.

3. welcome. just understand what you bought and the reasons for buying ... wake boats cost a lot but its not the same as buying a ferrari. it has a specific purpose. towing - skiers - boarders - wakesurfers.

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Higher Octane, despite the gas station commercials, doesnt actually work that way. Theres no more getty up in "race gas" as there is in 87 oct. The performance gain is when the engine is running on the proper oct fuel, not more. Save your money and use the recommended oct fuel.

Ethanol is a different matter. If you can avoid it and still run the recommended oct or just higher, great. But preventative maintenance is key to avoiding ethanol related issues.

Just to add a little to make this easier. Octane rating is the fuels resistance to ignition from heat. A motor with mild to moderate compression like our boat motors do not build extreme amounts of heat and are not race car motors with tons of compression which causes heat and/or heat from turbos or superchargers. You will be absolutely throwing your money away with any fuel with an octane rating higher than what the motor calls for. Also running a higher octane than recommended can be some what detrimental. The higher octane fuel may not completely burn causing carbon build up on valves which in turn will turn in to a "hot spot" and can begin to cause pre ignition knock by igniting the fuel prematurely. Thus in turn requiring you to run a higher octane to counteract this symptom with no added power, just added cost. Hope this helps clears up some popular beliefs people have.

Sent from my SCH-R950 using Tapatalk

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I am upgrading from a jet drive to a brand new T22. I was reading through the indmar manual and they recommend top tier fuel...but what about the ethanol fuels? I run regular gas sometimes in our vehicles, but I really want the most performance out of this new boat and will probably use only "real" gas in it in the beginning and hopefully foerever. What do you guys know about Race gas. I live near a NASCAR track and there are several stations around me that sell race gas. I was thinking to throw 10 gallons in the tank when I fill up to get a little extra Getty up and go. These boats are no carbureted 2 stroke and I don't want to harm the engine. Should be ok right?

Non-ethanol fuel can be a little hard to find in east TN. This is a big reason I buy my gas for the boat at the marina. It cost more but no ethanol.

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The 2014 Malibu's have a safety sticker that says no ethanol.

My 350 has a 'no more than 10%' warning. Luckily there is a station en route to my dock that has 91 ethanol free (for the bargain basement price of $4.60 right now... probably $5.50 in the heat of the summer), but it makes me feel better to use the good stuff!

Does anyone know what octane rating the 450hp engine calls for? Sorry for the hijack.

91 for the LS3 and 89 for the rest (if I remember my manual correctly).

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Great! Thanks for the input! I think I'll go with the non ethanol regular 87-89 octane and Leave the race gas alone. I know that I don't get as good a gas mileage in my rigs that use the ethanol gas. I will definitely stick with the "regular" gas for now.thanks for all the comments! That's why I love these forums! You guys rock the great info!

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When I was in high school there was a daytime use only air strip near my house (Bellevue, WA). One of the guys at school was their night time security guard. He used to let us in & we were allowed to race on the strip (this was the early 1980s..... ain't happening these days). We would top the tanks off with av gas first, then do drag races till late. Most of us were into GM's, ie; 71 Camaro, 70 Firebird, 71 Chevelle, 41 Willy's with a SBC in it, etc. The av gas really made the engines run crazy. But afterwards they ran like crap for a few days, needed new plugs, points, etc. It's like they got addicted on the stuff!

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Non-ethanol fuel can be a little hard to find in east TN. This is a big reason I buy my gas for the boat at the marina. It cost more but no ethanol.

Try using the app pure gas to find gas stations selling non ethanol gas.

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If you run the LS3 on 89, does the ECM just detune the engine?

The ECM has no way to detect the actual octane level of the fuel, it detects engine knock and adjust the timing, fuel mixture, etc, in order to reduce it. There are other causes of engine knock besides too low of an octane level, like a lean condition and high engine temp.

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If you have an LS3, 91-93 octane. If a Monsoon 350, 87.

As for E10, yeah it sucks, yes it will get slightly less fuel mileage, but I wouldn't pay the price premium for E0. If you keep the boat on the water I can understand the justification, but for a trailered boat E10 is fine.

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So in general the consensus opinion would be to use octane rating recommended by engine manufacturer without ethanol? Are there any newer engines that will run better because they were design around the fact we are using ethanol in almost all of our gas now?

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So in general the consensus opinion would be to use octane rating recommended by engine manufacturer without ethanol? Are there any newer engines that will run better because they were design around the fact we are using ethanol in almost all of our gas now?

I run E10 in everything with 0 issues, too big a pain to find non ethanol around here unless you are on the water and then there you have to deal with high prices and gas that is more likely to be polluted than the regular gas station.

If you have a boat/whatever with a carb then you generally need to fatten up the mixture a little so that you get the same amount of power out of it - fuel injection just run the octane that the MFG says and don't worry about E0 vs E10

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I've been putting in the Sta-bil ethanol treatment stuff in my gas. Dont know if it helps, but I assume it reduces the wear on rubber stuff along the fuel route.

Steve B.

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