Super Unleaded vs Race fuel

[bendjoseph]

Some of my buddies have started to use race fuel in there saw's.  They claim more power, but i don't think so.  Has anyone here run race fuel?  They are running 100 octane VP racing fuel.

[bill m]

I have never run any race fuel in my saws and before I did, I would have to crunch the numbers to see if it is worth it. If I am chopping all day I can go thru about two gallons of fuel. If in fact the race fuel will make my saw cut faster how much time will it save at the end of the day, hours, minutes or seconds? Lets say the race fuel will make my saw cut 1 second faster in a 24" cut and how many of that size cuts do I do in one day. Even if I did 60 cuts of that size a day that is only 1 minute. I'm not sure what race fuel sells for but I don't think 1 minute is worth the extra money.

[sawguy21]

Race fuel is designed to resist detonation in high compression engines. It will not produce more power in an engine built to run on lower octane fuel. It will allow higher compression and extra timing advance which does more ponies at least until the engine sheds parts.

[Dave Shepard]

I agree with Bill. Now, if you are running race saws, that's a different story, like sawguy mentions with the compression and timing issues. My biggest concern is getting clean fuel with as little, or no, alcohol as possible. I've tested the premium gas around here, and it doesn't seem to have any alcohol. Not having to mess with alcohol damaged parts will save more time than a little bit of power.

[AdkStihl]

Race fuel is designed to resist detonation in high compression engines. It will not produce more power in an engine built to run on lower octane fuel. It will allow higher compression and extra timing advance which does more ponies at least until the engine sheds parts.

Exactly!!

I run 100LL in my older saws due to the fact that they only run 2-3 times a year.
The advantages of AV Gas is a much longer shelf life, no corn liquor & cooler burning temps.
Other than that, I run 89 non ethanol @ 40:1

[1270d]

VP did/does make a produced t called ultimate 4.  It was some sort of super oxygenated gas.  It is banned by the ama.  It is supposed to give more HP due to the higher oxygen content. 

[beenthere]

Some searching implies that their Ultimate 2 is for 2 cycle, whereas Ultimate 4 is for 4 cycle.  That fit with what you are saying?

[1270d]

Probably. I'm not very knowledgeable about fuels.   I learned about the ultimate fuels in a MXA magazine article a few years ago about some racers being dq'ed due to using ultimate 4(or was it 2)

[WmFritz]

No way are they getting more power unless they're used to using a poor quality pump fuel to begin with. My concern would be if the race fuel I'm breathing, while standing over the saw, is leaded. Especially with no performance benefit. I've killed enough brain cells in my lifetime. 

[bendjoseph]

I bought a gallon, I will keep everyone posted.

[John Mc]

No way are they getting more power unless they're used to using a poor quality pump fuel to begin with. My concern would be if the race fuel I'm breathing, while standing over the saw, is leaded. Especially with no performance benefit. I've killed enough brain cells in my lifetime. 

I believe that 100 LL (aviation gas) is the only leaded fuel left in the US (and possibly the world?).  That's what I keep hearing in the aviation press... but they may be ignoring small-scale specialty fuels.  Lead is not something to mess around with anyway, but I've heard the tetraethyl lead in AvGas is particularly NASTY stuff (it's in a form which is readily absorbed by humans).  I don't burn it on my saws.  When my wife was pregnant, we never let her pump the gas in our Cessna 172.  In fact, I didn't even let her check the fuel level in the tanks (something which is visually inspected before each flight).

Though as my old college roommate used to put it (when referring to the brains cells likely killed from a particularly heavy bout of drinking): "for some of us, killing off those brain cells is a mercy killing".

[bendjoseph]

The only difference I could see, was the $5 more a gallon, I paid for it.

[thecfarm]

I use Super unleaded,just about $4 or a little more per gallon. You said the race fuel was $5 more per gallon. For me that would be $9 a gallon??   

[bendjoseph]

That is correct.  I guess I have wasted five bucks before........

[Ianab]

Could have been worse.

At least the fuel wont HARM the saw. You could have saved $1 on fuel, and blown up it up.

So in the overall scheme of things it's no big deal.

That "race" fuel is for modified engines with higher compression, turbos etc where the higher octane rating matters. Putting it though a normal engine is only a harmless waste of $5.

Ian

[thecfarm]

Now you know first hand that it does not really matter.  ;D

[bandmiller2]

If you run a newer saw and use it often with properly mixed fuel you will have few fuel problems. If your an occasional user  run the sucker dry when your done. Frank C.

[Al_Smith]

The only reason I run Hi-test gas is because I have few modified saws with higher compression .As far as the ethanol content I've became so adept at rebuilding carbs it's not that big of a deal .

It's not that big of a deal 15-20 cents more a gallon .Besides it's in a little saw engine .It's not like pouring it by the 5 gallon bucks full into a Ford 460 marine engine at 22 gallon per hour wide open .