Avation gas

[james-redsv]

The recent thread on VP race gas started me thinking, oh no.  :o About 10 years ago I use to use AV gas in my KTM 2 stroke dirt bike with unreal results. It worked better than any race gas I tried at the time, turbo blue, cam 2, unical, you name it I tried it. AV gas flat out smoked it all and its cheap compaired to any race gas. Now I have yet to try it in my 4 stroke race/street bikes because I have read so many negitive things about it, burns slow, has stuff in it to keep it from freezing etc. But man that stuff worked in my dirt bike. Has anyone dared to use it and what did you think. I dont want a bunch of reason why you guys havent tried it, I want someone who has used it and how did they like it or didnt. Or someone who uses it and swears by it.  Possibly someone why dynoed it to see how it compaired to different race or pump gas. Anyone? Thanks. BTW I think I have seen some discussion on this but I couldnt find anything using search.

[MightyDuc Racing]

Go to the JenningsGP.com board and ask Fat Bloke...I'm pretty sure he's used it.

[tshort]

Isn't "avgas" basically 100 octane unleaded?  Which is the same as Sunoco 100 unleaded?  

[Litespeed]

No, it's commonly called 100LL which stands for Low Lead.  Rumors I have heard that it is heavily leaded, more so that race gas would be.  My friends and I used it for years in our quads and dirt bikes and most of us even used it for our cars while going to the test and tune at the drag races.  I believe that it's a great gas although it may not be as good as some of the race gas out there.  

Anyone that says you can't make power with it needs to explain to my friend that has run numerous mid 8-second passes at over 160 mph that it's not a good fuel...

[Eddie#200]

No, it's commonly called 100LL which stands for Low Lead.  Rumors I have heard that it is heavily leaded, more so that race gas would be.  My friends and I used it for years in our quads and dirt bikes and most of us even used it for our cars while going to the test and tune at the drag races.  I believe that it's a great gas although it may not be as good as some of the race gas out there.  

Anyone that says you can't make power with it needs to explain to my friend that has run numerous mid 8-second passes at over 160 mph that it's not a good fuel...

I'm a private pilot... I have been to a few seminars about fuel.  If you are going to be at MAM look me up and I will give you the long story about AvGas.

[craigincali]

I have noticed that a lot of guys in the All Japan series use it in their 2 strokes.  Most of the 2 strokes imported from Japan are set up for AV gas.

[james-redsv]

Eddie #200, Im in the SE series, could you make a long story short? ;D

[Eddie#200]

Eddie #200, Im in the SE series, could you make a long story short? ;D

Sure...

AvGas is a special fuel that is manufactured in separate cracking plants from Auto gas.  It has a completely diffrent make up.  There are diffrent additives.  Tetraethyl lead...yadda, yadda

Avgas grades are defined primarily by their octane rating. Two ratings are applied to aviation gasolines (the lean mixture rating and the rich mixture rating) which results in a multiple numbering system e.g. Avgas 100/130 (in this case the lean mixture performance rating is 100 and the rich mixture rating is 130).  Altitude (air density) plays in measuring exact octane ratings.

In the past, there were many different grades of aviation gasoline in general use e.g. 80/87, 91/96, 100/130,108/135 and 115/145. However, with decreasing demand these have been rationalised down to one principle grade, Avgas 100/130. (To avoid confusion and to attempt to eliminate errors in handling aviation gasoline, it is common practice to designate the grade by just the lean mixture performance, i.e. Avgas 100/130 becomes Avgas 100). More recently, an additional grade was introduced to allow one fuel to be used in engines originally designed for grades with lower lead contents: this grade is called Avgas 100LL, the LL standing for 'low lead'.  Even though they call it "low lead" it has quite a high content of lead.

All equipment and facilities handling avgas are color coded and display prominently the API markings denoting the actual grade carried. Currently the two major grades in use internationally are Avgas 100LL and Avgas 100. To ease identification the fuels are dyed; for example Avgas 100LL is colored blue, while Avgas 100 is colored green.

Properly tuned a motorcycle engine will run quite well on avgas.  Some folks have a problem with the lead deposits that the fuel leaves on parts like exhaust valves.  I've run avgas in engines that can use the extra octane and saw quite good results. ;D

One issue is availlibility.  If your bike is tuned for avgas and you run 91 pump gas you will have performance issues.

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

I dont know about where you guys are getting Avgas for non-aircraft use, but the airport here will not sell it to you unless its for a plane that is on premises.

[james-redsv]

They will sell it to me at the local airport. I guess it just depends on the airport.  ;D

[Eddie#200]

They will sell it to me at the local airport. I guess it just depends on the airport.  ;D

I'm a pilot and the gas truck guy sees me with the airplane, so he doesn't ask when I show up with gas cans. ;D

[Super Dave]

First, Whoever sells Avgas to someone that is not putting it into an airplane risks about a $10k fine.

100LL is high in lead.  I think around 6 to 8 grams of lead per gallon vs 3 to 5 maybe in most leaded racing fuels.

It is consistent world wide, which is really different from the many batches and the volume that many racing fuels are made from.

It is, however, kind of like lawn mower fuel...constant throttle.  Can it perform?  I prefer leaded racing fuels over the unleaded racing fuels, myself.  So, depending upon the state of tune, it might work better.  We used it a long time ago and we had problems in our GSXR1100 endurance bike.