avgas anyone??

[george b]

anyone use this on a turbo for the street? what's the negatives other than you can't buy it just anywhere.

while i was replacing a head gasket, a local fast guy was trying to sell me on it since it's sold right next to us. he told me you can't always trust the 93 you buy is really 93. had me wondering.

 

[Johnnycheese]

hello and welcome to 2011
1950's thinking
there are much better fuels

 

[scrappy]

Cheese is right their are better fuels. However are they readily available and how cost effective is it to run them on let's say just a cruise around town..

I run avgas in my bike since i live 5 blocks from the airport fuel barn and the highest pump gas in town is 91. i am not sure what other gas i would run on the street other than avgas since it would be the most cost effective option for just cruising around town (for me)

However if i were to take my bike to the track and race it, i would run an actual race fuel not the avgas.

 

[sixpack577]

Aviation gas has an additive that keeps the fuel from freezing at high altitude. It can gum up your fuel system. Just something to consider

 

[george b]

i hear ya johnny. it looks like just pulling a little timing and sticking with 93 and going easier on the bike will be a more practical solution for me. the avgas was an option since i have two airports close and i have friends that work there. i could pump it straight into my bike without hassle or purchase a drum of it to keep around the house. as scrappy mentioned it's a little cheaper and easier to get.

also i've heard a lot of contradictions whether it has any anti-freezing agents. i've heard that jetfuel certainly does, but that avgas doesn't, that if you need it you mix it into it while you're pumping it. but i'm certainly no expert.

 

[slowjavelin]

My shop is on an airport. There are no additives for freezing in the 100LL avgas. The planes that run it don't go high enough to have freezing issues. This is what I have been told, I am not an aviation expert. I run avgas every day on my Turbo Busa for street driver gas. I run C-16 if I ever race it.

 

[george b]

are you tuned for avgas? what happens if it's used on a bike tuned for 93?

 

[wv rider]

I wouldn't run 100LL because of the lead content. Do any of you that run it have any problems with lead fowling? I am just asking because this is not uncommon at all for the Lycomings and Continentals that run it.

 

[JTA]

run it all the time in my bike, never had any problems going on 9 years now. As far as the plains go the pilots make more of a differense on plugs fouling than the fule since the fuel mixure is controlled manually and most pilots are afraid to run the engine lean which sounds bad but unless your boosting the engine with a turbo or other forced induction does it no harm and prevents plugs from fouling while increassing fuel economy. If theres any dout in this, I know there will be, I make a living building engines and my brother is a pilot so I have a vast knowlege on the subject and put it to the test daily.

 

[slowjavelin]

I am tuned on C-16 and Av Gas. It just runs a little rich if you are tuned for 93 octane.

 

[slowjavelin]

I wouldn't run 100LL because of the lead content. Do any of you that run it have any problems with lead fowling? I am just asking because this is not uncommon at all for the Lycomings and Continentals that run it.

Lead has NOTHING to do with fouling a plug in my opinion. I have race cars and race bikes and they all run on Methanol or C-16 heavily leaded (4.25 Grams per Gallon) race gas. The tune up is the only thing that fouls plugs. A plug is a plug, it does not know if lead is present or not. Lead actually allows you to make more power because Tetraethyl lead which is what is in fuel, controls detonation. The lower the octane you can run and NOT have detonation will always make the most power. Over octaning a motor will not help you. Hence the introduction of MR-9 and MR-10 low octane race fuels.

 

[2wicked]

Lead can indeed cause a plug to misfire, due to its ability to conduct a current, please see below direct from Shells website

Lead Fouling - Shell Aviation

 

[wv rider]

I am a 14 year A&P. The fact remains that during every 100 hr insp. I have done, the plugs always get cleaned and always have some kind of lead fowling. As far as leaning the mix, better a little rich than a little lean.

 

[SSLogistics]

Forgive me for the old thread....Hey Man, I used Search

IIRC lead in gasoline is only a problem for O2 sensors and catastrophic converters so a First Gen, maybe also the new one too, should be cool with leaded gas.

I only ask because I have what I believe to be a bad gas situation in my 2003 Hayabusa, and I have some fresh AvGas I use for my small motor stuff...I have ZERO fuel problems with my chain saw, weed whacker, rototiller, generator.... using AvGas, and I want to do a before and after test just changing the fuel.

The suspected bad fuel looks like urine. I see no water separation and it smells like gas but something went very wrong after nothing but perfect performance ....2 gallons of Liberty Fuel in Derwood, MD...barely made it home...

Of course something could have failed just at that moment....but I am not into such coincidence especially on a totally stock bike.

I have been riding the bike all through Winter, only one tank of gas for a couple of months, but it is kept in doors and ran just as usual until that Liberty Gas.