My Brenspeed Experience
05-12-2009, 11:51 PM
#11
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 11,962
You are correct on the 10% ethanol from Chevron. AAFES gas is not known for being high quality....kinda of generic really. Who knows where it comes from, all I know is that once I switched the ping went away...heck, maybe it was all in my head.
05-12-2009, 11:53 PM
#12
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Near Wash. DC Posts: 13,541
Posts: 2,497
Ethanol is 130 octane. I'm not sure you understand the problem. When they mix normal gas with ethanol the mixture is less stable and consistent than 91 octane with normal gas.
The majority of gas sold in America, is 10% ethanol. Not just in California. You're just getting bad gas. Many countries outside the US require that the octane rating of the gas that ethanol is mixed with be the gas sold on the pump instead of the final rating of the mix being the lable... this is done for a very good reason which I'll explain but in America there's no such law so some cheap *** retailers like to mix their 87 octane E10 ethanol with 84 gas to start with and their 91 with 88 to get E10. What this does is it makes the gas perform correctly during the lab tests to get the right octane rating certification but when used in an actual car it will consistently underperform because ethanol has a steeper degredation of it's octane rating as temperature rises compared to gasoline. (the difference is about .5 octane in certain situations which is a lot)
In other words I would put the blame on the gas station and not the Brenspeed!
I got all this information from talking to a Conoco Phillips engineer on the subject, they're a company that makes gas, and their product is apparently the good stuff which is made to work in cars not to pass lab tests.
The majority of gas sold in America, is 10% ethanol. Not just in California. You're just getting bad gas. Many countries outside the US require that the octane rating of the gas that ethanol is mixed with be the gas sold on the pump instead of the final rating of the mix being the lable... this is done for a very good reason which I'll explain but in America there's no such law so some cheap *** retailers like to mix their 87 octane E10 ethanol with 84 gas to start with and their 91 with 88 to get E10. What this does is it makes the gas perform correctly during the lab tests to get the right octane rating certification but when used in an actual car it will consistently underperform because ethanol has a steeper degredation of it's octane rating as temperature rises compared to gasoline. (the difference is about .5 octane in certain situations which is a lot)
In other words I would put the blame on the gas station and not the Brenspeed!
I got all this information from talking to a Conoco Phillips engineer on the subject, they're a company that makes gas, and their product is apparently the good stuff which is made to work in cars not to pass lab tests.
Last edited by Legion5; 05-13-2009 at 12:01 AM.
05-12-2009, 11:57 PM
#13
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: CA
Posts: 423
Ethanol is 130 octane. I'm not sure you understand the problem. When they mix normal gas with ethanol the mixture is less stable and consistent than 91 octane with normal gas.
The majority of gas sold in America, is 10% ethanol. Not just in California. You're just getting bad gas. Many countries outside the US require that the octane rating of the gas that ethanol is mixed with be the gas sold on the pump instead of the final rating of the mix... this is done for a very good reason in America there's no such law so some cheap *** retailers like to mix their 87 ethanol with 84 gas and their 91 with 88 to get E10. What this does is it makes the gas perform correctly during the lab tests to get the right octane rating certification but when used in an actual car it will consistently underperform because ethanol has a steeper degredation of it's octane rating as temperature rises compared to gasoline.
In other words I would put the blame on the gas station and not the Brenspeed!
I got all this information from talking to a Conoco Phillips engineer on the subject, they're a company that makes gas, and their product is apparently the good stuff.
The majority of gas sold in America, is 10% ethanol. Not just in California. You're just getting bad gas. Many countries outside the US require that the octane rating of the gas that ethanol is mixed with be the gas sold on the pump instead of the final rating of the mix... this is done for a very good reason in America there's no such law so some cheap *** retailers like to mix their 87 ethanol with 84 gas and their 91 with 88 to get E10. What this does is it makes the gas perform correctly during the lab tests to get the right octane rating certification but when used in an actual car it will consistently underperform because ethanol has a steeper degredation of it's octane rating as temperature rises compared to gasoline.
In other words I would put the blame on the gas station and not the Brenspeed!
I got all this information from talking to a Conoco Phillips engineer on the subject, they're a company that makes gas, and their product is apparently the good stuff.
05-13-2009, 12:18 AM
#14
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Newark, Delaware
Posts: 1,259
A good company will make things right with the customer when the company is at fault.
A fantastic company will make things right with the customer when the customer is at fault.
Brenspeed is the latter. I know from personal experience. Can't go wrong.
A fantastic company will make things right with the customer when the customer is at fault.
Brenspeed is the latter. I know from personal experience. Can't go wrong.
05-13-2009, 12:29 AM
#15
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Near Wash. DC Posts: 13,541
Posts: 2,497
^lol
To answer your question I put 93 & 91 half and half on average in mine and tuned it to 91 so I can't make recommendations for brands. By mixing in higher grades I can avoid any variation I do this because I'm running a lot of power and I want the assurance of safety I paid a lot towards my setup. I would fill your car with 91 then put in 2 gallons of 100 octane whenever you experience a problem. It sounds like your engine is perfectly tuned to detect cheaply mixed gas so you might be able to create a "black list" of stations in your area. The 2 gallon fill up could be effective for up to 2 tanks so keep that in mind. A list of bad gas stations would be good to share around here.
To answer your question I put 93 & 91 half and half on average in mine and tuned it to 91 so I can't make recommendations for brands. By mixing in higher grades I can avoid any variation I do this because I'm running a lot of power and I want the assurance of safety I paid a lot towards my setup. I would fill your car with 91 then put in 2 gallons of 100 octane whenever you experience a problem. It sounds like your engine is perfectly tuned to detect cheaply mixed gas so you might be able to create a "black list" of stations in your area. The 2 gallon fill up could be effective for up to 2 tanks so keep that in mind. A list of bad gas stations would be good to share around here.
Last edited by Legion5; 05-13-2009 at 12:34 AM.
05-13-2009, 12:35 AM
#16
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: CA
Posts: 423
^lol
To answer your question I put 93 & 91 half and half on average in mine and tuned it to 91 so I can't make recommendations for brands. By mixing in higher grades I can avoid any variation I do this because I'm running a lot of power and I want the assurance of safety after all I paid a lot for the car and a lot of it's parts. I would fill your car with 91 then put in 2 gallons of 100 octane whenever you experience a problem. It sounds like your engine is perfectly tuned to detect cheaply mixed gas so you might be able to create a "black list" of stations in your area. The 2 gallon fill up could be effective for up to 2 tanks so keep that in mind. A list of bad gas stations would be good to share around here.
To answer your question I put 93 & 91 half and half on average in mine and tuned it to 91 so I can't make recommendations for brands. By mixing in higher grades I can avoid any variation I do this because I'm running a lot of power and I want the assurance of safety after all I paid a lot for the car and a lot of it's parts. I would fill your car with 91 then put in 2 gallons of 100 octane whenever you experience a problem. It sounds like your engine is perfectly tuned to detect cheaply mixed gas so you might be able to create a "black list" of stations in your area. The 2 gallon fill up could be effective for up to 2 tanks so keep that in mind. A list of bad gas stations would be good to share around here.
05-13-2009, 12:16 PM
#18
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: CA
Posts: 423
I did leave out the part where I cut my thumb up pretty good on the filter housing. The sheetmetal edges are pretty sharp. Be careful or wear gloves.
05-13-2009, 12:30 PM
#19
Mish-ogynist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Helena, MT
Posts: 3,780
There was a list floating around somewhere of the best rated quality gas carried/produced by different companies, I'm pretty sure 76 wasn't on it. Conoco and Chevron were though. I usually fill at conoco for 91 (10% ethanol) on a brenspeed 91 tune and it worked great. there is 1 place in town that sells 93(10% ethanol), switched to brenspeed 93 and have had no issues there either... the gas station isn't a major one that has the 93 though so it wouldn't be on the list anyway.. it's possible they get their gas from either exxon or conoco though since we have both refineries in town. (Exxon is not highly rated gas, but not bad, sinclair is bad) I've also been told though that in higher elevation (im at 3200ft) you can run lower octane gas with more timing because of atmospheric pressure or something being less..
Last edited by Mishri; 05-13-2009 at 12:35 PM.
05-13-2009, 12:35 PM
#20
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Montaner
Posts: 6,193