'70 L46 (350/350) fuel requirements

[mikeumkc]

I am a new owner of a '70 L46 car. I am really excited to own it and take care of it. The car is completely stock. My question is, what fuel will it require to run on? Local gas stations only offer 91/92 octane fuel. Will this work or will I have to add some octane booster or something? Anyone with experience with this and some solutions would be great.

 

[Evolution1980]

Welcome to the CAC! Be sure to stop over in the new member forum and introduce yourself!
edit: whoa, you've been a member since '03! Two posts??? :L

As for your car, I believe you have a plate on your console that lists the hp, tq, and compression of the engine. If you engine compression is 10 or less, (I believe) you should be able to get by on 92 octane. You won't hurt the engine per se if it starts to act up, but drop some octane boost in there and see if it clears up.

Congrats on the acquistion of your chome bumper vette!

 

[mikeumkc]

I have always been a fan of Corvettes, so I joined just to kind of look around the posts occasionally and check out the site. Hence the long time member with very few posts.

Anyway, the L46 engine has an 11:1 compression ratio. The manual states to use premium gas, but I am sure that premium gas in 1970 meant ethyl or something like that.

Anyone with a high compression engine from the same era? What are you running in it?

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

The physics of engines haven't changed. You need to run just enough octane to avoid preigniton/pinging/knocking and no more.

If you can't get pump gas high enough in octane to achieve this, you can choose to back off the ignition timing a few degrees, or add octane booster/racing gas, or a combination of both.

This is a trial and error process, no two cars are necessarily the same.

Don't worry about the lack of lead, it's not a concern on these cars.