My first fill up!

[oceangal]

And it was only for 12 gallons, which I think is half a tank and that was like $33 dollars! I was surprised to know that such a small car can have such a large fuel tank!
Don't worry I put the 93 octane in it - Mass doesn't allow 94 I am told. Monday I am going to have the oil changed and top off the fluids.
Do any of you have a favorite gas company? The Sunoco in my town seems to have the highest octane (93) and their credit higher end credit card is $30 per year and that includes towing reimbursement I am going to check out the fine print.
I had my first official Vette wave today! its hard for me to tell the new body styles as they are coming at me, I think I am waving to the wrong cars! lol.

 

[78SilvAnniv]

When the C5 came out I kept confusing it with the Pontiacs. Don't worry, after a little bit of time, you'll wonder how you EVER could have mistaken a 'vette.
Heidi

I filled up today, too. 13.25 gallons @ $31.78!

 

[JonM]

Don't worry about the mistaken wave...I just hope the guys wife/girlfriend isn't sitting next to him and wanting to know who/why this strange women is waving to him.

I filled up my truck...78.00...ad (two tanks)

 

[Mr.Cool]

I'm curious as to why you would run a higher octane fuel then the L83 motors requires? Since it's only has a 9.5 compresssion ratio the engine does not need the slower burning fuel and since the higher octane fuels will leave carbon build up in your combustion chamber leading to spark knock it can actually be bad for your engine over time. If the previous owner said that is all he used then I would go buy several bottles of Chevron Techron at your local auto parts store and run that thru the next few tankfuls to clean out your top end then use one bottle every few months. 87 octane is all we use in our 82 without any problems.

 

[oceangal]

I'm curious as to why you would run a higher octane fuel then the L83 motors requires? Since it's only has a 9.5 compresssion ratio the engine does not need the slower burning fuel and since the higher octane fuels will leave carbon build up in your combustion chamber leading to spark knock it can actually be bad for your engine over time. If the previous owner said that is all he used then I would go buy several bottles of Chevron Techron at your local auto parts store and run that thru the next few tankfuls to clean out your top end then use one bottle every few months. 87 octane is all we use in our 82 without any problems.

The prior owner said he ran it on high octane. Thank you for the info

 

[gmjunkie]

I'm curious as to why you would run a higher octane fuel then the L83 motors requires? Since it's only has a 9.5 compresssion ratio the engine does not need the slower burning fuel and since the higher octane fuels will leave carbon build up in your combustion chamber leading to spark knock it can actually be bad for your engine over time. If the previous owner said that is all he used then I would go buy several bottles of Chevron Techron at your local auto parts store and run that thru the next few tankfuls to clean out your top end then use one bottle every few months. 87 octane is all we use in our 82 without any problems.

I use 87 Chevron in everything!! C5,C4's,C3's,Jimmy,Buick,Z-71,85 C30 Car hauler!! I do use Syn.Lead and Octain Booster in my 72 Old's 442 as it has 34,000 mi and has never been down,and still has soft valve seat's!! JonM I filled my car Hauler Yesterday $328.76 it has 2-75 gal tank's 2-3 times a week,want to trade gas bill's!! gmjunkie!!

 

[craig32]

When the C5 came out I kept confusing it with the Pontiacs.

Yeah, I seem to wave at a lot of Pontiacs too! That and Mazdas. . . I have yet to fill up my Vette, only try to get a little more than where I need to go - Indy car philosophy vs. nascar philosophy - better fuel milage by not carrying the extra weight of more fuel.

Craig

 

[craig32]

I'm curious as to why you would run a higher octane fuel then the L83 motors requires?

Mr Cool,
My Vette came with a Jasper rebuild in it, the previous owner also said he ran hi-test in it. It is supposed to be like 245HP, built for a 79 replacement. As near as I can tell, it's still a Q-jet - what is determining factor on octane necessity? 20 cents a gallon less is worth looking into. . .
Craig

 

[oceangal]

Yeah, I seem to wave at a lot of Pontiacs too! That and Mazdas. . . I have yet to fill up my Vette, only try to get a little more than where I need to go - Indy car philosophy vs. nascar philosophy - better fuel milage by not carrying the extra weight of more fuel.

Craig

I only filled it cause the fuel gauge bounces around and I wasn't sure how many miles I could go on the full tank it arrived with. What would your guess be as to how avg mph I might be getting per tank? that way I will use the trip odometer (that works!) and track it that way. I am mostly just doing around town kind of miles as opposed to hwy. Good point about the weight of the fuel though

 

[Edmond]

Gas prices are really hurting us here, too:

$2.45 regular
$2.56 plus
$2.67 premium

It's been costing me $35 to fill the Toyota Camry up! Well, at least I get paid to drive so that isn't too bad.

 

[gmjunkie]

I only filled it cause the fuel gauge bounces around and I wasn't sure how many miles I could go on the full tank it arrived with. What would your guess be as to how avg mph I might be getting per tank? that way I will use the trip odometer (that works!) and track it that way. I am mostly just doing around town kind of miles as opposed to hwy. Good point about the weight of the fuel though

My 78 L82 Automatic get's 235-290 mi per tank Depend's on Driving Habit's!! gmjunkie!!

 

[Mr.Cool]

Mr Cool,
My Vette came with a Jasper rebuild in it, the previous owner also said he ran hi-test in it. It is supposed to be like 245HP, built for a 79 replacement. As near as I can tell, it's still a Q-jet - what is determining factor on octane necessity? 20 cents a gallon less is worth looking into. . .
Craig

If your timing is set correctly, your cooling system is in good shape, Q-jet setup right your egr valve isn't leaking and the correct heat range of your spark plugs. I would use the lowest octane i could that did not cause pinging under load. A friend of mine has an L-82 79 dynoed at about that HP and he has no problem with 87 octane. Since you really don't know what fuel grade is recommended for your engine I would proceed slowly if your going to change the grade of fuel your using. Or better yet contact the manufacturer.

 

[cptkirk32]

Man, you people pay to much for your fuel! Here its just about .35 cents a gallon. On base its free, and we have attendents that fill it for you. The only draw back to this is you would have to join the military, and get deployed over here to the Kuwait/Iraq, but you would get the cheep gas!

SGT Kirk

 

[Edmond]

That must be a special price for Quagmire!:L Diggity, diggity, diggity...:L:L:L

 

[slyone1000]

SO who is ready to come up with alternative fuel sourse........or should I say, when are they going to release THE slternative fuel sourse so we can start modifing our engines to work with it ??

 

[wishuwerehere82]

Oceangal,

Although our owners manual says to use 87 octane gas in the 82 Vettes, I use Sunoco 93 as well. The main reason is that in NY the gas is 10% Methanol which burns hotter and pings more in my Vette if I don't use 93 octane. If I use lower than that, I get stalling and check engine light problems.
Highway mileage is 24.6 MPG even if I play a little.
Don't let your tank get too much lower than 1/4 tank or the fuel pump will cavitate going around right hand turns and that will cause the engine to almost stall, and severly shorten the life of the fuel pump.
82's are funny like that.

 

[Chas]

i run premium in my 73 as the book calls out for higher octane...right now its at $2.57 here for most of the big gas companys...i use the same station , BP, i used a diffrent station one time and it seemed to run diffrent, so my opinion is to find a good grade at a station nearby and stick to it if possible...as for the wave, dont worry, just dont be upset when they dont wave back, some dont know about it and some dont care....its a wave at the "CAR"...not the driver! it will become so natural you will find yourself waving when your not in your vette and vise-versa....
enjoy the ride! Chas

And it was only for 12 gallons, which I think is half a tank and that was like $33 dollars! I was surprised to know that such a small car can have such a large fuel tank!
Don't worry I put the 93 octane in it - Mass doesn't allow 94 I am told. Monday I am going to have the oil changed and top off the fluids.
Do any of you have a favorite gas company? The Sunoco in my town seems to have the highest octane (93) and their credit higher end credit card is $30 per year and that includes towing reimbursement I am going to check out the fine print.
I had my first official Vette wave today! its hard for me to tell the new body styles as they are coming at me, I think I am waving to the wrong cars! lol.

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

i run premium in my 73 as the book calls out for higher octane...

If you mean the owners manual, the octane requirements are specified in the 'old' rating system. Converted to today's rating system, your '73 needs nothing higher than regular 87 octane.

Many people use higher octane than necessary thinking that there's some benefit. It's just wasted money.

 

[Chas]

nope...not a book...sorry, its the sticker in my glove box that says to run 91 octane.if its an old system thats new to me.

If you mean the owners manual, the octane requirements are specified in the 'old' rating system. Converted to today's rating system, your '73 needs nothing higher than regular 87 octane.

Many people use higher octane than necessary thinking that there's some benefit. It's just wasted money.

 

[MoeJr]

The general rule of thumb is you want 10 octane points for every point of compression. So where as the Cross Fire Cars are 9:1 CR you would want about 90 octane. I run 93 in my 84 and it runs great. I wouldn't run anything lower than that.