Hey, I made my mind and this weekend I will run at the track. What should I do before I run? Remove somet stuff? Use premium (91 octane) gas? Use octane booster? Should I launch at 1000RPM, 1500, 2000 etc...? Share youer experience with me.

 

Are you all dead by now or what? By the way, I have a 1989 Pontiac Firebird, 2.8L, auto transmission, all tuned-up (not modified at all), 112 000 miles on the original engine and trans.

 

Why use Octane Booster? Just **** in your gas tank! It'll help you as much as Octane booster will.

 

Go ahead and use the octane booster...but add timing, that way you'll at least get some use out of it. As long as you don't start to knock...WEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! Also, take out as much stuff as you can/want. if you have a sub box...rip it out for the day, it'll take about 50 lbs out of your car. Also, if you're really **** about weight, make sure you have just about a gallon of gas, 15 gallons is heavy man. Refill as needed. Don't know about what you should launch at though. Good luck.

 

i've never noticed a difference from octane booster and i launch at about 1500. yes, do advance timing as much as you can. have fun and let us know how it goes.

 

Thanks a lot for the tips, I think I will launch at 1500 and use only premium gas (91 octane). I will post my time slips this weekend.

 

Good Luck!

 

I like to have about 1/4 tank of gas...that way I can be sure that the pickup sump in the tank isn't gonna dry out for a second from a hard launch sloshing the gas around.

Try premium octane like everyone else says, and maybe 13 or 14 degrees of base advance...see how she likes that. If you hear a loud pinging/clicking noise, back it off a degree and try again.

 

If you have ever down a "burnout",which I'm sure we all have at one time or another, you can "feel" when the tires are about to spin. With my 89 I normaly launch about 2000. Just before the tires break loose.

As far as advancing the timing....I've had great results with 12 degrees timing. Anything over I lost power. Your results may be better with 12 or more. just giving ya an idea of where to start.

Octane boost...well, anything that will create a bigger boom in the combustion chamber is helpful in my book. Most octane boosters will only raise the level a point or 2. I always liked to use the premium fuel with a bootle of instant ignition.lol

Later.....

 

Thats true...these little engines might not like much over 12. My Mustang runs good on 13/14 on 91-93 octane, but again it's a V8... I'd say just experiment and see for yourself what your car likes best.
Oh and also...octane levels dont add any power whatsoever. Octane is the gas's resistance to combustion...a higher octane means it's less likely to detonate, etc. Which also means you can run more timing as 2_point8_boy mentioned earlier.

Hell, I ran my car once on race fuel (110 octane unleaded) and I lost power. Even though the car felt smoother...but I later discovered that was only because the pump 93 octane I got from somewhere else was bad gas.