Airplane fuel, Is it good to use as race gas?

Is airplane fuel good to use as race gas? There is a local airport nearby that I might be able to pick up some airplane fuel from. I believe I will be able to my only question is, is this stuff good for my car. I have no Cat and I am aware that lead will slowly mess up my O2 sensor. Is this fuel alright for my car in any other way? Also does anyone know the octane rating of it?

My little bro is a pilot, but knows little about engines. Anyhow, he said that guys from ISU come in there and buy a few gallons of 103 LL (low lead) all the time and said i should come down and try it out. I've been hesitant, so if anyone in the know would help i'd be much appreciative.

I used to race at Englishtown, and the guys would do the same thing - no O2 sensor though...
From what I understand, it's also a "cleaner" fuel. This could be an urban ledgend, but it makes sense to me because your car won't fall out of the sky if it's injectors fail. :)

I have actually heard the exact opposite..that the AVGAS is not very good to run. I'm not saying I would never run it, but here is what I found on a talon digest search for avgas. ;)
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Subject: 100LL for race gas.
From: Doug <doug@tishomingorail.com>
Date: 3 Aug 2001 11:02:54
[Bibliography] [Digest]

Despite its name 100ll (low lead) has a lot of lead in it (about 2gms per gallon IIRC). It will foul your O2 sensors promptly. You may also encounter lead deposit problems. These occur most commonly around spark plug ceramic insulators, but can also appear on combustion chamber surfaces and can lead to preignition. Lead deposits can be taken care of with a fuel additive called TCP (available at most FBO's). Otherwise in comparison to leaded race gas 100ll has a lower vapor pressure than street gas which may lead to hard starting and even some poor atomization/puddling though it is unlikely in a fuel injected car. It smells, which may add a coolness factor or arouse
unwanted attention depending on your situation - but then so does leaded race gas. It will leave a blue tint in your exhaust deposits. Finally it can be hard to get depending on your local FBO (Avgas retailer). They are supposed to account for all gas they sell by airplane tail number and are not supposed
to sell to and especially not pump into anything other than an airplane cause of gas tax and environmental reasons. You can fib your way around this by explaining it is for a homebuilt (airplane) or your lycoming powered fan boat while they fill your 5 gallon cans. Of course if you happen to work there procurement is not a factor.

I wouldn't bother to run 100ll in a O2 sensored car when unleaded high octane gas is semi-reasonably available, but do recomend it as a lower cost high octane alternative to leaded race gas for anyone still running carbs or an open loop fuel injection system.
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Subject: avgas vs mogas
From: Rob Logan <rob@ct.picker.com>
Date: 24 Sep 1998 12:02:13
[Bibliography] [Digest]

>The FAA doesn't let Crumy fuel out on the market.

Its fun to read about car people using 100LL and watch all my aviation buddys put car gas in their planes. They spend big money to buy "STC" paperwork so they can use car gas (called "mogas") to avoid all the lead in 100LL... granted they have low compression engines and its SAFER to use good car gas rather than 100LL for engines designed for "green" 82octane avgas. In fact there is a current NPRM for replacing 82octane
avgas with 92octane pump gas and calling it 82UL... that would be a good thing for thoese people...

I own a high compression lyc 0-360-a4k engine in my tiger so I can't use mogas, but every 100hrs I remove my plugs to pick out the lead build up. there is sometimes balls of lead stuck in mufflers you can hear rattling around and you can always see gray lead flakes if you look in the "tail pipe" of any 100LL airplane.

There is nothing wrong with running 100LL in your car, as long as you plan to clean the lead deposits in the plugs, O2, and don't even think about running a cat... that will plug up in a flash... but it won't "hurt" anything, just plan for lead deposits. You should also add Alcor TCP (available at any airport)... this will not soften existing lead deposits but will sorta help avoid any "new" deposits... the FAA almost let the indistry add TCP to all 100LL, but didn't because of some turbo aircraft fixed wastgates.
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Subject: re: AvGas
From: Brett <languru@earthlink.net>
Date: 16 Sep 1998 08:09:38
[Bibliography] [Digest]


I believe you're correct on all accounts, except for it floating on the top of unleaded fuel. By nature, it's a heavier fuel (I.e. more resistant to detonation), and contains lead. It tends to blend well, if not sink to the bottom of the tank. I tend to run about 40% avgas to keep up with detonation of California crapola gas. Of course, even pure the stuff is nowhere near as stable as a true racing fuel...

The main reason people are using AvGas is simply for the price and availability. Around here, I can get 100-no-lead race fuel for $4/gallon, or I can get 100LL (what they call low-lead) AvGas for $2/gallon, and it's readily available at most airports. I can get it 10 minutes from my house from the municipal airport 24hours a day, where as I have to drive 40 miles (during the week, or early Saturday morning) to get racing fuel.

I think you are right on the "being dirtier" part, and clogging fuel
filters. Those of you out there using it, be sure to check your filters. As an alternative, if you're putting it into gas cans (we have to since the airport nozzle is about 1.5" diameter), you might want to try using a Mr. Coffee filter (or 3) to clean it up.

Just my $0.02 on the subject.

Brett
aka LanGuru on irc
95REDTSi "It's almost ready to fly"


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Well, I admitted it could be an urban legend...

Why take the chances? What is wrong with xylene? ;)

Does everyone know you can order 104 octane through VP race fuels and have it delivered to your door? I would never mess with ll av gas or xylene they end up costing the same as vp 104 and they don’t work nearly as well. Any gas with lead in it is going to foul your 02 sensors eventually that’s just one of those things you have to deal with. It’s a trade off a lot more power but its hard on your $70 02 sensor to me its worth in on the race track at least.

Why does xylene not work as well? It is already found in gasoline, has an octane rating of ~117 and is available nearly anywhere. Granted, you will want to add some kind of a fuel system lube to it so you dont end up damaging any fuel lines, but that is a small downside. I dont think it is really much more expensive than any race fuel will be. 5 gal of xylene (~$35) + 10 gal of 93octane (~$13) will net you a TANK FULL of ~101 octane fuel for a total of about $50. I dont know what race fuel runs, but I would guess about #4/gal and 15 gal would be $60. When you add to this that xylene has never given me any problems and has always given me great performance bonuses, it remains my fav. :)

I pay $6/gal for Sunoco Maximal (118 I think) 5 gal =30 bucks. Not too bad...but we also have a place in town that sells unleaded 101 straight out of the pump for $2.75/gal I think.

Originally posted by eagletalonawd
I pay $6/gal for Sunoco Maximal (118 I think) 5 gal =30 bucks. Not too bad...but we also have a place in town that sells unleaded 101 straight out of the pump for $2.75/gal I think.

I hate you. The most I have seen at a pump is 94 octane and it is like $.30 more than 93 octane. :mad:

Stanfosd: If I can get VP 104 a fuel designed to work in automotive applications at a dealer for less than $5 a gallon I will. I don’t want to have to worry about any side effects with Xylene. But if it works for you more power to you its just not my bag.

Thats fine, but xylene too is designed for use in automotive applications. I am not trying to tell people that they should use xylene instead of racing fuel. Just want to inform of other options. :)

O yea I mean I have tried Xylene and I will vouche that this stuff majorly kicks ass. But I was thinking that aviation fuel was like 110 octane. I guess I am wrong. If it is that close in cost then xylene it is. I would like to get some majorly high octane race gas though. VP costs an assload to have any decent sized amount shipped. I guess thats obvious since I would imagine gasoline would come with a heavy shipping cost. I just want something 110 or higher just to see what potential my car really can have. I am also heading to the track tonight which is a major reason why I posted this this last night so that I might possibly get some answers before I got up there. O well. I think the track actually has a pump there but damned if I'll pay their prices. It's a majorly shitty 1/8th mile track but they like to rip you off in anyway they can. O well

Just to complete the topic...100LL AVGAS has substantially more lead in it than Regular car gas. The Low Lead designation is just in comparison to 100 and 80 octane AVGAS. On a side note ,we use 87 octane car gas straight from the gas station in our Cessna 182. Runs fine and it's only $1.24 a gallon. Of course we are talking 1940s and 1950s engine technology.