101 octane!

So Wednesday I ran up to Thrasher's Corner because that NAPA was the only one with the spark plugs I wanted, and while I was up there figured I'd get some high octane from the Shell right there..

Put half a tank of 101 octane in, filled the rest with my usual 92..

 

Man, you can't believe the difference!  Blue idles much more smoothly, especially first thing in the morning - I have to pull a long steep hill before I'm warmed up every morning, and it usually rattles and doesn't like it too much.  Well, not with this gas!

 

Wish I could afford to run race gas all the time!

 

 

Interesting.  I've never experimented with it before, and certainly wasn't expecting much.  It's not like I'm burning rubber all over the place now, but definately a noticable difference. 

 

BTW (no offense if the prior owner is on the board) I have a sneaking suspicion that for about 60000 miles this car was running on the cheapest gas available.  I had really low compression in one cylinder when I bought it, and NWMINI (and others) said this was from

1) driving like a grandma (no offense to grandma) and

2) crappy low-octane gas

I've been running strictly Shell 92 and put a couple tanks of Seafoam thru it, plus a pint in the oil and the compression has evened out.  In fact, it seems to be running better & better.. even w/o 101!!

Changed the plugs today too (68,000 miles) to the NGK Iridium, so hopefully that will help.  I'm trying to break my 26.6 mpg average on my commute..