Race gas or not?

[SONIC BOOM 03]

I am trying to get some opinions on whether or not to use race gas. I have the car tuned right now on 93 octane and am trying to find out what kind of difference I can expect by tuning with gas. Here is a rundown of the current setup:
2.3 gen 2 whipple, 3" upper and stock lower
63 lb injectors
BAP
wiring upgrade
LFP single blade
C&L intake
Long tubes w/hi flow cats
Magnaflow cat back

The car has currently made 605rwhp and 548rwtq. The tune is a 12:1 a/f ratio. Is this ratio still too much on the fat side? Can it safely be tuned a little leaner given the 93 octane?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fastback]

From what I gather on the subject, is that you have cats on the car and with the highter octane leaded race gas is will plug them up. And also it will burn up your o2 sensors quicker than if you stay with 93. Also 12:/1 is to lean. I would like to keep it in the 11:/1 or leanest 11.5/1. That is my opinion though.

 

[SONIC BOOM 03]

my idea of "race gas" would be 104 unleaded, hoping to run a little more timing. as for the a/f ratio, whipple recommends 12.25:1 for any boost level above 15 psi. i am wondering if anyone has a similar set up and has run leaner/richer with their application. also, how much restriction do the cats present? i raced a blown fox body for about 12 years, but this modular stuff is a little new for me.
what is the typical results for someone with my set up? trying to get a feel for the "norm" with this set up. my eaton ran 11.52 at 123 and change with a 2.8 upper, intake, full exhaust, tb.
i was at the creek on saturday and was a little disappointed. not sure how good the track was but the trap speed was low in my opinion.
i would like to maximize before i throw more boost at it!

 

[04SilverSerpent]

Whipple is retarded if they recommend higher than a 12.2:1 A/F on pumpgas..that's all I have to say about that. As the previous poster said, a safer A/F would be around 11.5:1. That's where I feel safest...there is no reason to risk it for a few extra hp imo. That all said, racegas will allow you to safely run more boost and or more timing since it reduces the risk of detonation. Leaded race will cause your 02 sensor's to die prematurely, but it's not going to happen overnight and not if it's not all that frequent. C16 is a great thing, but it's also rather expensive.

 

[IronTerp]

If you are going to the drag strip on a regular basis and trying to wring every last bit of performance out of your Cobra, then ysing race gas may be an acceptable option. With race gas, you will be able to increase your advance timing which will increase power production in the 20-30 RWHP range.

For street performance with a car that already has 600 RWHP, just doesn't make sense to me......Most Terminators in this power range struggle getting this kind of horsepower to the tires anyway. If you want your car to perform better on the street, I would consider improving the suspension.

 

[SONIC BOOM 03]

I agree on the suspension being able to improve the performance. My specific concerns deal more with the tuning aspects in relation to the threshold at which the computer will pull timing and add fuel. My tuner mentioned something about this after the fact.
I feel that with this much power and the increase over the eaton set up that i should have realized a better increase in trap speed and e.t. what should be an expected increase if a vehicle gains 135 hp and 80 ft.lbs?
I am an occasional drag racer now, but did so for about 12 years, regularly.
any advise or comments would be greatly appreciated.:rolling:

 

[04azuremach]

My question is why would you NOT have a race gas tune?

135 hp at your ET level should put you around 10.4-10.9. Can't say for sure without knowing how well your car hooks.

 

[SONIC BOOM 03]

good question. the reason is i am and have always been that i like to run the car the way i drive it on the street. i know from my past that race gas tunes will gain power, sometimes big power. i prefer to drive to the track, change only air pressure, race and go home.
i feel with the power level and from the power gains that the car should run about 10.80, assuming it hooks comparably to before and that the trap speed should be 131-133 mph. seems logical knowing what it picked up from before.
i am able to hook fairly well on a drag radial and actually prefer it.

does anyone know what this temperature threshold thing is? i am familiar with foxes and old eec iv but am new to the modular thing.

 

[04azuremach]

That's why you have two different tunes... I occassionally run pump gas at test and tune events, but for other events like Ford Fever Classic and such I'll always run C16. It's nice to have the option.

 

[FISHTAIL]

I wouldn't sweat the time it takes to swap the tune. Getting a race gas tune, and changing it while your at the track is as close to no work as you can get. You plug the tuner in, swap the tunes, and your done. The whole process might take 2 minutes.

I would also personally not be comfortable with your AF ratio, I'd be far more comfortable with something in the 11-11.5 range for pump gas. 12's is awful lean, especially around here in the summer time when your cruising around with the A/C on putting some real heat in the motor.

What temperature threshold are you referring to? I would NOT count on your computer to save your engine...these cars don't have knock sensors. If your thinking your computer is going to pull timing and add fuel at the proper time to save your engine, your about to make a very expensive mistake. I'm guessing your thinking of the IAT2 sensor with regards to temp, but I wouldn't rely on that to save anything if I were you.

 

[04azuremach]

I run a flip chip. I can change tunes with the car running in an instant. If you are like me and have a professional conservative tune and don't do any tweaking yourself, that is the way to go. Can't get any easier. I'm with the majority saying I'd want my A/F to be fatter. 11.5:1 would be good. 12:1 isn't that bad (it's what I run, but we have different power adders), but going higher than that is not a good idea IMO.

 

[SONIC BOOM 03]

Thanks to everyone for posting up their thoughts and opinions. It's helpful to get the feedback and ideas.

geoff