Saturday, January 12, 2008
The Corvette's a picky eater.
The Corvette gave me a bit of a scare this week - it suddenly started running pretty rough. It turned out I'd got a tank of bad gas from a grocery store that also sold no-name gas. First time I've really had a car that was all that picky about gas brands (although I'm not sure about the Dart's current EFI trim). I'd figured that since the L98 engine isn't really all that exotic - low RPM, iron heads, Chevy recommends 87 octane - it wouldn't be all that picky about what sort of gas I put in it. Looks like I was mistaken.
The moral is that while an L98 Corvette will run quite happily on 87 octane, it has to be good 87 octane.
Also, I finally got the minor tune-up parts installed on the Corvette...Well, most of them; I'll get the spark plugs and O2 sensor later (and I may put something else in that O2 sensor socket than a stock part...). I used a set of Summit straight boot HEI plug wires. The fit isn't the greatest; several on the left bank had to go up over the valve cover to fit correctly. And the stock wires have 90 degree angle boots. But I was able to route them away from anything likely to burn them. So my impression of Summit's house brand wires is a bit mixed. Although if the #1 and #3 wires were a little longer I would be very impressed. They fit at least as well as many parts store wires I've dealt with.
The moral is that while an L98 Corvette will run quite happily on 87 octane, it has to be good 87 octane.
Also, I finally got the minor tune-up parts installed on the Corvette...Well, most of them; I'll get the spark plugs and O2 sensor later (and I may put something else in that O2 sensor socket than a stock part...). I used a set of Summit straight boot HEI plug wires. The fit isn't the greatest; several on the left bank had to go up over the valve cover to fit correctly. And the stock wires have 90 degree angle boots. But I was able to route them away from anything likely to burn them. So my impression of Summit's house brand wires is a bit mixed. Although if the #1 and #3 wires were a little longer I would be very impressed. They fit at least as well as many parts store wires I've dealt with.
Labels: Corvette
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I remember the Ranchero gave me a bit of a start (and it restarted)when I didn't give it enough octane. But for some reason I never really thought that different gasolines actually had that big a difference in quality.
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