Thread: 51 MG restoration.

wife was a few towns over at a wedding shower so I opted to go pick her up in Noddy.
3.5 hr round trip rip through many hilly windy roads on a hot day.
She handled it like a trooper.
I swear, even better throttle response with the wider gap on the plugs.
Pulled up the hills splendidly, and spiritedly..

Was reading up on the tr3 some regarding compression and stuff since that’s what is powering my mg now.
Seems 175 psi compression new is not unheard of and they recommended a 95 octane fuel in her!
I’ve wrongly been feeding her 87 since ownership thinking back then they would have been lucky to get 87.. but 95! Jeez I can’t even get that anymore. 94 is as good as I can get and I usually only run that in my turbo car.
Next fuel change gonna fill her up with the high test and see what that yields.
Figure a Vv job in the winter with the tranny swap is still in the cards, but if I can burn off more char between now and then, bonus.

I'd let the fuel run really low and then fill with the supreme. What's there to lose? A little extra money to find out.

I once saw a thing that was don in Canada on Regular fuel vs the Supreme. It was done on a car that required the regular. They did a dyno test and some others. Turns out that it made less HP with the Supreme than it did with the Regular. It also had poorer mileage.

So this will be interesting.

The highest we can get here is 91. And Regular is 85. If it was my car I'd just find a location that sells non-ethanol fuel and run whatever grade it is. Most likely its going to be a mid-grade level.
But do a full test comparing mileage and pep to the best of your ability. I'm betting per centavo or whatever you people up north call a cent its not going to get any better per gallon or qt or whatever than running the regular. Now the valves will be cleaner with the good stuff.

Originally Posted by Gasman

The highest we can get here is 91. And Regular is 85. If it was my car I'd just find a location that sells non-ethanol fuel and run whatever grade it is. Most likely its going to be a mid-grade level.
But do a full test comparing mileage and pep to the best of your ability. I'm betting per centavo or whatever you people up north call a cent its not going to get any better per gallon or qt or whatever than running the regular. Now the valves will be cleaner with the good stuff.

I'm not sure but it looks like since 2022 there is no non ethanol available in Canada. I do see that there is 91 and 95 grade Premium available.

You are correct Roy.
Damn liberals slipped up to 10% ethanol into my ultra 94 last year while I wasn’t looking.
Apparently you cannot get ethanol free in Canada any longer.
Will see if there is a difference in the car aside from slight clean gains.
More pop. I’ll take it and pay for it all day.
Cheers.

Originally Posted by MikeB52

You are correct Roy.
Damn liberals slipped up to 10% ethanol into my ultra 94 last year while I wasn’t looking.
Apparently you cannot get ethanol free in Canada any longer.
Will see if there is a difference in the car aside from slight clean gains.
More pop. I’ll take it and pay for it all day.
Cheers.

I know nothing about engines, but I do know you can buy ethanol-free 91 Octane fuel at Home Hardware, RONA and stores that sell small engine supplies or chainsaws. It is recommended for those small engine machines by the techs I spoke to. The price is more than $8/L.

i buy the small premixed fuel cans from Rona or the like on occasion for the chainsaw and weed whacker, but at 8$/. Not too often.
Don’t think the 10% ethanol will be as much, if any issue with the new carbs I installed and hope to eat up what’s in the tank this weekend since the weather is supposed to be nice after a few wet cool days.

The 2002 Ford E250 I retired a few years ago developed an issue after turning 300k mi. Turns out it was a fuel/air mix due to injection issues but it began puffing white smoke like a busted water jacket. Because of the rich mixture the ethanol acted like water in the mix. Making the white smoke. That was a 2002 and not a vehicle over 50 years older so I would hesitate to say it will make little to no difference in the performance.

Mike I'm sorry to hear you're having problems! We were all so excited when you got that car up and running. I hope this adventure doesn't turn into a money pit and a point of frustration for you. I hope you get things sorted out! Good Luck my friend!