Using Avgas

[pagerow]

G'day
We're thinking about taking a trip out from Cosmo Newbery WA next year. My mate who lives there said on some sections of the Serpentine Lakes Road you can only get either diesel or avgas. Does anyone have any experience using avgas? I have a 1994 NJ 3.0lt.

Cheers

[Sandgroper]

Hi pagerow,
We used to use avgas in our road racing bikes, I can't tell you for sure how your NJ will go but it has a lot more lead in it than the old super fuel and it has about 100 octane so it should run at least as well as it does now would be my guess. I have used avgas in various standard road bikes and a VW Kombie( should have filled up at the last servo, several times, but we had plenty of avgas in the trailer )with no problems at all.
Hope this helps a little,
Sandgroper.

[bounceferret]

If you like the way your emissions system is currently working then don't use Avgas. The exhaust from burning avgas will have a party on your cat and will foul your O2 sensors, resulting in increased fuel consumption.. blah blah blah

plus it's illegal to use in a car thats is meant for ULP

[Alex86]

Avoid it i reckon. Probably do more harm than good on the more modern engines.
Cars/engines designed to run on the old super would probably tolerate avgas.
You might get away if your stuck with a partial mix (more petrol than avgas though) but i wouldnt put a tankfull through.

It may also play a bit of havoc on your plugs and inside of the cylinders leaving lead deposits, which can heat up and cause pre-ignition of the mix in the cylinders, which isnt good for the engine!!!!!!

The blue AvGas is 100LL (100 octane, low lead - but still has a bucketload more than pump petrol). The green stuff is 100/130, harder to find, which from memory is in the aero engines 100 octane when run they are run lean and 130 when run rich (mixture is manually controlled...)

[pagerow]

Yeah thanks for that. It doesn't sound too good a proposition. Maybe in an emergency but then it sounds like it must be mixed with unleaded. Does anyone know what the legal position is these days on carrying jerry cans of fuel?

[Ranger J]

Yeah thanks for that. It doesn't sound too good a proposition. Maybe in an emergency but then it sounds like it must be mixed with unleaded. Does anyone know what the legal position is these days on carrying jerry cans of fuel?

Are you sure its Avgas and not Opal?

[pagerow]

Yeeees good point Ranger. My WA friend said avgas but it might weell be Opal. I believe that is similar to unleaded in characteristics? The communities out there are dry ones anyway so it might be opal. Thanks for that , I'll check.

[john_char]

I've used AVGAS on my old car. Not saying where I got it but I had access to heaps. My car ran really hot but had extra power and economy. I wouldn't recommend using it as it eats away at your automotive seals, not good. Ny worth it.

[psproule]

Avgas should make it run cooler - not hotter. I know it sounds odd but the flame front on higher octane fuel is slower. The extra grunt comes from being able to run higher compression and more advanced timing. We actually had troubles when running it in our boat as the motor ran too cool (when combined with raw water cooling).

Avgas shouldn't deteriorate seals either. It is just heavily leadded super (lead stops pinging). It is Alcohol / Ethanol blends that deteriorate seals. Ethanol is now often used as an octane booster for high-end car fuels so it is easy to confuse an alcohol blend with "good" old Avgas.

lead will "poison" your catalytic convertor though.

[WALLYBURGER]

Don`t do it !! for all of the above reasons.It`s great for race engines above 11:1 compression as they are pulled down and re-built quite often and it`s higher octane reduces the chance of detonation due to it`s slower burning and cooling properties.It will poison the cat converter,increase fuel econommy and carbon deposits within the engine and is expensive to.

[pagerow]

Thanks for that. Yes I will certainly be avoiding AVGAS. The only problem is that I am told it is the only non-diesel fuel available in some of the remote areas. The only other option is to carry jerry cans (how did they get that name?) but I remember reading where a bloke got fined in NSW for carrying fuel external to the vehicle's fuel tank!!!??

My brother is a truckie and he thought that as long as the jerry cans were secured - no problem.
Maybe the NSW issue was one of an over-zealous officer

[bounceferret]

another option is to consider a long range tank. On the open highway I get over 1000kms to a full tank.
there are plenty of places that manufacture and install. From memory I bought mine for around $700 from Long range automotive in Lilydale.

and as a bonus I sold the old tank for $100 on ebay

[john_char]

Jerry can

They got the Jerry can quote from WW2. It was actually the Germans who made it. The allies loved them as all they had were the 44 gallon drums or 5 gallon drums, so whenever they could salvage them, they would say "found another Jerry can today". Bit of trivia for ya.

Also, it is illegal in NSW to have Jerry cans on the outside or rear of your truck or trailer. The only safe place 'apparently' is on the draw bar of your trailer.

John

[Alex86]

Also, it is illegal in NSW to have Jerry cans on the outside or rear of your truck or trailer. The only safe place 'apparently' is on the draw bar of your trailer.

John

A question- is that applicable to any car travelling in NSW, or any NSW registered car in NSW?

[john_char]

Sorry mate,
I really wouldn't know. I was told this when I picked up my camper trailer, so the best thing would be to check the RTA web site.

John