Race fuel

[Cmckinne36]

Can a stock m52b28 motor run race fuel with no tune or would it be a was of the money. Looking o go to the drag races and wanna see how much it’ll benefit from it.

[pbonsalb]

It won’t do anything without a tune if you are already on 93. A little could help if you are on 91.

[woody328is]

The race fuel is a huge benefit if you are able to increase ignition timing but w/o a tune you may not see much improvement. Exhaust will smell good though.

[HalfFast1]

Sometimes performance degrades if you don’t tune for the fuel. Oh, and it’s hella expensive.

[pbonsalb]

There is not a lot of cheap power. There is a tried and true naturally aspirated path that can get you 15-20% at the wheels with a tune for a reasonable cost. There is an expensive NA option that adds cams that can get 25-30%. There is the supercharger that can add 40-100% and there is the turbo that can add 100-250% power at the wheels. Few run nitrous but done right it works. Not as cheap to do right as the price of an entry level kit.

[tvcasualty]

stock tune you will likely lose power and gas mileage

[E36328Coupe]

stock tune you will likely lose power and gas mileage

^ Nailed it. The timing will effectively be too retarded.

[Aeko]

Can a stock m52b28 motor run race fuel with no tune or would it be a was of the money. Looking o go to the drag races and wanna see how much it’ll benefit from it.

Waste of money as the stock tune isn't designed to handle fuel with anything above pump gas octane rating.

If you want to get a moderately cheap, quick, but minor increase in power; look into an M50 manifold swap with the shark to tune it (do some searching for it). Once you have everything you can probably install the M50 manifold in an afternoon if you have purchased a kit to install it with. The price to HP isn't great overall but it's still an improvement if you are really dead set on something quick.

[woody328is]

Race fuel that I see is leaded. Bad for catalytic converters as well as possibility of retarding timing over time.

[mslevin]

If you want a cheap way to go faster at a drag race, just gut the car. Its free and dropping 500lbs from the car should drop some time pretty well

[blckstrm]

If you want a cheap way to go faster at a drag race, just gut the car. Its free and dropping 500lbs from the car should drop some time pretty well

Even pulling your back seat (top and bottom) and ditching your spare is better than nothing.

[Edit]

Nice writeup on Apex. Where did you get that adjustable LTW wing?

[Cmckinne36]

Thanks everyone I appreciate it i know about the m50 manifold and the s52 cams modand the benefit of it . However the tuning route isn’t one I truly want to go due to the fact that shark says there tune only runs on 93. I’m honesly not wanting to put 3-400 dollars for something that will limit my gas choices because where I live gas is at 3 something for that and not truly worth it when I drive almost every where with this car. Just wanted to do something to make it a slight bump from normal already gutted back seats not spare because out here there’s so many pothole and no safe places if it pops.

[1215]

Race fuel that I see is leaded. Bad for catalytic converters as well as possibility of retarding timing over time.

This was going to be my comment exactly.


Cmckinne36, You really don't want to run leaded fuel through your cats. If you can go to your local FBO (airport) and find mogas or autogas (usually same as 91 pump gas just no ethanol) maybe but the price won't be worth it. Also, for what it's worth, we have had a bunch of e36'es over the years and my son did a bunch of work/mods to his car. Between his modded car and our other stock e36'es, on average, we notice very little difference in price between premium and regular pump gas. Meaning, typically we see better gas mileage with premium and worse with regular which means running regular you have to fill up more often so costs end up being about the same in the long run. Only difference is that with premium fuel I think it burns a little better/cleaner so it cuts down a little on maintenance.

[pbonsalb]

You can buy 100 unleaded.

[mslevin]

Nice writeup on Apex. Where did you get that adjustable LTW wing?

Its an adjustable PTG-style wing from DTM Fiberwerkz!

[blckstrm]

Its an adjustable PTG-style wing from DTM Fiberwerkz!

Yes, I'm hijacking this thread for a moment.

I love those Felony Form overfenders, too. I'm sure you know how tight a fit those wheels would be without them - I have 17x9s that are a TIGHT fit, and I've been looking at Felony Form (especially now that they're working on a sedan version) so I can fit some wider rubber.

How hard were those to install? How was the fit?

And a follow-up on the wing - I've heard people who have had LTW wings say they don't make a lot of downforce. I find that a bit hard to believe, and doubly so with the adjustable version you have. Any feedback on how it feels vs pre-wing?

[pbonsalb]

Hard Motorsports sells flares. It’s some work to install - cutting and welding inner sheet metal but you must do that for any flare that actually improves upper outer arch clearance.

[blckstrm]

Hard Motorsports sells flares. It’s some work to install - cutting and welding inner sheet metal but you must do that for any flare that actually improves upper outer arch clearance.

I'm fully aware of all that. LOTS of people sell flares.

I'm very aware of what it takes to do flares properly - I've read all about it from multiple sources (Vorshlag was local when I lived in DFW and I looked at several of the cars in / from their shop), and have been helping a friend fit a PTG widebody kit onto a sedan.

So I wasn't really asking in general. I'm curious about the Felony Form kit specifically. The PTG kit we got has had some surprises in how it is meant to be attached to the car (or rather lack of method of attachment).

Thus the question about the Felony Form kit in particular (including fit).

[jmo69]

It won’t do anything without a tune if you are already on 93. A little could help if you are on 91.

The motor is designed to run on 89, even 93 is a waste of money.

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[pbonsalb]

I thought there is a sticker saying minimum recommended is 91?

[E36328Coupe]

People still talking about spending more on higher octane without a tune to make their cars slower? lol

[pbonsalb]

I run 93 plus meth injection.

[jmo69]

I thought there is a sticker saying minimum recommended is 91?

Mine says 89.

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[pbonsalb]

On my 99M3, it says 91 above the gas gauge.

[ChuckDizzle]

Mine says 89.

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AKI versus RON octane ratings, and AKI is usually 4-5 points lower than RON.