Originally Posted by LogicalRetard
That's a given. More violent a combustion without knock will of course net more go power. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the actual enthalpy (internal energy produced plus actual pressure x volume) of 87, 89, and 93 are pretty much the same, meaning the energy created by each of them doesn't vary much from one to the next. But the amount composition of the hydrocarbons used in gas, like Frank said, varies which changes the smoothness of the burn. Heptane has an octane rating of 0 and is real explosive burning, where as isooctane has an octane rating of 100 and is smooth burning, I guess all because of the molecule constuction/layout. That's what gas octane stems from, so 100+ octane gas is actualy off the charts.
It's funny...I've gone back and read all the previous posts in this thread and it went from laymans terms for joe blow, to me screwing it all to hell. Sorry.
And oh yeah, carbs suck balls.
yeah the true BTU rating of 87,89 and 93 are the same. if i remember right. its just the resistance to knock that changes.
oh and carbs don't suck balls... really the wet flow intake runs cooler and makes more power at one rpm than can be made with a dry flow port FI system... its just the A/F over a given usable rpm band thats hard to get right with carbs...
pro stock cars are tuned to the point of being faster with a carb at a given track on a given day that the carb was tuned for.