Finding Premium (high octane) Gasoline in Remote Areas

[Nikkormat]

As I get further into my Wagoneer build I've started rebuilding the new engine. Just a basic AMC 401 with ported stock heads, intake, etc... Should put out somewhere around 400hp and torque figures in the low 500's. Plenty for moving around 5k pounds of jeep. But I've bumped the compression up to about 9.8:1 with thinner head gaskets and resurfaced heads. That is a pretty high number on iron heads but the quench has worked out to proper dimensions so it should run on with no problem on 91. And may even like lower octanes depending on how well I can tune it.

It has occurred to me now, after all the parts are purchased and ready to be thrown together, that premium might not be available in all of my later travels. I want to take this thing down through South America, Up into interior Canada and Alaska, Want to spend a good few months tooling around Australia, and maybe even into Africa and Eurasia if I make enough money to do so.

SO to those of you that have spent time in the remote areas of the world, is high octane fuel something that is readily available? In the age of modern land cruisers and other expedition vehicles being built to demand premium I would think so...

And for the rest of you, can I add an octane boosting fuel additive to lower quality gasoline and expect it to actually raise the octane enough to not have detonation problems?

Thanks guys.

 

[krick3tt]

If you type in 'octane boosting' in the search block (upper right) you will see previous posts on premium fuels in remote regions. Quite a bit of info there and it doesn't look good for your engine.

 

[comptiger5000]

Depending on the setup, you can probably pull some timing (and sacrifice power and efficiency) to get it to run safely on 87 if you end up in a situation where you can't get good fuel. That's the exact reason that any trip to remote areas in my ZJ means bringing the laptop in case I need to de-tune it.

 

[GoinBoardin]

I buit a 351w with squish of 0.041", and 9.3:1 compression. No issues on 85 octane unless I advance the ignition timing +6° over stock. I'm able to run 91 with advanced timing for a great pedal feel or, 85 octane and not as crisp.

You might be aware of this, but if not: The cam specs will come into play, that's why there is no hard line on static compression ratio and octane required. Dynamic compression depends on many factors.

PS 400hp and 500 lb ft sounds like fun!

 

[Nikkormat]

As you said, static compression isn't the whole story. But the current cam isn't very aggressive so I suspect it will still be pretty high. That's easy enough to change though. "You mean I HAVE to put in a bigger cam and make more power? Darn!" How aggressive is the cam in your 351?

And yes, 400hp should make it climb hills quite nicely. I was going to go with a stock rebuild and drop in an NV3550 and much deeper axle gears to make up for the low power and gain over drive, but it was going to be long enough to interfere with my nice big gas tank. So I decided to build way more engine than I need to compensate for the lack of gears.

 

[Nikkormat]

And it is very easy to pull timing out of it, that kind of slipped my mind. It will run like crap, but it will still run, and I can always give it more timing once I have more good gas.

 

[Nikkormat]

Thanks guys!

 

[onemanarmy]

The easiest thing to do is focus on reliability and ease of use and knock the HP down. You'll still get everywhere you need to go with less cash outlay, less headache and hassle, and a more usable platform.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

[comptiger5000]

And it is very easy to pull timing out of it, that kind of slipped my mind. It will run like crap, but it will still run, and I can always give it more timing once I have more good gas.

Yup! And to add to what I was saying above, I'm running a Mopar 360 small block, about 9.7:1 compression with iron heads and a tiny little cam (206/212 at .050") and worse quench than you've got (pistons are about .050 in the hole and the head gaskets are .025 compressed). It pushes better than 180 psi cranking compression and runs fine on 91 with the timing pushed right up to what's theoretically ideal.

 

[GoinBoardin]

I'm using a stock Ford roller cam with 1.7 ratio roller rockers. So it's pretty mild, to maintain off idle torque at the sacrifice of high end power. Pretty rare to exceed 4500 rpm in my truck, but it'll sit at 2500 all day if working hard. Can't recall cam specs off the top of my head. This is with cast iron Ford GT40P heads, ported intake, and long tube headers. I should mention I'm at 7200' above sea level running 85 octane, but have been down to 800' on 87 octane.

 

[Martinjmpr]

I'm not one to worship at the altar of diesel, but if I was planning on driving around the world, diesel would be the way I'd go. You can get diesel anywhere they sell fuel. Obviously an old-tech diesel that doesn't need DEF would be best for such an application.

 

[rayra]

seconded but as much for vaunted diesel engine reliability and low end torque, as for fuel availability. Building a high horsepower gasser that has to have high octane seems like a terrible idea for world travel, IMAO. Entertaining in short burst monster truck rallies and swamp buggy races. But slogging thru some notional 'road' in some third world country? Nope.

 

[Nikkormat]

I would love to have a small Isuzu diesel, but it would be very expensive to convert in anything but a junkyard motor. There's the cost of the engine, rebuilding the engine, rebuilding the injection pump and turbo, plumbing it all, putting a transmission behind it, adapting to a transfer case, and then it would likely be too long to run with my primary tank. Leaving me with the 25 gallon auxillary tank. Even if the swap gets me 20 mpg, that would only be 500 miles of range running it to empty.

The engine a pretty conservative rebuild besides the bump in compression and a small cam. Like I said it's stock heads, stock intake, etc. And the whole motivation for that extra is altitude. In CO I live at 8500 feet. And a little bump in compression can make a big difference in usable power. I would be surprised if you could by a new car or truck in America today with compression below 9:1.

And if I reach my goal, and drive this old Jeep to south America, you can bet I'll be glad to have a little more compression at 20k feet on the Cerro Uturuncu. And yeah yeah yeah, a diesel would probably do that fine too. But there's no reason that my old gas engine with some modern fuel injection on top wouldn't also do it.

 

[Dan Grec]

I'm not one to worship at the altar of diesel, but if I was planning on driving around the world, diesel would be the way I'd go. You can get diesel anywhere they sell fuel. Obviously an old-tech diesel that doesn't need DEF would be best for such an application.

What makes you think you can't get gas?

I have driven AK-Argentina, and now down the West Coast of africa, and in my entire life I have probably seen more stations with gas and not diesel rather an diesel but not gas.

Scooters and Chinese motorbikes outnumber 4-wheeled vehicles 1000 to 1 (or more) in developing / undeveloped countires, therefore gas is much, much more plentiful.

--

To answer the OPs question - absolutely no to high-octane fuel in the undeveloped world, or even being able to buy octane boost.
I would suspect what I was buying in West Africa is anything, and I mean anything. Horrible quality.

-Dan

 

[Nikkormat]

Thanks for the input Dan! Have you had any trouble in the JK? Not that they are particularly picky, but I'm assuming they won't run on really bad fuel.