IML: High gas prices, high altitudes.

["Klebert L. Hall" <swampyankee@xxxxxxx>]

   Gas is kinda pricey right now, but it's half the price of milk. Is there
a 'milk crisis' ? Let's say you have to put 100 bucks of gas in your
Imperial per week (it's a daily driver like mine). That's 4-500 bucks a
month, instead of maybe $150 in some modern good-mileage-mobile. Here's the
point of all this - would you have more fun putting that money into your
Imperial in gas, or into a new car in car payments, while _still_ spending
another $150 a month in gas, as your tiny, boring new car depreciates like
there's no tomorrow?
  I can't afford a new car, but I can afford to gas up my Crown. Every so
often, I can even afford to add $25 of $5.75 per gallon 110 octane leaded
racing fuel to the tank, so it can run on design octane, and lubricate the
valve seats.

  When a car is operating at high altitudes, it can use lower octane fuel.
The atmospheric pressure is lower, so that there's less air charge in the
cylinders to compress. This effectively lowers the engine's compression
ratio (the ratio stays the same, but it's compressing less air - thus the
pressure in the combustion chamber is lower), reducing the likelihood of
detonation. When I went through the Rockies in my '62 Crown back in '88, it
ran on 89 octane with no knock. Power suffers under these conditions, but an
Imperial has extra to start with, so it's okay.
    -Kle.
    '69 Crown 4DHT




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