Oh, and as DVW mentioned. Mine has been 12.0@115mph in July weather. It's got a tune and tires.

I put my little brother in the car and let him beat on it for the weekend. He hadn't ever been in anything faster than 15 seconds, and that was 20 years ago.

Stage it, stomp it, and steer. Piece of cake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYLWocXr1BQ

DAy-ummmm .. .... good stuff .....

An ECU that learns !

Boy do I have some followups!

GOTTA hit the road with some 87 octane !

Good to hear some great info from what I suspect are CTC guys

Had I made a certain phone call ... I probably would have been in at HPE !

Hey Doc...Have you ever thought about blending fuel for your car? Just a thought...

t ...what are you suggesting?

And jsta to touch on ONE FOLLOWUP..... if the ECU can learn taking timing out ... can it LEARN the other way ???.... but using a higher than recommended fuel ?

The last ECU fiasco I dealt with was on a 1981 TC3 Miser that had a FEED BACK carburetor on it !!

91 and 87 blend..

But I’ve only seen ONE STATION in the area with 91 .....like this ... I took this pic because I’d never seen it before locally ....and THIS STATION is about 20 miles away ....

Most are like this ....

Been busy...gotta add this though .....

Is there any option for the ECU to learn jacking UP the timing ? Like - if the published requirements are 91 for this motor ... and your only availability is 93 .... would that then be worth ANOTHER 25 horsepower? But then on the other side .... running 87 ... would that then mean that 485 horsepower engine now produces 455 or so ?

BUT THEN .... if you truly cruise with the car where say you’re NOT USING anything near the full output of the engine .....

Wouldn’t the motor load-up to a degree with that WAY OVER THE NEED higher octane fuel ?

I could be wrong but I don't believe unused octane "loads up" Your thinking of thermoquad problems not modern fuel injection. You were able to buy the Scat Pac, surely you can drop that extra $2 a tank for premium!

We use the recommended 89 or 91 in the Wife's 18 RT Durango with the 5.7. If you roll into the throttle I feel like it has a flat spot where it is pulling timing for some reason or another. I need to put a catch can on it just to rule oil in the intake out.

The ECU does not have any way to advance timing past the factory tables. Only retard timing based on knock history.

However the aftermarket tuners are able to add timing/trim fuel to gain power. Most of the aftermarket tuners for these cars are able to get 20~25hp just by tuning from 91 to 93.

So for sure it's down on power with 87 in it.

By the way... As for the ECU learning. The idea of watching knock count and tuning the timing tables through long/short term "trim", has been around for at LEAST 30 years.... as I know my '93 Mitstubishi Turbo Eclipse had this functionality. These things are WAY smarter then you think they are.

I don't know what you mean by "load up", but for sure the calibrators know that people will put varying degrees of fuel quality in these. The PCM will adjust to whatever you throw at it within reason.

Doc don't you read those signs at the gas station not to use your cell phone at the pump?

Like Dizuster said - no it won't advance extra. If you run 91 you will get full advance most of the time. The factory tunes on these cars are a little bit aggressive, so they will occasionally knock and pull a little timing, especially if you lug the engine on the highway, but not often enough to become a long term correction (unless something is wrong). On one WOT run with 91 it might sense knock, pull 2 degrees for .5 seconds, 1 degree for another .5 seconds, and get back to 0. With 93 it may not do that. But whatever the factory has dialed in as optimal advance is the most it will run, even if you put 110 in it. It will knock sometimes with 91 in it, and probably even with 93 but not as often.

You sure have alot of octane options down there in Florida!