Hi! First post and first Harley. Just picked up my 04' XL883 custom which is great so far...getting back into riding after many years.
Owners manual stated an octane rating of 87, I believe, for the 883 but guys at the dealer said they run high octane (91-93) in their Sportsters. Any issue with running a higher octane, especially in a brand new bike?
Second quick question. Next thing I want to do is upgrade the stock pipes to Screaming Eagles. I'm understanding the air box should be upgraded to a larger size at the same time. Do I need to have the jets re-done for these pipes & airbox or is that something extra for performance?
Thx and Cheers....Dennis
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welcome dadspike,
running higher octane wont help much,if you live in higher temp. areas, arizona,vegas
etc.may run too hot. stick with the mid grade . change jets if you go to different pipes.
I got 10:1 wiseco pistons in mine, i run premium unleaded, as we call it here, there are quite a few, ranging from 96-98 RON. I use 96, as its the only one available where i am, never had any problems at all, quite the opposite, it gets to 40 plus here, was 44 today, which is around 125 in your Fahrenhiut. Runs great, and we are the highest town in WA.
Go with the high -octane if you want.Still ,you wont notice much difference,and higher octane runs a bit hotter.bowsaw might have performance x-tras that make it worth the x-tra nickle.
Yeah, with normal unleaded here, which is 92RON, i ping under load, but not with higher octane. It also burns cleaner, my ISC on my Fairmont Ghia was dirty when i got it, after using nothing but premium, its still clean, as 4bolts said, burns hotter, therefore not leaving as much crap as normal ULP, and i get about an extra 50 kms from a tank, but is about 20 cents more a litre. Lots of people here run it because its cleaner, one of the brands, Mobil i think, have Vortex, which also has cleaners in it, but is more expensive again.
Additives to increase octane do only one thing...slow down the burn rate of fuel so you don't get detonation (ping) in high compression engines. (higher compression nets more heat in the cylinder) If you're bike is rated at less than 9 to 1 compression ratio...you don't need high octane fuel.
Save a few pennies at the pump!
Rick C.
(I have a 1200C, vintage 2000...it has a 9 to 1 ratio and the manual states 91 minimum)
Sure you dont NEED too...but why cheap out....let your engine take in good fuel....its only 2 something a gallon....a gas tank is no more than 5 gallons....shell out the extra money......dont treat your harley bad.....give it good gas
The "fuel" is the same...the burn rate is slower on the higher octane (additives are different) Dyno results show that higer octane can give you less horsepower within the same motor group...I got this info from another BBS that had a chemical engineer as a member. This guy tried three different ocatane grades, and hooked up with a dealership to dyno his bike...89 octane won hands down...of course... this was a low compression engine that didn't require the slower burn rate.
I've been interested in knowing some about the octane ratings.
According to the manual for my old XL1000, it calls for a minimum of 94octane.
Most stations only offer 92-93 as their premium.
I know is good enough...
but what happened to Sunoco multigrades?
or the local stations that had the extra pump for racing fuel?
Octane rating on new bike
