Just friendly banter Tom Tom.. gotta read the room. CV carbs have a great reputation and check the box. I was only saying my team is better than your team with a smirk of jest. The green smiley guy was the clue!

 

OP- is this the Fatboy you just rebuilt?

 

Yes, the one in my signature!

 

A nice indicator for timing looking at the plugs is if you get the color change right at or just before the bend.

 

IDK what Gas you are Running...But, The Moose **** here where i live ain't gonna show nothin like that til ya got aluminum "*****" on the plugs!!!
Even our Race gas shows more color than that... is it Methanol??

 

here’s some from my Softail.

the pics I previously posted I grabbed from the internet to show an exaggerated line to convey the timing mark. It’s harder to see from a pic of my personal plugs from this post

 

Additive or race fuel makes that color. Life was easier when the still used tetra ethyl.

 

Does different octanes cause different plug reads? If Im running 90, which I do, does 87 or 84 have a different read? Higher octane means a hotter burn which would look like a lean condition. Am I miss understanding this? Thanks

 

Any gas you wish to run from your average gas station will yield similar results for plug reading. 81-93 might not even show much difference. However different additives can slightly show a difference. High grade ethanol free gas might show a slightly cleaner more Definitive result. The additives can make coffee tan look more and more cloudy grey.

High octang does not cause your combustion chamber to burn more hot. It does not cause by itself for you to make more power.. it’s actually the opposite. What high octang does is detonate at a higher temperature. What that means is when you run high compression, you can run more timing to make the power that should be there with high compression without the detonation. The lowest octane that allows you to run the highest advance timing usually makes the most power.

When guys start pulling timing out, it’s because the compression is high and they want to make sure it does not detonate. They start going backwards from just having lower compression and running more advance timing. Everything is compromises and trade-offs. In Ohio in the late 90s almost every gas station had at least one pump of 100 or even 110 octane gas and it was ethanol free. Those are the glory days lol.

‘’Back in the day my shovel would run on turbo blue the 110 stuff, my plugs would be grey, almost no sign of any tan. But it was right. The timing and tune were on, the mph and no ping would prove that to me. Street gas of 93 is kinda going that way. Old better ethanol free gas was the traditional tan.

 

Note; ethanol is Much Higher Octane Rating than Gasoline...so... Stands to Reason, more Alkyhol in yer gas = Higher Octane..Exactly the opposite of More Power, or Hotter!!
All Octane does, is resist burn...ie, Resist Pre-ignition...Spark Knock!!!