RON 95 V's 98 & Resistor Chip?

I have heard that Alfa's are fairly highly tuned, and that using higher octane fuels (RON 98) can make a significant difference to an Alfa's performance, especially in Twin Spark's.

Is this true??

Also, has anyone tried the "resistor chip" performance upgrade that supposidly "fools" the ECU by giving a constant air temperature? The manufacturer claims that it can increase power output by +20 BHP.

Sounds suspect to me!!

Re: fuel - yes, TS Alfa's have knock sensor which will advance or retard the ignition depending on the octane raating of the fuel. I use Shell Optimax in my GTV (just filled up with the new V-Power), and I do notice a slight improvement.

Re: the resisitor, it apparently makes the car overfuel, and is not to be recommended

Yes higher octane will make a slight difference, few extra bhp, but it wouldn't be that noticable to be honest for an normally aspirated engine.
You probably will get some extra mpg too depending on the calorific value of the fuel , and better cleaning additives etc.
Most people are probably incapable of noticing a couple of % performance increase. e.g. do you notice the difference when your tank of petrol is nearly empty vs full.

I always ran my cars on high octane, petrol wasn't a significant % of the cost for me, and I did feel the car revved more freely at the high end.

Save your money on the resistor mate, do you think there is a reason that Alfa monitor the air temperature?

resistor... if superchips/angel tuning etc charge £300+ to get a 10% gain at max, dont you think the resistor theory would be a bit too good to be true? its a complete con, will cause the engine to overfuel, resulting in god knows what damage long term, dont do it!

as for the optimax/super/v-power fuel, yes, i think using the higher octane fuels does help, especially in a modified or highly tuned vehicle such. higher octane ration = higher power output. isnt this new v-max 99ron?

edit..

http://www.shell.com/home/Framework?...unch_2308.html

it is 99RON... get a bit of octane booster in there, get it to 102 :| whoa... the possibilities

More realistically will get it to 99.3 RON

3 octane points = 0.3 RON.
3 octane points is the typical RON increase claim for boosters.

Originally Posted by marko

it is 99RON... get a bit of octane booster in there, get it to 102 :| whoa... the possibilities

Big no no on the resitor chip. Keep hearing bad things from cheap mods like that. Ideally if you're going to use a higher rated fuel you should get the ECU reprogrammed for that rating. Hence when you purchase a Squadra or an Autodelta chip for example, they tell you to use only RON 98 as they have basically remapped the ECU to make the most of RON 98 fuel. Using 98 without an ECU mod does not make any real difference in my personal experience as the standard ECU is mapped for 95 and does not get the full benefit of higher octane fuel.

You can still use 95 octane after an Autodelta remap (the ECU will detect higher octane if present).

Cheers,
TB

Thanks, forgot to mention that. I had the Autodelta chip in my 2nd 164 12v and often went back to 95 with no issues (when I was feeling stingey ).

J

I do note a slight difference in performance and handling with a low fuel tank. However the performance gains for going to 98+RON don't seem worth the extra expense.

Agree with your view on the resistor chip rubbish, of course there is good reason for the ECU to know the air temp.

Can i get hi octane fuel for my 2.4JTD please?