Random thought. Were the octane ratings the same in the past (60's, 70's, and 80's) as they are now? I would think not but just want to read about the "good ole' days" haha. I remember reading and someone said that you could feel the smog in the air during the 70's hahaha!

 

Most stations back in the 60's had regular and ethyl (premium). I don't remember octane ratings being posted on the pumps. I remember Esso (now Exxon) having Esso Golden Extra which if I remember correctly was 103 octane. I never bought any of it and I don't think it was around a long time. I believe it was in the late 50's and Gulf introduced a competing product. I also remember coming back from Viet Nam in 1970 into Norton AFB is San Bernardino and flying home from LAX. You could literally see the smog in the air. It looked like brown fog and burned your eyes for sure.

 

I remember as a pimply faced kid and our high comp engines there was the tried and true Sunoco 260 (104 octane) and I believe their may have been a 280 (106) at some stations.

The biggest difference as to what the ratings are today and the ratings of the 60's and 70's is the way they test. Ron vs Mon vs what we use today, AKI which is R+M/2 Octane Number. Basically its the 2 testing methods added together and divided by 2.

 

It's not just simply about the octane ratings - gasoline today is not the same hydrocarbon compound as it was back then. The chemical formulation has changed over the years, just as there are differences between summer blends and winter blends with different vapor points.

 

In the good old days the gasoline octane was measured with the RON system. Today, we use the average of the RON and the MON. Most of the remainder of the world still uses RON.

Here's the numbers, then and in modern terms.

 

I just remember the guy coming to the window and asking mom if she wanted regular or unleaded. I also remember my dad knocking out a bigger hole in the gas tank filler neck of our new 1981 Pontiac so that the regular (leaded and lower price) nozzle would fit. About 6 months after that we knocked the guts out of the converter and unhooked much of the pollution stuff and pulling the bulb out of the check engine light.
After that the car got 3 MPG better economy.

 

Hahaha! Wow! How times have changed!

 

104 lol thats crazy.

 

lol imagine being on a motorcycle with no helmet behind you guys haha

 

that makes me think: if you have a stock vintage car, wouldnt the gas now affect the engine. Maybe not anything significant.. Idk just a thought

 

It ran much better and got better mileage with all that early 80's crap cut off or unhooked. It never had a bad odor outside of what you would expect from a new car in those days.

 

I cured my emission control problems by sticking with pre-emission vehicles. My car enthusiasm basically stopped around 72.

 

niiiice! Maybe i should try on my 307 before junking it!

 

my 307 is a headache because of the emissions stuff. Im swapping in a 403 and it should be less of a drag and more of an enjoyment to work on

 

I knocked out the opening in the filler neck on my 78 Delta with a piece of an old shovel handle that I tapered. I used wood so there would be no chance of spark. This was back in the early 80's and Chief Auto Parts (remember them) actually sold what they called a catalytic converter test tube. It was sold under the premise you could put it in place of your catalytic converter to see if the converter was bad. I bought one and it was just a piece of pipe that fit right where the converter was. And then the EPA cracked down on them and the guys at Chief wouldn't even talk about them or even mention they had ever had them.

 

This Pontiac had the 231 V6 in it. Hardly had enough power to get itself out of the way. Later I put a 70 Olds 350 4bbl engine in it with a W-31 intake, lol. Put 268,000 miles on the car and then took it out and player barn yard derby with it.

 

Ideally, cars that were designed for leaded gasoline need either a lead additive added to the fuel, or hardened valve seats installed in the head. I've heard that folks run fine without the additive.

 

I still run a 327 SBC with the original heads with no problems with the heads and no additives. If I were ever to rebuild the heads I would do a upgrade on the grind but if a engine was run for a extended time on leaded gas I feel that the valve face will hold up for a looooong time after you start using non leaded fuel.YMMD.... Tedd

 

My father handed me a spout from his toolbox a couple years back and I did not know the application, but it was a converter for the leaded nozzle to fit in an unleaded car.

 

Leaded gas has a different smell to it, much different from today's gas.

Sunoco 260 was the top octane offering in the late 1960's....at .35 per gallon.

 

On the West Coast of Canada we had Chevron Custom Supreme. No octane number on the pump, but I have since read that it was 104. I also remember Gulf No-Nox but my folks didn't have a credit card there.

 

Yeah, that's the sweet smell of tetraethyl lead as it kills your brain cells and your body!

 

I don't know about everyone else but as a kid I was always elbos deep in gas cleaning parts on my cars. Not to mention MEK and all those other now toxic chemicals, I guess we are all doomed.

 

Eric, used to go up to Rob Butler's store and buy kerosene for 25 cents a gallon. It was a little country store with a little store where they lived in the back and had a small store in the front. This was in the 60's and I promise you he still had the old hand cranked gas pumps. The kerosene was in one of those square tanks and the pump was on top with a crank handle on it. I think if you pulled the handle back and then pushed it forward until it stopped it was a gallon. Kerosene was 25 cents a gallon for a long time. This story is more proof that I am old. See you soon.

 

As a kid? I still wash parts in gasoline. Usually without wearing gloves because it eventually gets inside those anyway. At the end of the job I sometimes get the toughest dirt off my hands with gas too. It doesn't even burn the abrasions on my hands. Sometimes I wipe down my arms and legs too and I'm sure on rare occasion I've cleaned the odd spot off my face. I don't do it often and I don't feel really good about it, but I honestly can't say that it seems to have had much lasting effect on my hands (or, for that matter my internal organs). I guess, everything in moderation. Maybe it's because we have that healthy California stuff :-)...

 

I started driving in the 80's when leaded gas was still an option for yet a few years. The only fuel I remember then was Sunoco 94. There actually was a service station in East Elmhurst, Queens, NY (within NYC range) that actually sold Cam II right at the pump, but didn't list it's octane. I know there are still a hand full out there but most are about 60 miles from NYC. I can tell you my 69' Cutlass with a 350 always pinged if I didn't use Sunoco 94 add bottle of 104 octane boost and it had a Delco HEI ignition.

As for washing your hands in fuel, MEK, Benzine, ect... No disrespect gents but they are all carcinogens, why take the chance since we know better now? Keep your hands clean to start with by using Nitrile gloves. Yea they break easy but it's like a teenager not wearing a rubber because "she looked clean".

I had a similar discussion with one of my Haz Mat bosses not to long ago. I'm not going to get in the particulars but he said "well that's the way we've done it for 30 years so I guess everyone else is wrong!" My response was "They used to fill zeppelins with hydrogen too, look how well that worked out"

The point is take the precautions we only get 1 shot at this. I'm hearing all to often these days of friends coming down with cancers and going way before they should. Yea I'm 50 and that seems to be the age this happens, but it doesn't make sense if we have the means to protect ourselves. I was just about to cut some steel yesterday and had no respiratory protection on, I stopped and grabbed my Miller welding respirator. It cost under 20 bucks, is light weight, compact and not very noticeable to work with. For 20 bucks I kept a **** load of steel dust out of my system.

 

Yep! I still use gas in some situations. As long as a person understands it and is cautious, it can be safe to use. Gas works better than most things and is less money.

I do remember my dad and I using gas like this all the time back in the day. No gloves or anything. The cases of ether we used was crazy also. I still like the smell of the old gas, ether, and most all the garage chemicals. Carb cleaner, not so much...

 

That makes me feel better. I think, as long as you don't inject it straight into your veins like they do on the laboratory rats, I think a little bit of high test isn't going to hurt anyone :-)...

 

Oh I still use gasoline to clean parts in my oil drain pan. Just not as much as I used to.