[wildcat]

Its nice to know I've got a big brother looking after me.   B)

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[flash]

funny - seriously though, this site was created so as to help owners keep their cars running.  we do whatever we can to facilitate that.  this goes beyond any individual owner too.  we have posterity to consider, and when we give advice, it is well considered, and with the best interests of the membership in mind.  we tend to try to avoid bad advice being taken by an owner who may be unaware of the consequences.

 

while you may have been lucky so far, i tend to think it's more likely due to something to a worn and now low compression engine than to the ability of the system to manage low octane fuel.  i would venture to guess that you have a very tired engine.  if you were to run low octane fuel in a tight engine, very bad things will happen.  this is a situation where somebody might think that because you did it, and did not have a catastrophic failure, that they could do it too. that would be hugely unfortunate.

 

so, we are "big brother" to some degree, as we have a responsibility to our membership, which we do not take lightly.

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[MCL968]

I shudder to think of how I would have treated my car without the sage advice of these members, and I wonder what problems I have avoided by following that sage advice.

 

Without this forum, I would have never had any idea that my firewall was cracked, and that my brakes and clutch were mushy because of a failed firewall, not a problem with the brakes and clutch. Getting that fixed made the car much tighter and a whole lot safer, and adding the brace reduced the potential for further problems to nearly zero.

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[flash]

when it comes down to it, we all have a common interest.  it only makes sense that we would do everything we can to protect that common interest.  we know that people move on, and so do the cars.  we can only hope that down the road the next guy has more information than the last guy.

 

that's actually one of the reasons we have not yet put the site in the hands of anybody else.  finding somebody who can commit to our mission statement is very hard.

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[wildcat]

I appreciate the intent and your efforts in this regard.  And I feel I must have really blundered to make the comment.  In retrospect, so it would seem.  But I was also being quite sincere in posting my experience.  On further reflection I thought about the results of the smog test which was remarkable in itself.  So here I guess is the redeeming aspect to the story.  There are those like yourself who have immaculately  maintained 968s and I suppose a few that have road warrior street cars,  a classification I would put mine in.  Its got some dings here and there, a rag top which really is a rag top and so on and I wouldn't change it for the most part.  I've put off brand stuff on it, like disk rotors made in China and an alternator rebuilt in Mexico etc. And its a composite kinda like the paint job on that 356.  And there is value in that experience as well.  Which I shared.  Not to traumatize anyone. I'm sure to some the paint job on the 356 is a horror and what I've described is on the same vein. My car was not in great shape when I bought it.  It was not going to be concourse no matter what.  I knew that and have had alot of fun, trials and tribulations as a result.  It people find mine post unsettling as a result... the handle is "wildcat", jerk,  moron or what have you.  B)

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[flash]

everybody is entitled to do what they want with their own car.  all we are trying to do is make the recommendations to the members, based on wisdom, experience, and the desire to keep these cars on the road.  we have seen far too many of them go to the scrapper, due entirely to poor maintenance and neglect.  that's exactly why parts are getting more expensive, harder to find, and car sales prices are now going up.  it will continue that way, on the finer examples, the rarer these cars get.  the dilapidated cars will continue to plummet in value, and will ultimately not be worth keeping, and will end up joining the long list of dead ones.  this makes it all that more important that we put good information out there.

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[ds968]

So, considering tne SC, should we mix about 5 gallons of 100 octane with the rest of the tank at every fill up, particularly during the summer climate just to make sure that when we stomp on it ( and how can you not do that ...?! ) the risk mentioned above is at least mitigated, if not completely eliminated ?

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[flash]

nope - the kit is tuned for 91, so you're safe.  it won't hurt anything, but it isn't necessary.  if you were going to track it, i'd say yes, just to be safe, but for street use (even your kind of street use), in my mind it would be a waste of money

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[ds968]

Ah, " tuned for 91 oct " is the key I guess. Cool thanks for the info, even with my habits lol, I still do not allow the car to rev too close to the redline so I should be safe and sound ( well, I mean the engine , not so sure about me being safe and sound ..)

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[wildcat]

i'm willing to bet a tank of gas that it isn't "running great". 

 

 

I wasn't sure if that was rhetorical as in "betting a tank of gas", but if there was a way to verify if I was losing power I'd be interested to know what it is.  I have been working through this machine and its running as well as it ever was. Its quick and to think I might be losing 15 hp is rather hard to believe.  The lag if there is one is in the tip, typically off the line, and even there its quick enough. Speaking of which,  when down shifting from  2 to 1 what is the highest rpm you can shift down from in semi-manual mode?

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[flash]

shifting limits are controlled by the tip computer.  there are 5 programs, and it "learns" based on your driving.  the downshift point changes accordingly.

 

as for determining how much power you are losing, there are a few tests that could be done.  a leakdown test would show you the condition of your engine (a compression test really won't tell you everything, but it's a start, as long as you keep in mind that carbon buildup on the pistons will artificially raise compression results as much as 10%).  that will tell you how much power you COULD make.  a dyno test will tell you what are actually making.

 

i have a very tight, very low miles tip car here so i can get the belts done and new tires on it.  when it is done, if you were to pop up, you could see what it SHOULD feel like.

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[wildcat]

Nice offer.  I was thinking more along the lines of a chart which showed say 25 mph @ 1700 rpm in 3rd gear etc.  I looked in the manual but it just has a chart for "manuals", not tips.

 

I have never been able to shift down from 2nd to 1st at more than 2500 rpms.  2nd gear has a very wide band, 1st gear is low as you know.  Almost like the transmission was designed for circuit racing,  first gear just to get it on the track.  I don't know what its learning from my driving, I haven't noticed any change.  If there's a way to clear it and let it relearn that would be interesting.

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[flash]

it should definitely shift to 1st at anything below 4k without any issue.  if you stomp on it, it will definitely do that.

 

there are 5 programs in the tip.  they graduate from soft lower rpm shifting to firm higher rpm shifting.  it takes a while to get it up to program 5, and as soon as you stop driving aggressively, it drops back down to program 1.

 

here is the tip chart - you can do the math from the gear ratios to determine rpm

   

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[wildcat]

This is in "D" drive mode I take it, that it will shift down to 1st.  Manually, mine won't shift down from 2 to 1 above 2500.  I've had it drop from 4 to 2 by double tapping the accelerator in D mode. When stopped at a light it will switch from 1 to 2 within a few seconds, (if you've switched back from manual mode to D mode for instance)  It will start off in 2 but if you tap the accelerator again, it will kick down to 1 for heavy acceleration.  But its a little awkward, to start in 2 and kick down to 1. And not good for off the line acceleration.  The solution or the best I've found is to move to auto mode 3, where it will start off in 1st,  the only problem there is after you reach 3rd gear it keeps climbing. I have yet to get it to switch to 4th without manually pushing the shifter to 4 and the problem there is, you have to depress the shift button and you're liable to pop it into Neutral...  

 

Anyway, I've been looking at the cables leading into the Motronic and the Tiptronic computers and discovered that they have small banana pin plugs which I'm fairly certain are for a 12 volt rechargeable battery backup.  Neither of mine have this battery connected but it does lead to the conclusion that by disconnecting the main battery you are resetting both computers.  I have to reset my radio and the clock when I disconnect the main battery and having looked inside the Motronic am certain there is no internal battery backup.

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[flash]

i'll drive the white car in the next day or two and verify the max rpm i can be in while in 2nd, and achieve a downshift to 1st.  2500 seems very low, unless you are in program 1.

 

regarding the shift to 4th, you can fool the tip computer by lifting off the throttle just a touch.

 

but all of this is WAY off topic, and needs to be taken up in a separate thread

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[wildcat]

True.. thanks.

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