[alfa] Octane, headlights and traffic lights

[C M Smith <cmsmith@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The 164 requires 91 Octane fuel according to my owner's manual and shop 
manual. I am sure my V6 would ping on lower octane fuel, it is borderline 
using 91 octane in our 91, 12 valve 164 under some conditions.

Higher octane fuel than that for which the engine is designed is not only a 
waste of money, it wastes power also. There is more energy per unit volume 
in lower octane fuel precisely because the higher octane fuel has 
"non-fuel" additives to increase the octane number. These burn but do not 
release as much energy as gasoline would. Also, a bugbear of mine is 
apparently some gasoline uses ethanol to get a cheap octane boost, but the 
energy available from this gasoline is actually less than if proper 
detonation limiting additives were used.  suspect Chevron has gone this 
route with their 94 octane I buy whenever I'm in BC as my SAAB turbos no 
longer like this fuel as much as they used to.

I am currently using Shell Canada gasoline in all my cars, after eschewing 
it for a while. In Calgary, where we begin driving at over 3,000 feet 
(approx 1000 meters) and drive up from there, lower octane fuel is the norm 
and 91 is now the max we can buy. We used to get 92 from Esso (Imperial Oil 
Canada's Exxon ) but it is no longer available. My turbo SAABs run 
extremely well on Shell's new formulation ( If you believe the advertising, 
which I do because my knock sensors tell me there's something new about the 
Shell gasoline around here) giving me higher peak boost in both my 
relatively primitive 86 9000 with APC ( the first knock sensor feedback 
turbo boost control system) and my later 97 Aero with the full Trionic 
system. In fact, the boost pressure is so good in the Aero my brand new 
clutch can be made to slip at peak torque output in top gear, actually it 
starts to slip at around 2,500 rpm in fifth if I lift then get back on the 
gas, the peak boost goes off the end of the scale and the clutch begins 
letting go a tad. Try Shell and see if you get better performance. They 
claim a smoother burn rate for better power without necessarily a higher 
octane number. Your market may vary however because gasolines are 
formulated differently for different markets.

As for HID headlights I believe they MUST use automatic headlight levellers 
or oncoming driver's will be dazzled by even the low beams. I know Audi has 
these for example on the A4 with the great headlights in Canada at least. I 
think the problems come from aftermarket conversions with these lights 
using no auto levellers. The irony is that the older (back to the late 
60"s) European halogen lights that are still not legal for factory equipped 
cars coming into the States are far superior to even the latest DOT spec 
with PIAA or Sylvania super white bulbs. On low beam you get that sharp cut 
off that gives great light at normal US night time highway speeds with no 
dazzle to oncoming. Not legal to build cars with these for sale new in the 
good ole USof A. Crazy.

 I changed out my stock 9005/9006 bulbs with PIAA bulbs on my 97 SAAB 
Aero, with DOT headlights, at great expense and the lights are improved but 
still totally inferior to my 86 9000 with Euro spec lights running the now 
hard to find H4 bulb (old technology now, but way, way better than my 97 
SAAB DOT crapola) Since it is perfectly legal to use Euro lights in Canada 
I'm looking for a set of these for my 97 Aero. The Alfa 164 seems to have 
barely acceptable lights already, even though I think they are DOT.

As for excessively bright traffic lights these might be the new LED type. 
These have several advantages: brighter, more directional light, one or 
more LED burning out doesn't materially affect the light making repairs 
simpler, and very long "bulb" life. For our Northern latitudes we need 
bright traffic lights as the low sun angles in winter can wash out traffic 
lights fairly easily, with catastrophic results. We seem to be switching 
over to the new LED fairly rapidly and they are great, except for the 
excessive brightness under some conditions. On a side note, many of our 
buses and trucks are going to LED taillights and they look really 
practical. Life of the vehicle service life, good light, and if an LED or 
two does fail, the light still functions adequately. Now if we could get a 
strobe effect to indicate ABS activation, and an intensity variation with 
brake line pressure, with LED lights we'd reduce rear enders substantially, 
IMHO. These additions are technically quite feasible, probably far more 
effective than the goofy daytime running lights that probably only work 
well because people consistently misuse lights on their vehicles (DRL's 
that illuminate only the front of the vehicle are top of my particular list 
as the rear has no lights but the driver frequently is unaware of this! A 
close second is use of fog or driving lights when neither is appropriate, 
rear fogs are another problem altogether, great safety feature if uses when 
needed, otherwise, very bad dazzle)

Cheers

Michael

(mad cow be damned, we had Alberta Prime Rib for Xmas dinner, you guys 
don't know what you're missing if you haven't had Alberta beef...)
Michael Smith
White 1991 164L
Original owner
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