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Colours and Fuel

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rogerharrop
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Colours and Fuel

Post by rogerharrop »

Hi All,

Basic question: What octane fuel do you recommend for a Dart - 95, 97 or 99?

Second question: Any idea where can I find a listing and ideally chart of original Dart colours by year?

Many thanks

Roger
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classiclife
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Re: Colours and Fuel

Post by classiclife »

Hello Roger,

That's a beautiful car and thanks for the photo.

I do not run a Dart, but I do run a late V8-250 amongst other classics past and currently.

My preference has always been 97 via decent outlets such as Esso, BP and Shell and if the cars have really behaved themselves I treat them to 99 now and again which you can obtain at Tesco !!

Unleaded heads aside, I have found that 95 tends to be a bit lean and during spirited driving I feel it is not doing the cars any favours; compare that to 97 or 99 and it's a different ball game - much more responsive and IMHO a better combustion burn.

Even with cars I have or have owned with unleaded heads, I have still NOT used 95 fuel.

I accepet that the higher octane fuels are slightly more expensive, but the end result is worth that.

Some classic owners I know have also mentioned that they experience a slight pinking when using 95, but never a trace with the higher octane options. You can of course use an octane booster to get around the issue, just depends what suits the individual at the time.

As we know ethanol is present in modern fuels but I have not found that to be an issue at the moment and I do take the necessary steps to keep the effects at arms length.

Hope that assists somewhat ??

Good luck.

Richard.
1968 Daimler V8-250 Saloon
DLOC East Sussex Branch Secretary
DLOC 2.5L V8 & V8-250 Registrar - https://www.dloc.org.uk/v8-250
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rogerharrop
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Re: Colours and Fuel

Post by rogerharrop »

Perfect! many thanks Richard

Vortex O'Plinth
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Re: Colours and Fuel

Post by Vortex O'Plinth »

Re the colours; this may help a bit. After the Jaguar take-over in 1960 I think the range of possible colours expanded significantly.
Nick

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Re: Colours and Fuel

Post by John-B »

That's a good link by Vortex. There was (is) a Daimler maroon, my car was repainted from red to maroon before 1968.
I was looking in the old archive forum and found this link http://archive.dloc.co.uk/forum/topic.a ... ours,sp250 with posts by Laurence Jones who has all the answers. You can phone him on 0770 226337 or 01245 226337 or email laurence (at) birkenshaw.org

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Re: Colours and Fuel

Post by simonp »

I think towards the end you could have any colour in the Jaguar range as long as you bought the car!

I have always used 95 octane for the 100,000 miles or so I have put on my car.

SimonP
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Re: Colours and Fuel

Post by John-B »

Phil Glennerster who restored my car's engine said that he had set it up for 95 octane and I have no complaints, it's very responsive and hasn't pinked. I suppose it's all down to the tuning.

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Re: Colours and Fuel

Post by A.N.Other »

The engine runs perfectly on 95 if the timing and carbs are set up correctly.
It was originally designed with the American market in mind which at the time had 88 octane in common use.
It’s not necessary to waste your money on additives such as lead replacements as the valve seats are steel.
People have been known to fit stainless steel valves but it’s not worth doing just for the sake of doing it.
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rogerharrop
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Re: Colours and Fuel

Post by rogerharrop »

Many thanks all.

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Re: Colours and Fuel

Post by tjt77 »

I'd agree with advice already given :- 95 octane or higher is optimal...but you can get away with octanes as low as 90 and the engine still runs without detriment. . Im in USA and standard fuel is around 87 octane with 'premium' being around 90-92 octane.. the Turner V8s run just fine on premium.. my T1 bentley (9:1) pings a little under heavy loads on premium US fuel however.. but the Turner V8s have relatively low compression ratio of 8.2 :1 in 'standard' form..

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