I was reading an article about carb legal aftermarket perfomance parts in the most recent issue of Honda Tuning with the white S2000 on the front cover. The article prompted me to think about certain emission laws and eventually annoyance simply because I didn't understand one thing... Anyone else that lives in Southern caliofrnia would know what I am talking about. From my understanding... Higher octane gas not only increases the life and performance of an engine, but it also burns cleaner. Now if this is true why are we (southern californians) stuck with 92 octane which has recently been REDUCED to 91 octane?! I don't get it. This is the most stringent state in the US for emission laws and we can't even get the cleaner burning gas that the rest of the country gets. Just my two cents. Confused and irritated.

 

i finally found a place in my area that has cheap gas and 92 octane...sweet.

 

I envy you...BTW what body kit is that on your car?

 

the reason why Cali went from 92 down to 91 is because they dont put MTB or MTD or something like that in the gasoline anymore which reduces 1 octane

 

Hey S2R, the station just hasn't changed the signs yet. All the gas is the same.

 

That may be so but it still doesn't explain why we don't have 94 or 95 octane like they do in other parts of the U.S.

 

have you seen the gas prices, in the LA area or Bay Area? they cost a lot more than people in the east.
if they had 95 octane or above, you know how expensive it will be?
there is a gas station in san francisco that has 98 and 103 octane, the 103 i think is like 3.45/gallon.
very expensive.

 

If you really want high octane, there is a Union station in Newport Beach with 100.

 

i hate emissions in Cali, its too dam strict.

 

California is phasing out methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), an octane-enhancing oxygenate gasoline additive and a chlorinated hydrocarbon volatile organic compound (VOC), a suspected carcinogen. It is extremely volatile and tends to volatilize and move around in the subsurface soil vapor, or void space between the particulates, and into groundwater that is a source of drinking water supply. The maximum contaminant level (MCL) is five micrograms per kilogram, or parts per billion (ppb). It is perceived as a huge problem in California. I actually smelled MTBE for the first time at an old gas station site I was remediating in Alhambra last Thursday. It smells very sweet. The MTBE had laterally outrun total petroleum hydrocarbons in the gasoline carbon chain range (TPH-G) and all other VOCS, including benzene, toluene, ethlybenzene, and xylenes (BTEX). This was a new experience for me.