Swift Mogas 98 Octane
 

One of the small airports in my area just began selling the new Swift Fuel Co., 98/94UL fuel.
This fuel is intended to replace the common/currently used 100LL (Blue)fuel that has been the mainstay fuel for piston engine general aviation aircraft for decades, but was not useable in automotive engines due to its high lead content that would destroy catalytic converters and O2 sensors.
This new fuel does not have the additives that caused issues in automotive engines, and does have all the same automotive regulation approvals as auto fuels in addition to the aviation grade approvals.
The Swift fuel is rated at 94 octane as determined by the aviation industry, but is rated at 98 octane, using the automotive industry method, and completely free of ethanol. Visually, the fuel is almost completely clear/ colorless, and has a very weak perfume content, a very mild smell.
The reason this fuel is so interesting, and why I am posting this here for anyone interested, is that, locally here at least, the fuel is priced about $.10 a gallon CHEAPER than premium auto fuel from the pump.
The biggest problem with using this fuel in your car, is that an airport cannot dispense fuel directly into a car's fuel tank. An airport uses a different sized (larger) fuel nozzle, and is not certified to transfer fuel into road-bound vehicles. So, you would have to fill cans at the airport and transport the fuel to your car. It is common for Ultralight and Light Sport aircraft to buy fuel in cans and transport that fuel to smaller airstrips where those aircraft are kept, so, buying fuel in cans, should not be an issue, or even be unusual.
Swift Fuel is just starting to get widespread distribution, so it may not be available in a lot of places yet. But it is definitely coming, sooner or later, so, keep your eyes open if you are interested. The federal government is pushing the use of this new fuel, in order to get rid of the old leaded aviation fuels, due to environmental concerns. This ends up being great news for guys who need high octane fuels for their vehicles.
I have been using this fuel in my SVX for about 300 miles so far. not much to tell, other than it costs less to fill my tank and the exhaust smells a little different and cleaner...lol..
Any questions, check out the Swift Fuels website, or leave me a question here and Ill try to answer what I can.

Re: Swift Mogas 98 Octane
 

Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing.

Do you see a performance improvement when using it in your SVX? I had an STi and that car was hyper-sensitive to octane, what with it having the turbo and all. I could almost tell you the octane rating by pressing on the loud pedal. I use either a non-ethanol 91 octane fuel or Sunoco 93 octane, and in the STi there was a noticeable change. I have a NA BMW now and I can't say I really can tell the difference between them.

Re: Swift Mogas 98 Octane
 

The most noticeable difference is that its easier starting. My car does seem to run smoother and cooler, but that may just be a mental thing...lol..Im tracking my fuel mileage, and seem to be getting better mileage, but I'm gonna wait for a few months before I take the results too seriously, because this again may be just a change in my driving habits on a mental level..lol..

I have been told by the Swift fuel representative that this fuel has a slightly different specific gravity, so it will make our cars run just a little bit leaner, and I do seem to notice that my car is more "peppy". Yet, again I have no hard data to back that up.

Without any serious data collection and testing, its hard to say how much difference is made from running this fuel, and how much is just perception. It does "feel" better, for sure, and it does in fact save me a couple of bucks to fill up the tank. That, at least I can say for sure.

I have been, prior to running this fuel, been getting signs that an O2 sender is going bad. ( check engine light comes on temporarily when the engine is transitioning from cold to hot ) and those signs are becoming less frequent, as if the O2 sender is actually behaving better. I'm keeping an eye on that one, but I'm going to be changing that sender anyways, so I cant call that a benefeit, so much...lol..

Now, all that being said, on a turbocharged engine this fuel should have more noticeable results. We are running it on our turbocharged aircraft engines as well and so far have heard only good things. ( I am not a pilot, so I don't have direct observations about performance, at altitude or otherwise. ).

There is also a higher octane variant of this fuel that will be coming out sometime in the next year or 2, that will push the automotive octane numbers to above 100, but we are going to have to wait for that one, and see what the prices are going to be like.