Is 87 octane bad for 70's and older cars?

[Ribbedroof]

I agree with all of this when these cars were driven day in and day out. .

I still daily mine, so not a big problem for me. I really have no interest in almost every new car on the market

 

[MrSony]

Come to think of it, my car only had about 7.8+:1 compression and would run on whatever. Can't recall having fuel boiling problems in hot *ss humid *ss Iowa summer, well the one summer I drove it. 😛

 

[UNGN]

Come to think of it, my car only had about 7.8+:1 compression and would run on whatever. Can't recall having fuel boiling problems in hot *ss humid *ss Iowa summer, well the one summer I drove it. 😛

Cars used to have Vapor Lock all the time. It usually happened when you had a hot day in the spring (or a car that still had a tank of winter gas in it) and with a car that ran hot (because it needed a new radiator, etc).

Aluminum foil on the fuel line was a pretty common mod back in the day.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Aluminum foil on the fuel line was a pretty common mod back in the day.

Yup- my VW Bug had nasty vapor lock all the time. Foil was the cure. Detroit fixed it by using a bypass type fuel pump. It gave the carb whatever pressure it needed and sent the rest back to the gas tank. That way fresh cool gas was always sent to the carb. It was first introduced on AC equipped cars then became standard issue until fuel injection took over.