SolaraGuy.com

Gabe, you're probably right. All this discussion has made me realize I need to revisit my priorities. I'm thinking a more moderate build to start with is what I'll end up doing - reliability, average mileage, but "adequate" power.

Either way, thanks for all the opinions.

if you want "some" power just to regular bolt ons but with no supercharger.

I think your supposed to run 91 octane on the V6 stock solara.

trd4life wrote:I think your supposed to run 91 octane on the V6 stock solara.

According to the manual, "For best performance..."
Dr J

Then it probably doesn't. My XRS's manual said it needed premium fuel, but my Accord pushing 240 hp from a 3.0 didn't require it, though Honda did state that 91 or higher allows the ECU to advance timing and give 10 hp. There were high output engines for their time, and their high compression would make me lean towards using premium regardless of mods.

I've fooled around with fuel octanes in the Solara and found the 93 octane (readily available around here) is BOTH conducive of better performance (incremental, but it's there) AND better mileage (upwards of about 1mpg or a tad more in cases) from carefully measuring my results on multiple trips. It doesn't make up for the cost of premium altogether, but it DOES offset a portion of it, and if you add in the performance increase, it's worth it to me.

I always run premium in the Solara and my Supra. Now, in my TUNDRA, I've found it runs JUST AS STRONG and JUST AS GOOD (or poor) MILEAGE with 87 octane as 93, so with a 26 gallon tank that drains so fast it's like there is a HOLE in it, I always run the 87 and have no issue and good performance and... well... mileage will NEVER be great with the big, 5.7 liter V8! HA! It's a blast to drive all the same!


-crisp

You could just keep your Solara as a daily driver and get a used Ls1 or Lt1 Corvette, Fox body mustang 5.0, 4thgen Camaro V8 (Z28 or SS), Trans Am to play around with..... all those cars are pretty cheap, and there are ones on craiglist for 8K-16K USD.

The aftermarket for those cars are better than those of the Solara anyway and those cars are already fun to play with stock.

albertrd wrote:If you're trying to run 87 octane on a s/c solara with all that detenaton might as well go with a turbo diesel swap they love detention BTW where is festus when you need him

who the heck is festus?? LOL