Originally Posted by dr_bowtie

main thing is there is many factors that can induce Ping...

Heat is one...you need to use as much timing you can get away with for power and getting a good complete burn but the octane rating of gas plays a factor here...

But even with Octane the amount of ignition timing the octane can handle before ping (pre-igniting) is determined by heat..cylinder temp plays a huge role...

the colder the engine cylinder temps the more timing the fuel can handle...the higher the temp the least it can handle...this is why engines ping when hot but not other times...

upping the octane only helps as the higher octane can handle more heat at the same amount of timing...has a higher range but starts out colder...

you can back off the timing a little and that helps...

or lower the engine temps....IE: lower t-stat...but you also want to make sure the ignition system is up to the task...weak systems will easily ping as the misfires will cause carbon in the system and this carbon will mostly cause all ping...

basically for best performance you want to use as much timing as you can with the lowest octane gas...

the lower the octane the quicker the bang...but it cant handle heat

just like camshafts...gas has a range of working..thats measured in octane...

the higher the octane the slower and colder it burns but can handle more timing and higher RPM...and cylinder temps...

Heat is what makes power...controlling where that happens is the cam and gas jobs of playing nice together....

when you experience ping or detonation you know you are past your range or exceeding the fuel limitations...

Confusing...? this is just the tip of it...lol

Originally Posted by ymeski56

Looks like that Term Paper's coming along quite nicely! I don't know about you but getting a real handle on the subject really wore me out. The only thing harder than that, is trying to explain it. It's like once you finally figure it out, it's the last thing you want to discuss. Probably cause it starts out a couple of sentences and ends up half a page. I'm going to try this and see how long I last: They say "What is PING?" I say "Google it!" Who am I kidding? If I really didn't like discussing this stuff, I'd be doing something else.

Originally Posted by dr_bowtie

my man you are 110% right...no arguing with that...most of the time when I get into explaining a question some one asks me and I try to explain it in simple terms I still get that deer in the headlight look back...

I only get it because I asked 9-zillion questions and I had them explain it to me until I fully understood it...not without getting angry with me...but once I got it I am good to go...

Just like a Taco Bell Burrito...