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Compression Ratio


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Just calculated my compression ratio at about 8.50:1 on a 4mil with 24cc domes +4 timing stock carbs and an agressive trail port running around 187 degrees of duration I was told by the builder. I also have some 21cc domes I plugged into the calculator and it put me at around 9.60:1 with 185compression. My question is how the ratio is related to octane requirements. I was running c12 with the 185 compression and ran out of fuel once and used avgas and it worked fine for the rest of the trip even tore it down once I got home and the piston crown was perfect. Just looking for some recommendations related to ratio numbers and not so much on cranking compression. Thanks.

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Yea, you have to convert everything into inches. And yes, dome size is a negative number. I did alot of research on this topic, and I contacted a few oil companies about it. I finally got a chart for it. Contrary to popular belief, cranking psi has nothing to do with what octane you need. Port timing (or cam duration on 4-strokes) changes so much, with the static compression-vs-cranking compression. You can actually have 200psi of cranking compression, and only need 104 octane. On the other hand, you could have only 155psi, and need 110 octane. What really matters is the compression ratio.

 

IMG-1.jpg

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I punched your numbers into TSR... With a 4 mil crank at 8.5:1 corrected compression ratio and a 187* duration it is outputting 110 octane. At 9.6:1 it is over 120 octane (TSR will not output that high). Also, at 187* duration it is saying your exhaust opens at 86.57* or 31mm ATDC. If the opening timing is not correct, octane estimates will change obviously.

At any rate, something is not computing... I suspect either the exhaust opening is wrong or the CC/R is. Or both maybe? If you truly are setup for 110, there is no way you would have survived a high rpm run on 100???

If your exhaust timing is something other than above let me know and I'll run it again. Like they say with TSR and the rest of the programs... Garbage in = Garbage out :blink::blink:

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One of the things to check is how you are calculating the value. We will use nothing but corrected compression ratio here or CCR. This is also how pretty much al metric OEMs calculate because it is much more relative to actual engine conditions. This will only assume the "trapped" volume and ignores total stroke for the calculation. For a base line, our OEM calculations are a 30mm exhaust port from zero deck, Piston comes to full TDC, 22cc head, and .8CC for the head gasket. That brings us to 6.35:1. This is pretty much why we can get away with a pretty small head chamber from stock and still run pump fuels.

 

 

Detonation is NOT entirely based on CR. Other factors, especially in two strokes, are squish zone, squish velocity, clearance, dome lofted surface contour, etc. Many other factors will play in which is why engine testing is generally used for final determination of fuel requirements.

 

I agree with above comments. Something in the calculation is high. I recommend just using the good old calculator and the mentioned burette to learn actual volume data. You did not say, but I assume you are using a billet head?

 

 

Brandon

Edited by blowit
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Yea, you have to convert everything into inches. And yes, dome size is a negative number. I did alot of research on this topic, and I contacted a few oil companies about it. I finally got a chart for it. Contrary to popular belief, cranking psi has nothing to do with what octane you need. Port timing (or cam duration on 4-strokes) changes so much, with the static compression-vs-cranking compression. You can actually have 200psi of cranking compression, and only need 104 octane. On the other hand, you could have only 155psi, and need 110 octane. What really matters is the compression ratio.

 

IMG-1.jpg

 

 

I agree with most of what you said. Some people think we are nuts for running 190psi in a Banshee with 91oct fuel but if you calculate the CR, it tells a much different story. Other engine configurations are on a totally different playing field too.

 

I could not totally agree with you on the effects of port timing or cams in a thumper. Those components relate directly to CRR and are very valid and realistic numbers that show how a bigger cam can actually cause your engine to run worse. Most 2-stroke tuners that know much will usually recommend a head mod with porting to "get back" compression loss from porting. One consideration with porting is cylinder fill efficiency. A better flowing head or cylinder will "fill" more efficiently and will cause a higher dynamic CR at higher rpm. It seems rather elementary to calculate the "ideal" CRs on paper but getting to real world dynamic CRs get very confusing because it starts to relate back to the variable of time for open/close of valves but where the tendencies and properties of air simply do not change with rpm. Example might be to blow air into of 2L bottle with a .25 hole drilled in the bottom. If air is applied slow, there is no pressure build but if you hit it, you can still explode the bottle, even with a leak in it.

 

I guess where I was going with that was a table that relates CR to octane simply cannot be applied to all applications in a general fashion. Good for an ideal baseline though.

 

Guess I could blab all day about these issues. :biggrin:

 

 

 

 

Brandon

Edited by blowit
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