When you’re working on your car and you need hardware make sure you get the strongest stuff you can get your hands on. Here’s a nice explanation of grade 5 hardware and fasteners versus grade 8. If you’re too lazy to read the full article then here it is: grade 8 > grade 5.

grade 8

Race gas can be found at some race tracks and at some gas stations. So who uses race gas? Usually people that have forced induction such as turbos and superchargers can benefit from race gas. The higher octane gas allows higher boost with less chance of detonation.

If you have a turbo or supercharged car that is not tuned for race gas then you may see little to no benefit from it, so save your money for your next upgrade.

Naturally aspirated high compression race car engines may also need race gas if they are tuned to take advantage of the higher octane.

This is a cool interactive way to learn how your engine works. Watch the interaction between the pistons, rods, crankshaft, intake valves, exhaust valves, intake manifold and exhaust manifold. You’ll need the shockwave plug-in (just download it after your browser prompts you.) Internal combustion engine