do I have to put premium gas in my 1992 JDM B16a ?
I did a net search and there's no clear-cut answer.
my engine is not original to the car so I can't check the owner manual.

THANKS

 

Yep. All vtec b-seires require premium.

 

can I get away with 89 Octane? THANKS

 

I wouldnt do it unless it was the only octane available

 

OK, THANKS..... gotta go back to the gas station and buy the liquid gold.

 

Been through this whole mental masturbation sesh before....

Premium is normally $.05 - $.20 a gallon more than midgrade. So, you're likely looking at ~$1.50 more per fill up.

If you're on stock ecu, the knock sensor does its thing, retards the timing, and your fuel mileage likely goes down at least enough to lose you back that $1.50. Maybe more. Who knows.

If you're on the typical tuned OBD1 Hondata/etc setup, your knock sensor doesn't do anything, the pinging removes aluminum from your pistons one tick at a time, you lose compression over time, gas mileage goes down, you need a rebuild sooner, and you lose back that $1.50 per tank.

Or you put premium in it, accept that you chose to own an old high compression NA port injection engine and that it's going to cost you an extra $1 per fill up to keep it running as intended. The easiest answer is usually the best one.

It's interesting to me that the difference between grades is still roughly the same as it was 25 years ago. Back when you could fill up these cars for $11 from empty, trying to save a buck or so made more sense because it was a 10% difference. Now that it costs me $45-$50 to fill up from empty, I don't really think it's worth bothering to worry about.

 

thanks for the excellent reply. premium it is !

 

No problem. Sometimes a little extra perspective goes a long way.