fuel

[Highway Star]

I merged your two threads into one here, so we can all see it together.

I'll support what Hank said, that the octane rating of the fuel your engine requires is specific to your engine. As with most other things in hot rodding, just enough is just right, but not enough or too much can/will hurt things. For the most part, the compression ratio dictates how much resistance to spontaneous combustion (octane rating) your fuel needs to have.

You don't need synthetic oil, you just need a good quality oil with an acceptable level of zddp. Off the top of my head, summit racing's new hot rod oil, Valvoline VR1 racing oil, the Joe Gibbs oils, and the Red Line racing oil....they are good for engines with flat tappet cams.