swathdiver
Full Access Member
Raising the BS flag. Our engines were designed to run just fine on 87 octane regular unleaded. Because 87 has 10% or so ethanol in it and 93 has zero in it then it will get slightly higher gas mileage but most likely not enough to warrant the extra cost per tank of 93 octane over 87 octane. We are talking maybe 20-30 miles more per tank. But it would still boil down to it would be cheaper to drive one mile with 87 vs. 93 octane.
The intake gaskets are most likely leaking in unmetered air into the intake stream. Gets harder to start the colder it gets outside and runs like crap until the engine warms up and gasket leak seals up enough to slow down the intake of unmetered air.
And you have the stereotypical symptoms of a long known problem of the intake gaskets leaking.
Around my parts 93 has 10% ethanol too. Even before the ethanol mandate, all automotive engines ran more efficiently with higher octane fuels. These engines are no different. If your driving habits are consistent, run your next two tanks on a top tier 93 and let us know the difference. In my parts the difference was recently less than .0015 cents per gallon in favor of 87, the prices have since fallen even more. I've run these tests on every car driven for any length of time for thirty years and the higher octane fuels have always been more efficient and beneficial to the engine.
Anyway, your intake manifold premise is worthy of merit and further inspection.