I need my old memory refreshed about what happens to old engines that were built before unleaded gasoline.
In my experience if the vehicle gets driven quite a bit, the valve seats can wear out in a relatively short period of time. If you dont put a ton of miles on it, it can go a long time with no problems. If you are worried about it just put lead additive in with your gas, especially if you are going on a longer trip. A can of additive adds about 5 bucks to your fill up.
I'd be more worried about the lack of zinc in oil these days...that can do more damage then bad valve guides... R-
Combustion temperature of unleaded is lower than leaded, consequently the only downside is lower power with unleaded.
About the same thing that would have happened if you were a regular user of AMOCO gas back when the car was current.
Basicly don't worry about it. Many engines show no harmful effects from unleaded. A few need hard seats ,FE Fords seem to be one of them I've noticed over the years. Hard worked engines like motorhomes and trucks pulling heavy trailers are more likely to have probs.
IMHO it is so much cheaper to add a little lead to the gas (AND as has been suggested, more importantly, zinc to the oil) than to face an early overhaul! Pulling the heads to redo valves or tearing apart the whole engine to fix either of the possible problems is a lot more costly (and intensely more aggravating) than simply putting in a bit of the cheap additives. I add lead to the gas and zinc to the oil in my Olds (and also Oct boost since even 93 isnt enuf for 10.75:1)
Wow I haven't heard this much panic over no lead gas in years. Will there be another Y2K scare next? There was a big hulabaloo in the middle 70s when converters first came out. We'd be doing valve jobs biannually. It never materialized. It's been this way for 30 years now with no major problems. Like the Y2K scare...much ado about nothing. No I did not buy a generator. Does remembering the Y2K scare date me?
The octane boost they sell does pretty much nothing as tests have proven, lead additive is not cheap when you end up paying about $10 a can for the good stuff. I run a bunch of high compression Pontiacs and one that does 11s in the 1/4 and I run nothing but 91 octane. Never seen any Pontiac heads with recessed seats from no lead.
Yes it does...but I remember my sister removing her money from the bank, buying gallons and gallons of water for that fateful day...and unplugging her computer...she was all worried about me cuz I told her it was all BS... And, man, what a bunch of BS it was... So, guess that dates me too, eh...??? R-
C'mon, let's stop this stuff. You don't need it! No, you don't. I worked for Exxon in Research and Eng. for 15 years. Unless the engine was unusually loaded, most of the time (towing, mountain driving) the lack of lead didn't cause excess valve recession. Period! You don't really need the hardened seats, either! That came about more to combat the effects of higher exhaust heat, due to the leaning out of air fuel mixtures, for emissions reasons. It doesn't hurt, but it's not 100% necessary, either. In fact, lead would cause a build-up of deposits on your intake valves so bad, it would restrict airflow, in some circumstances! I rebuilt my 55 Olds in 81 (unleaded was all we could get, even then) and drove it over 140,000 miles since. No problems. None in my old Regal, with the 327 Chevy in it either. Nor any of the other cars I've built.
I remember the political conventions before he was elected. The first televised conventions I believe. What a bummer that was! No Milton Berle or The Show of shows, just a whole week of speeches. And then the Democrats held one for Adlai a few weeks later or before.
As noted, constant load is the problem and that only if it's pulling all the time like it would be with a big truck or boat. Trick is, build a light car with big engine and the steepest & longest hills will hold no fear. The 462" BB Buick in my 32 roadster climbs the local "killer" hill out of Laughllin, Nevada - 12 miles @ 6* for almost all of it - showing about 14" on the vacuum gauge at 70 mph.
I remember seeing Ike (Eisenhower) come thru our small town on his "Elect Ike" train...my Dad held me on his shoulders when the train stopped and Ike gave his speech from the rear balcony of his rail car... can't really remember much of the speech cuz all I was more worried about was the grape soda pop Dad had promised me after he got to see and listen to Ike... That one surely dates me... R-
I have an article from a OEM manufacturing magazine that explains what happened to lead.The government did a study on it and found it was only a dangerous to living beings farse to exhort more money from a gallon of gas.They found it did not lubricate or give any other gains in performance.Hence,Bye Bye ETHYL,Another snake oil sold to us.
I've read the lead helped keep the boiling point of the fuel down. Helping prevent vapor lock, and carb percolation.
They took lead out of gas when they came out with catalytic converters. 1974 IIRC. They sold leaded and unleaded gas at the same stations in pumps right next to each other. The filler necks on cars with converters had bulkheads with smaller holes so that the leaded nozzle would not fit. Many people that believed the valve tales would knock out the filler neck bulk head and run leaded gas anyway. They made lots of money making converter eliminator pipes when the converter got plugged up from the lead. Then a few years later they made aftermarket bulkhead fittings to restore the small hole for the guys that had knocked them out. It was part of our inspection sheet to check the filler neck along with the presence of a converter. I stocked the neck repair bulkheads. Then finally they eliminated lead all together but the filler neck check was still on the sheet when I left the program.
My son had a 1968 122s Volvo. Every time he came home from college the thing was running bad due to no valve clearance. We'd adjust the valves and off he'd go (noisy valves are happy valves). He'd come home and same problem. During a summer break he took the head off and wow! The valves were so sunk into the head I can't figure out how it ran at all. There were no original valve seats left. We installed another head with hardened seats. If lead helping valves is a myth, something caused this problem. I still have the old head if you need pics.
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