lead substitute??

z2o_what

Member

Mar 31, 2005

309

1

19

princeton, WV

Aug 8, 2007

#1

• Aug 8, 2007

• #1

im running d0oe 351 heads on my current engine. i reseated the valves (valve gring and drill) myself. the heads do not have hardened seats, and i have been using a lead additive. so far i have over 200 miles on engine with no problems.

so... should it be safe using just the additive or am i going to run into valve seat problems down the road (so to speak)?

 

z2o_what

Member

Mar 31, 2005

309

1

19

princeton, WV

Aug 9, 2007

#2

• Aug 9, 2007

• #2

ttt

 

samickguy15

Member

Sep 1, 2005

404

0

16

Delavan, IL

Aug 9, 2007

#3

• Aug 9, 2007

• #3

.

From what I understand, if you are going to beat on the motor pretty hard you should get hardened seats. If you are using it as a street car with an occassional race, you should be fine. If I were you, and had the money, I would get hardened seats put in.

 

montegoman351

Member

Jan 12, 2007

169

1

18

Aug 9, 2007

#4

• Aug 9, 2007

• #4

I read on Lucas oil's website that the fuel additive they make can double as a lead substitute. I ran it for a long time, before I rebuilt the engine, and the insides of the engine were pretty clean.
But this was on a 135,000 mile cleveland, so the valves were starting to recess anyway, since I only only drove the car for 30,000 miles before the cam bearing babbit snuck past the oil pump screen, and needless to say, I totally redid the engine.

 

montegoman351

Member

Jan 12, 2007

169

1

18

Aug 9, 2007

#5

• Aug 9, 2007

• #5

whoops, i pushed the button twice

 

65ShelbyClone

Founding Member

Sep 9, 2000

4,675

38

119

Antelope Valley, SoCal

Aug 10, 2007

#6

• Aug 10, 2007

• #6

A stock cam and heads with soft seats and unleaded gas will last around 60,000-80,000mi before the sealing goes away. With a lumpy cam, expect the valves to pound out and sink much faster. I had some 289 heads sink a few valves in about 12,000 miles with a mild(~.475) hydraulic flat cam. They were replaced with E7s and no more problems.

My point is that it will be more economical in the long run to get hard seats.