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Leaded Fuel

  • Thread starter Thread starter Adizzle843
  • Start date Start date Jan 12, 2021
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Adizzle843

Active Member
Mar 22, 2020
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South Carolina
Jan 12, 2021
#1
  • Jan 12, 2021
  • #1
Does anyone have any experience running leaded fuel? Asking for a friend.
 

7991LXnSHO

wanna catch the space herp
10 Year Member
Sep 1, 2010
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Kearney, NE
Jan 12, 2021
#2
  • Jan 12, 2021
  • #2
Your catalytic convertors cannot handle it. Your heads have hardened seats so you do not need lead additives. Besides poisoning the environment so we have an excuse for brain damaged leaders , what is your hoped for benefit?
I am (just) old enough to have run leaded in a while in a pre cat car. It likes the octane boost from ethanol mix better. And it did not show valve seat wear when it needed a high mileage rebuild, although it had the gunk in the pan. It got hardened valve seats anyway.
 
Last edited: Jan 12, 2021

HemiRick

I'd be looking at jacking under the house
Jun 28, 2020
723
272
73
Memphis TN
Jan 12, 2021
#3
  • Jan 12, 2021
  • #3
Hardened valve seats are only needed when an engine is expected to be run hard. Otherwise its no big deal not to replace them
 

Adizzle843

Active Member
Mar 22, 2020
83
30
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South Carolina
Jan 12, 2021
#4
  • Jan 12, 2021
  • #4
7991LXnSHO said:
Your catalytic convertors cannot handle it. Your heads have hardened seats so you do not need lead additives. Besides poisoning the environment so we have an excuse for brain damaged leaders , what is your hoped for benefit?
I am (just) old enough to have run leaded in a while in a pre cat car. It likes the octane boost from ethanol mix better. And it did not show valve seat wear when it needed a high mileage rebuild, although it had the gunk in the pan. It got hardened valve seats anyway.
Click to expand...
I have an off-road H pipe, so the cats aren’t an issue. For me 100 octane leaded gas is readily available, for about what 91 (all I can get here at the gas station) costs. Lead has lubrication factors, but I not old enough to remember it being in mogas.
Just wondering if anyone has any experience with it.
Side note, precursor to being a politician is at least moderate brain damage, so I’m neither helping nor hurting.
 
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7991LXnSHO

wanna catch the space herp
10 Year Member
Sep 1, 2010
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Jan 12, 2021
#5
  • Jan 12, 2021
  • #5
100 octane racing fuel is a different story than 91-93 premium, with or without lead. The lubrication was cushion for the valve seats. If you get things gas soaked enough to make a difference on piston rings or valve stems, it will have washed the oil off and there will be big problems. Fuel lubricating things in a 4 cycle engine is a marketing myth. Octane boosters often contained lead. But lubricating the engine from the gas tank is a lie.
If you have the compression, boost or other need for octane, more often fouled plugs is the only other downside I know of.
 
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HemiRick

I'd be looking at jacking under the house
Jun 28, 2020
723
272
73
Memphis TN
Jan 12, 2021
#6
  • Jan 12, 2021
  • #6
running leaded fuel in a modern engine w the cats removed will not hurt a thing....Advance your timing.
 

7991LXnSHO

wanna catch the space herp
10 Year Member
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Kearney, NE
Jan 12, 2021
#7
  • Jan 12, 2021
  • #7
Hemirick, I agree about any modern engine, (except for the coating on spark plugs and possible toxic build up in the pan that’s probably less with newer oils). No big deal.

adizzle- history or TMI?
As far as using something needing lead, any aluminum heads better have been made with hardened seats. Iron heads without hardened seats do eventually recede. Tests by state patrols showed exactly which hard use conditions caused the recessed seats. (A weekend cruiser/antique plate car might never be an issue if you do not go on Power Tour.) So most anything made since 1973 will have good exhaust seats from the factory for warranty length. That’s why valve jobs are not are that common by themselves on modern cars.

Gas with Tetra Ethel lead (for octane boost and valve seats) was sold from station pumps much longer than that. I am surprised the EPA let’s it be sold now
at any octane rating, and am curious. Who is selling it, an aviation place, track or a speed shop?
 

Adizzle843

Active Member
Mar 22, 2020
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South Carolina
Jan 13, 2021
#8
  • Jan 13, 2021
  • #8
7991LXnSHO thank you for the lesson. I know a bit about leaded gas, but not much. As far as where it comes from, I’d rather no mention that, if it’s all the same. I see you are from Kearney though. I used to live in Omaha and went to school in Iowa.
 

Adieu

Easy there, this ain't a dating site.
20+ Year Stangneter
Mar 7, 2002
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Jan 14, 2021
#9
  • Jan 14, 2021
  • #9
Your oxygen sensor will be destroyed from running leaded fuel.

Straight from the source:

404 Error - Items of Interest - Sunoco Race Fuels

www.sunocoracefuels.com
 

7991LXnSHO

wanna catch the space herp
10 Year Member
Sep 1, 2010
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Kearney, NE
Jan 14, 2021
#10
  • Jan 14, 2021
  • #10
DOH!!! Thank you, Captain Obvious! If it will put a coating on the spark plugs, it will not be good for the 02 sensors either.
(One face palm for each side of the exhaust.)
 

Adieu

Easy there, this ain't a dating site.
20+ Year Stangneter
Mar 7, 2002
9,531
5,187
224
Jan 14, 2021
#11
  • Jan 14, 2021
  • #11
7991LXnSHO said:
DOH!!! Thank you, Captain Obvious! If it will put a coating on the spark plugs, it will not be good for the 02 sensors either.
(One face palm for each side of the exhaust.)
Click to expand...
At your service.
 

7991LXnSHO

wanna catch the space herp
10 Year Member
Sep 1, 2010
7,387
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194
Kearney, NE
Jan 14, 2021
#12
  • Jan 14, 2021
  • #12
I thought right past the O2 sensors since the cats were gone. Can you tell I still have two carbureted cars?
A closed loop EFI will not run well once the sensors get fouled.
 
D

Deleted member 38176

Jan 15, 2021
#13
  • Jan 15, 2021
  • #13
Sure, up your heads
 

Bree

Active Member
Jan 12, 2021
215
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38
Zanesville Ohio
Jan 16, 2021
#14
  • Jan 16, 2021
  • #14
Unless your engine was built before 1975, as others have said, you're going to mess things up running leaded gas. And BTW, how meany MPG's did the cat delete cost ya?
My tri-hull is a 1970, and if I don't go to the airport and get some 110 low lead to mix with my pump gas, those valves chatter like the head is going to come off that old Iron Duke. One of these days, if I ever get money ahead enough, that old ID is going to get a more modern head, a new manifold and an throttle body carb. And then the points are going to take a trip overboard as well in favor on one of those Morosso electronic kits.
 

7991LXnSHO

wanna catch the space herp
10 Year Member
Sep 1, 2010
7,387
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Kearney, NE
Jan 16, 2021
#15
  • Jan 16, 2021
  • #15
The cat delete should not have lowered the MPG unless the noise caused the driver to push the pedal down farther, quicker or more often with excitement.

@Bree if you are going away from points, check if Pertronix has a kit for your distributor. They are durable enough for industrial use, and are also available through places like Summit. They stand up to racing and daily use better than the racing branded parts in a (Chevy) forum I am in for another car.

Pertronix Ignition

PerTronix manufactures the aftermarket's finest ignition products for enthusiasts who want to upgrade the spark in their system resulting in a noticeable gain in horsepower. PerTronix is renowned for our Ignitor Series Electronic Conversion Kits, HEI Performance Modules, Flame-Thrower Billet...
pertronixbrands.com
 

Bree

Active Member
Jan 12, 2021
215
87
38
Zanesville Ohio
Jan 22, 2021
#16
  • Jan 22, 2021
  • #16
Well, I haven't made any concrete decisions as to what points delete kit I may go with. I have a lot of other investments to work out first. Sadly, due to income restraints, the "As Sea-n On TV" has been in the garage for a few seasons. And yes, it really has been at sea on TV, if we use the term "at sea" loosely. I use to work for our local NBC affiliate, and at the beginning of boat safety week, (yes that's a thing) we would contact either the county sheriff's watercraft enforcement, or ODNR and we'd go to a local lake or river, and have them come along side and do a safety inspection on camera.

As for cats, they recirculate nu-burnt fuel particles. Granted the difference is only like 1 to 2 mpg, per cat deleted, but...........
 

7991LXnSHO

wanna catch the space herp
10 Year Member
Sep 1, 2010
7,387
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Kearney, NE
Jan 22, 2021
#17
  • Jan 22, 2021
  • #17
@Bree
Are you trolling about the catalytic Convertors? The catalytic converters do not recirculate anything.
That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works!

View: https://youtu.be/Aq_1l316ow8

What Does a Catalytic Converter Do and Why Do People Steal Them?

A catalytic converter is one of the most important parts of a car's emissions control system. It treats the exhaust before it leaves the car and removes a lot of the pollution. Learn how they work.
auto.howstuffworks.com
 

Bree

Active Member
Jan 12, 2021
215
87
38
Zanesville Ohio
Feb 1, 2021
#18
  • Feb 1, 2021
  • #18
Then why is there that T shaped tube between the two, and why doe it connect to the EGR valve?
 
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Boostedpimp

20+ Year Stangneter
May 8, 2003
1,451
493
154
NJ
Feb 1, 2021
#19
  • Feb 1, 2021
  • #19
That air tube does not connect to EGR but rather the smogpump system to help with catalyzation by injecting air.
 

7991LXnSHO

wanna catch the space herp
10 Year Member
Sep 1, 2010
7,387
2,745
194
Kearney, NE
Feb 1, 2021
#20
  • Feb 1, 2021
  • #20
The air pump pushes air into the convertors. The flow is one direction only. It goes into the convertors and out the tailpipe. It is for cleaner air only.
This is not the EGR system.
 
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