Unleaded or Leaded Gas??

Stang2Man · Jul 22, 2008

I know several older cars were recommended to be filled with leaded fuel. But with our 64.5 with a 260 do I need to be adding a lead additive to the car? What do I need to be aware in case it's not ready for unleaded fuel?

Any help would be appreciated.

D.Hearne · Jul 22, 2008

Wal Mart stocks a lead substitute, bout $8 a bottle. Depending on how much you drive it, you may not even need to worry. Daily driver? yea. Weekend driven once a month? No. You'll never put enough miles on it to hurt the valves. Valve wear really only will happen under sustained hard driving, like towing or uphill accelleration.

RedGTvert · Jul 22, 2008

D.Hearne said:
Wal Mart stocks a lead substitute, bout $8 a bottle. Depending on how much you drive it, you may not even need to worry. Daily driver? yea. Weekend driven once a month? No. You'll never put enough miles on it to hurt the valves. Valve wear really only will happen under sustained hard driving, like towing or uphill accelleration.

What he said. If you don't drive it much, don't worry about it.

rbohm · Jul 22, 2008

while theere was a time when a lead additive or substitute was needed in older engines, these days gasoline has a lubricant added to the mix to prevent valve recession in those older engines. dont waste your money on this stuff. it is still on the market for those people who still think that it is needed.

67rcks · Jul 24, 2008

there are two types of gas - one with lead substitute (available in Mexiko), the other without lead substitute not to hurt catalitic converter (regular gas). Late engines have slightly more tapered valve stems and sometimes valve guides of self-lubricating materials and they don't need lubrication from gas (provided by lead substitute). If you like your engine you should use the lubricant otherwise you will continously (i.e. in 70K-150K miles at mid rpm) loose performance due to faster wear of valve stems and guides

D.Hearne · Jul 24, 2008

Lead wasn't to lube the stems and guides, it served as a cushion for the valves hammering the seats.

Rusty67 · Jul 24, 2008

Which is why the upgrade of installing hardened valve seats is what you need to do to convert a leaded motor into an unleaded motor.

blown65 · Jul 24, 2008

rbohm said:
while theere was a time when a lead additive or substitute was needed in older engines, these days gasoline has a lubricant added to the mix to prevent valve recession in those older engines. dont waste your money on this stuff. it is still on the market for those people who still think that it is needed.

That's good to know, my Lincoln is still all orig and I had been putting a lead substitute. I may still since its not driven much, but I wont be so worried about it when its just not convenient.

mustangman1974 · Jul 24, 2008

I ordered mine from a tractor supply place online. I did notice a performance difference too. From my understanding the lead adds to the octane so I was able to add more timing.

Stang2Man · Jul 24, 2008

Is there a way to check what the valves are short of pulling the head off? Can I just pull a valve cover and check something on it? Is there a stamping on top of the valve under the rocker? This car had a 95% restoration done on it, so I really don't know how much engine work was done either.

D.Hearne · Jul 24, 2008

No way to know what was done to the valves and seats short of pulling the heads. Porting can be Id'd as can screw in studs and performance springs

Unleaded or Leaded Gas??

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