Subject: RE: Lead additives
Author: Kevin Hamann
Date: Dec 17, 2002, 8:47 AM
Post ID: 1711590280
Ed Flanagan wrote:
| Has anyone been using the lead additives/substitues in their loops? A friend of mine is replacing valves on an old truck that he ran on unleaded and is now worrying that he doing his Eldo harm. Is this a cause for concern. I have run my Eldo on high octane unleaded for years and have had no problems. TIA Ed |
Tetraethyl lead was added as a cheap octane booster to gasoline in years
past (actually leaded fuel was still available in New Mexico and other
areas up until around 10-12 years ago, or at least that's what the pumps
said), but actually did more harm than good to most engine, ignition,
and exhaust parts. TELead absorbs moisture and would cause corrosion in
M/C exhausts. I used to run a fuel conditioner called Duralt in my Eldo,
which worked and was fairly inexpensive. When I last bought it it was at
a Harley dealer. It reportedly added about 5 or so octane points, so
with that and super no-lead I had maybe 97-98 octane. If you're having
preignition (pinging) you could use recessed electrode spark plugs
(center electrode at/below the threads) which retard the ignition timing
at the plug and help with that. I used to use ones made by Bosch, but
cannot recall the #. I had standard top end gaskets and stock pistons in
my Eldo and had no problems with the aforementioned setup.
Feliz Navidad,
KLH
NM Rep
MGNOC #11852/100K Mile Member