Lead or not?

[wilhelm]

I bought a 1955 car a few days ago.  The previous owner says he has only used regular gasoline in it with no lead additive.  So, my question is this:  would you continue, as he has done, with no lead added?  Or, start using lead additive?  It has 67,000 miles.  Thanks!

[Gordie]

Probably over 90% of us use unleaded fuel in our stock engined cars and it seems to work fine but it will eventually eat up rubber and gaskets that are not made for unleaded fuels.  Lead additive will not stop that problem.  Good luck with your new find!

[wilhelm]

Thanks for your reply, Gordie. 

A question:  if leaded gas doesn't help preserve rubber and gaskets, then why use it at all?  Are there other benefits?

The Desoto group hasn't approved my membership yet. But, I need some information now, not in a few weeks.  As another course of action, my first thought was to ask the Kaiser people, they'll know and they are so reliable.  Hope I have enough knowledge some day so I can help somebody like you'all do me.

[darrin502]

Lead was used as a lubricant mostly for the valves. The valve seats were not very hard and the lead additive in the gas lubicated the seats. When older engines are rebuilt stelite valve seats are installed so that unleaded gas can be used. Some of the older rubber gas lines and carburetor parts will deteriorate using unleaded fuel and should be changed. It is also a good idea to use a product like stabil gas additive to keep the unleaded fuel from breaking down. This is the big problem with unleaded fuel when it sits in the tank for long periods of time. Unleaded fuel starts to breakdown in about 45 days and it will start to evaporate and leave the ethanol yellow corn syrup that gets sticky and then hardens and can stick the valves shut. The stabil will prevent this. Also unleaded fuel causes a lot more moisture to develope in the gas tank causing rust. If you drive the car a lot unleaded fuel is your only choice in most places there are still places that still sell leaded gas but it can get expensive. Putting in a lead substitute can get expensive to. I am not sure how well the additive works.
Hope this helps
Lees

[ldladyvt]

I hate showing my age but aren't there two different subjects here?  Going from leaded gas to no-lead gas caused concerns over valve wear but did not cause seal or rubber issues.  Wasn't it when the switch was made to ethanol in the gas that moisture, phase breakdown (fuel separation), fuel pump, seals, gaskets, and water issues started?   Running no-lead in occasional drivers wasn't as much of a problem as the switch to ethanol fuels became.  Finding leaded gas is extremely tough but non-ethanol fuel is beginning to be found (however it is more expensive).  We are running ethanol (10%) having converted our fuel pumps and carbs to work with it.  We do have the occasional issue with vapor-lock on real hot days but a electric fuel pump as a back up deals with that.  We always run non-ethanol for the last few tank fills at the end of the season and always use Stabil at the end of the season. BTW, our two drivers have been switched to the hardened valve seats. Char

[Fid]

Wasn't it when the switch was made to ethanol in the gas that moisture, phase breakdown (fuel separation), fuel pump, seals, gaskets, and water issues started?

Correct

The issue with non-leaded fuel is the lead lubricated and cooled the valves. With non-leaded fuels the valves and valve seats may not be adequately cooled and that is more of a concern with flat head engines. Hardened valves/seats will correct the issue.

[darrin502]

You are both right they are two separate issues.
Ler

[dpledger]

As stated, two issues, valve deterioration and ethanol depredation. Hardened seats  and valves have eliminated the first. The second is easily finessed by using non ethanol fuel, not that hard to find, at least around here. It is more expensive, but the mileage improvement pretty much makes up for it. We use it in our modern cars as well as the Kaiser (plus every small engine we own.) Ethanol can wreack havoc with a car of any age, hygroscopic as it is.  It also lowers the mileage, and the higher octane ratings it produces do not appear to be entirely legitimate. A couple back there were warnings sent out for our Audi to not use ethanol during that cold winter, as it was freezing up the fuel pumps inside the tank.

Ethanol is also an ecological disaster- net carbon footprint of production and burning exceeds that of real gasoline.  Corn is for eating, not powering your car.

Stick with non ethanol and you will have no problems, assuming your valves are hardened.