unleaded for wedges
Discussion
fuel additives are a waste of money (from my expierience): my wedge was driven years with fuel additives and it happened exactly what happens when you run iron-cast heads without hardened valve seats: the head/valves got totally worn, the valve clearances went regulary to 0 and had to be adjusted very often. all people who think the additives help, cause their engines still run well, are wrong: they had luck that there was still enough lead from the past concentrated in the iron-cast molecules and/or they dont drive so many miles.
when lead was forbidden in germany 1988, we run an old ford-fiesta (kent engine--fully iron-cast)in our family (10000km/year) without any additives for several years and nothing happened. the same with a friend who owns an old opel ascona from the 70´s (in uk i think its called vauxhall cavalier).
the use of additives is not very common here (nowonder when it doesnt help.....)
the 2,9litres are all able to use unleaded.
when lead was forbidden in germany 1988, we run an old ford-fiesta (kent engine--fully iron-cast)in our family (10000km/year) without any additives for several years and nothing happened. the same with a friend who owns an old opel ascona from the 70´s (in uk i think its called vauxhall cavalier).
the use of additives is not very common here (nowonder when it doesnt help.....)
the 2,9litres are all able to use unleaded.
Edited by micha on Wednesday 19th July 07:51
Edited by micha on Wednesday 19th July 08:03
I have heard there are some places that sell T.E.L. (the real original lead additive, as opposed to the substitute!) but have never seen it and would guess it's another story to obtain in Germany. While it is true that the only real substitute for lead is hardened valve seats, there have been tests on some of the additives and they have proved to be beneficial but none are anyway close to lead! If the engine is going to work hard then you may as well convert the heads, as no lead substitute will help you! My father-in-law's P6 has run for years on one tested/approved additive with no valve recession, and believe me he measures it regularly! This is mainly attributed to the fact that he never uses the upper end of the rev range.
Also remember that unless you have owned the vehicle from new you don't know if the heads have been changed for newer or older and even if you have owned it from new if it's a TVR the heads could have been whatever was on the shelf at the time.
Don't know if that's any help but there you have it
Edited to add the word "never" because it completely changes how it reads!
Also remember that unless you have owned the vehicle from new you don't know if the heads have been changed for newer or older and even if you have owned it from new if it's a TVR the heads could have been whatever was on the shelf at the time.
Don't know if that's any help but there you have it
Edited to add the word "never" because it completely changes how it reads!
Edited by leorest on Wednesday 19th July 10:06
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