Do I need to add lead to the gas for a 68 Olds 98? Heard on talk radio today!

 

You can search the web and find advice pro/con, but really not needed for most street driven cars.

 

Where would you get lead, anyway? They don't sell it in the stores as an addiitve. The whole point of unleaded fuel was to rid the world of lead in our environment, and regulators would hardly let you put it back by something as simple as adding a pint of something to your fuel tank.

Here's a good article on the subject.

http://www.stevelinden.com/unleaded-...n-classic-cars

The relevant passage is this:

"Shortly after the last precious drop of leaded fuel was pumped, dire predictions began to abound as to how long the engines in our classic cars would last. A year? Ten years? 5,000 miles? 50,000 miles? Every expert had their own opinion. The only quantifiable difference in these opinions were whether things would be terribly dismal, or horribly dismal.

Now, decades later, we have the benefit of hindsight. And guess what? In most cases it’s no big deal. If you keep your engine in a good state of tune, and use your classic car for its intended purpose, it’s likely that you will never have a problem using unleaded fuel. If you regularly drive 120 MPH, through the desert, while towing an 8000 pound boat on a trailer, uphill, you might have a problem. In fact, I would venture that you probably will."



In short, put your favorite brand of local pump gas of the correct octane in your car and don't worry about it. I have been putting premium unleaded in my '67 Delta 88 with the high-compression 425 for five years now without a problem. I don't add anything else to the gas in the tank.


Of course, the REAL issue is here is that you shouldn't be listening to talk radio!

 

Tnanks for your replies - premium unleaded it is - and to be precise and for the record, it was my wife who was listening to talk radio - but I probably shouldn't listen to her either!

 

I don't use it, However with regards to a lead additive there are a few out there, this is a real lead additive:


http://home.comcast.net/~gregs.speed.shop/site/

 

OK, so it's not illegal. But it's rarely necessary.

 

It works better as an octane booster.

 

I've been running a Land Cruiser with a HP chevy 327 in it for 20 some years with no problems yet. Should I do a rebuild on it I will however do a three position valve grind on it.

I have been told( heard that one before?) that if a old engine has been run with leaded fuel it will hold up OK but if that same engine has the valves ground with out changing the valve angle for non leaded gas ( you do a old style grind)you will remove the remaining layer of lead that has been hammered into the seat over the years and the heads will not hold up. Sounds logical I think.....Tedd