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unleaded fuel

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BionicHealey

BionicHealey

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Although I'm a long way from driving my Healey, I thought this might be of interest to other owners also.

I've read about using unleaded fuel and hardened seats and such both here and on-line.

But I would like to hear the opinions of other [/i][/b]actual 3000 owners.

Mark
 
Hi Mark,

Over the years I have heard the concerns voiced about the detrimental effects of unleaded gas and, today, Zinc-less oils. In short, I see no need in replace valves/seats/ or guides my Healey’s motor to compensate for the changes mentioned. As one who commonly shifts at around 5K for the past 46 years of my Healey’s active life, my occasionally aggressive driving practices and unleaded gas have never had a conflict.

For those that wish, there is much you can do to improve performance and longevity of a Healey engine. However, for those in the more populous group of Healey owners that just want to enjoy their cars, and exhibit only occasional aggressive driving, I believe the standard setup will last until you, or it, are no more.

Don’t worry, enjoy, and all the best,
Ray (64BJ8P1)
 
Unless you drive the living heck out of your Healey, the motors life will not be shortened because of unleaded fuels. British cars seem to have much less life than other makes. So unless you have abnormal wear during initial deep engine repairs, there should not be a conmcern. If you are doing a rebuild and existing seats are not severly worn, I would just do a fresh grind and install new guides and valves. I would prefer installing new valves and regrind seats, if not in bad shape than to regrind valves and install hardened seats.

Now if you are concerned about all of the rubber parts disintegrating becasue of unleaded fuel, thats for another thread.
 
I wonder sometime about all this concern about unleaded gas.
There are those of us that remember Amaco gas, (white gas)
and I beleive it had no lead in it. It was used for years and I can't remember any biggie problems. That was in the day of the real muscle cars too.
 
I thought about that also, the Amoco gas.

Seems from all of you, if I drive sanely (most of the time at least) things should be fine. From what I've read over the years, gas additives are pretty much over-rated.

What about octane?

Thanks,

Mark
 
If by octane you mean does it ping/detonate, for umpteen years been using a garden variety autoparts store "lead substitute" and middle octane grade gas, 89 I think, and never heard a ping. By the way, reading on web confirms that normal hobbyist use, as opposed to racing, or 15,000mi/yr not having lead is not a problem for engine in any way so I may stop bothering.
 
I had heard from a fuel specialist when I raised the question about unleaded fuel as I am driving my BN 4 on unleaded fuel without substitutes only. He told me: assuming that the car never had a rebuilt it had used that many leaded fuel in in the past when this was still available, that this lead was still protecting the seats with the restriction not make continiously a lot of rpm.
 
I'll be dropping off a BN4 2-port head in a liitle while, I'll ask the machinist what his recommendation is (keeping in mind, that if he's slow right now, he'll want to replace the seats with hardened ones...).

That should be about as up to date of information that we can get.
 
By the way, reading on web confirms that normal hobbyist use, as opposed to racing, or 15,000mi/yr not having lead is not a problem for engine in any way so I may stop bothering.

You might as well as most of the saleable additives are just wasting your money,There is one exception. A product sometimes available but illegal for street use is "Real Lead".Conversely, I suggest the use of the highest octane fuel available to you 91- or - 93 is great.--Fwiw--Keoke- :wink:
 
And, the consensus is:

I was asked how the car was to be driven; if moderate and limited mileage, don't bother putting in hardened (exhaust) seats, and do use a lead substitute. Bob Fall (Fall Automotive Machine) claims that it would take fifteen (15) years to pound down a seat at that rate.

I claimed that I wanted this to be the last time that engine needed to be rebuilt (ever), so I/we decided on replacing the exhaust seats (only) with hardened ones.

I believe is to be an unbiased and reliable opinion.

BTW, his shop floor was busy; it'll be about two (>2) weeks before I go back to pick everything up.
 
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