Leaded Fuel?

[TorsinADoc]

For all the elan and europa owners how do you convert your car to unleaded?

[DeanG]

I don't put enough miles on the car to worry about it. If the valves and seats get hammered I'll use it as an excuse to have the head redone with some flow work.

[khamai]

Should be fine. The AL head should have harden valve seats if the head was done in the last 10-20 years. If in doubt have the seats replaced.

If still worried, use an additive.

But, the best proof is that many Elan/Europa owners did nothing when Pb was removed from petrol with little or no ill results in nearly 30 years.

Cheers,
Kiyoshi

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by khamai

Should be fine. The AL head should have harden valve seats if the head was done in the last 10-20 years. If in doubt have the seats replaced.

If still worried, use an additive.

But, the best proof is that many Elan/Europa owners did nothing when Pb was removed from petrol with little or no ill results in nearly 30 years.

Yep, what Kiyoshi said...

Mine is a late Elan, and I believe it came from the factory with hardened valve seats.

Or I'm getting old and had the valve seats replaced when I had the head redone...

[tesprit]

If you are really worried about valve seat recession from the lack of lead in modern gasoline when used in a vintage engine, try using a tank of 100 octane low lead Avgas (100 LL) once a year or run a blend with regular gas for a couple of tankfuls. It has plenty enough lead in it to coat the valves and seats for a long time. The only problem is that this fuel is not legal for use in a motor vehicle other than aircraft so you will have to find a sympathetic airport willing to sell you the 100 LL in a gas can. The other positives of using 100 LL with old engines is that is is a powerful fuel system cleaner (if you smell Avgas it smells more like toluene solvent than gasoline) and it has an almost indefinite shelf life.