ultraslow Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 I am currently having head repairs done on my 1.6l Kent. ; Burned/eroded valve seats. What are the recommended lead fuel additives to help with this problem in the future? Other fixes? I am forced, like all US drivers, to consistently run unleaded fuel. Ultraslow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlumba81 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 With hardened valve seats you should be fine with unleaded pump gas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee break Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 How many miles are on the engine? Were they all on unleaded fuel? How did you notice a change/problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ultraslow Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 The Kent is a 1967,1.6l, that was rebuilt when it was installed into what may be an older, reclothed, chassis. I won't know about hardened seats until we get the head off; I'm guessing not. The title states that the car is a 1985 kit assembled in FL. It has had several owners and I cannot know what they burned. When I bought it about three years ago, it had 9200miles on it. I have added about 5k more. I use unleaded and inconsistently used a lead fuel additive until late last year.(OOPS?) Ran great until last Fall. Any suggestions as to brands? RedLine Substitute Lead Additive? Octane boosters? Thanks for the reply ultraslow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ultraslow Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 Coffee Break, Oh, it started running like a Farmall tractor. One of the cylinders is at 75, another is a bit low and others are 120-ish compression. Plugs fouled like crazy on the low cylinders. Runs fine with new plugs: for about 100miles. It's kind of tedious and expensive that way though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilteq Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 You need hardened valve seats. In my opinion, there are no lead substitutes. I have a copy of the EPA / USDA joint study done in the late ‘80s with the intention of showing lead was no longer necessary. They failed. As I recall, the best results came from a sodium additive manufactured by the Lubrizol Corporation. When used at 4 times the recommended rate in a 454 test engine, the valve seat recession remained within specifications. Then I read an article in an RV magazine saying yes, it was within spec, but it had enough recession that it needed a valve adjustment, and that generally took over 100,000 miles in an RV on leaded gasoline. So lead and the wide nozzle system was not banned for several more years, but it dried up in the marketplace. As far as I know lead is still legal in the after-market as an additive. If anyone knows of a tetraethyl lead additive that is still available, please let me know. The last manufacturer I know of was Kemco, in Utah and they did not survive the great recession. Blaine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ultraslow Posted December 29, 2014 Author Share Posted December 29, 2014 Man thanks. The sodium based additive looks promising.As far as tetra-ethyl lead goes, It is a very nasty and very toxic chemical and I hadn't considered it. Thanks again. ultraslow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDingo8MyBaby Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Why bother when all you have to do is fit hardened valve seats? You may as well since it sounds like the head is off anyway... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rx7locost Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Why bother when all you have to do is fit hardened valve seats? You may as well since it sounds like the head is off anyway... ^+1 Your engine will thank you. Engines are so much cleaner nowadays thanks to the elimination of lead. Much lower deposits in the exhaust valve area not to mention the longer plug life. AFAIK, it is illegal to add TEL to a road driven vehicle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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