Lead Free Petrol

B

Bob

Guest

• Dec 12, 2005

• #1

From January 1st South Africa is phasing out leaded petrol.
I have a 1985 Range Rover Classic with a 3.5l V8 carb engine.
What sort of adjustments will I have to make and will lead free petrol do
any damage to the engine?

Thanks

Paul

 

D

Derek

Guest

• Dec 12, 2005

• #2

"Bob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> From January 1st South Africa is phasing out leaded petrol.
> I have a 1985 Range Rover Classic with a 3.5l V8 carb engine.
> What sort of adjustments will I have to make and will lead free petrol do
> any damage to the engine?
>
> Thanks
>
> Paul

You just need to retard the ignition timing a little post 1980 the heads had
harder valve seats so you shouldn't have a problem . Have a look at
http://www.roversd1.co.uk/new_fuels.htm for more info
Derek

 

A

Austin Shackles

Guest

• Dec 12, 2005

• #3

On or around Mon, 12 Dec 2005 14:04:01 +0200, Bob <[email protected]>
enlightened us thusly:

>
>From January 1st South Africa is phasing out leaded petrol.
>I have a 1985 Range Rover Classic with a 3.5l V8 carb engine.
>What sort of adjustments will I have to make and will lead free petrol do
>any damage to the engine?

You might want to retard the timing a few degrees (about 3, ISTR, from a 98
octane setting) depending on what octane rating they give you. Ours is 95
octane, whereas leaded 4* used to be 98.

as to the lead... you might be OK with an '85 engine. I think it's only
early ones that are prone to damage, and not all of them - being an alloy
head, it already has valve seat inserts. The biggest problem engines are
cast-iron heads with the valve seat machined straight into the iron.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"Festina Lente" (Hasten slowly) Suetonius (c.70-c.140) Augustus, 25

 

T

Tom Woods

Guest

• Dec 12, 2005

• #4

On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 14:25:09 +0000, Austin Shackles
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On or around Mon, 12 Dec 2005 14:04:01 +0200, Bob <[email protected]>
>enlightened us thusly:
>
>>
>>From January 1st South Africa is phasing out leaded petrol.
>>I have a 1985 Range Rover Classic with a 3.5l V8 carb engine.
>>What sort of adjustments will I have to make and will lead free petrol do
>>any damage to the engine?
>
>You might want to retard the timing a few degrees (about 3, ISTR, from a 98
>octane setting) depending on what octane rating they give you. Ours is 95
>octane, whereas leaded 4* used to be 98.
>
>as to the lead... you might be OK with an '85 engine. I think it's only
>early ones that are prone to damage, and not all of them - being an alloy
>head, it already has valve seat inserts. The biggest problem engines are
>cast-iron heads with the valve seat machined straight into the iron.

Didnt we loose leaded petrol in the uk in about 98? I'm not sure i've
ever bought any for my own car?

Are there many 'modern' (meaning 70's onward) cars with cast iron
heads?

All my cars have been old (84 is my newest), and I was always of the
opinion that i'd just stick unleaded in my cars and if i ever had any
head trouble i'd sort it out when it became obvious. None in any of
them yet! (and i've had plenty of heads off to check!)

 

N

Nige

Guest

• Dec 12, 2005

• #5

Tom Woods wrote:

> Didnt we loose leaded petrol in the uk in about 98? I'm not sure i've
> ever bought any for my own car?

Around that time.

>
> Are there many 'modern' (meaning 70's onward) cars with cast iron
> heads?

Crikey, where do we start here! Nearly all BL cars of the 80's (apart from the O series i think) had CI
heads. My old R5 Gt turbo had a CI head.

TBH, loads of cars & all dervs that I know of have CI heads.

I will, of course, be wrong now.

Nige

>
> All my cars have been old (84 is my newest), and I was always of the
> opinion that i'd just stick unleaded in my cars and if i ever had any
> head trouble i'd sort it out when it became obvious. None in any of
> them yet! (and i've had plenty of heads off to check!)

--
Subaru WRX
Range Rover LSE (Bob)

'"gimme the f*ckin' money"

 

P

Paul S. Brown

Guest

• Dec 12, 2005

• #6

Tom Woods wrote:

>
> Are there many 'modern' (meaning 70's onward) cars with cast iron
> heads?

The BMC A-Series used in Minis, Allegros and Metros up until 1998 had cast
iron heads.

The B-Series used in the Maestro and Montego had cast iron heads.

The lump Vauxhall put in the Chevette and Nova had a cast iron head.

And that's just off the top of my (cast iron) head.

Yes - there are many modern cars with cast iron heads.

P.

 

L

Larry

Guest

• Dec 13, 2005

• #7

Well it wasn't the lead free petrol my last engine died from. With an old
engine you might as well not bother with any fancy conversion because whats
the point of spending a lot of money on something that is not going to last
anyway.



--
Larry
Series 3 rust and holes






"Austin Shackles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On or around Mon, 12 Dec 2005 14:04:01 +0200, Bob <[email protected]>
> enlightened us thusly:
>
>
> You might want to retard the timing a few degrees (about 3, ISTR, from a
98
> octane setting) depending on what octane rating they give you. Ours is 95
> octane, whereas leaded 4* used to be 98.
>
> as to the lead... you might be OK with an '85 engine. I think it's only
> early ones that are prone to damage, and not all of them - being an alloy
> head, it already has valve seat inserts. The biggest problem engines are
> cast-iron heads with the valve seat machined straight into the iron.
> --
> Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
> "Festina Lente" (Hasten slowly) Suetonius (c.70-c.140) Augustus, 25

 

A

Austin Shackles

Guest

• Dec 13, 2005

• #8

On or around Mon, 12 Dec 2005 23:21:55 +0000, "Paul S. Brown"
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>Tom Woods wrote:
>
>>
>> Are there many 'modern' (meaning 70's onward) cars with cast iron
>> heads?
>
>The BMC A-Series used in Minis, Allegros and Metros up until 1998 had cast
>iron heads.
>
>The B-Series used in the Maestro and Montego had cast iron heads.
>
>The lump Vauxhall put in the Chevette and Nova had a cast iron head.
>
>And that's just off the top of my (cast iron) head.
>
>Yes - there are many modern cars with cast iron heads.

Ford kent (pushrod), the littel one in the fiestas (valencia?), ford pinto,
ford cologne V6...

and of course the 2¼ and 2.5 land rovers.

leaded petrol was phased out and repalced with LRP which has in turn
disappeared. buggrem. They said "don;t worry, all you types with old
motors, we'll do LRP instead." And so they did, for about 3 years.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
Satisfying: Satisfy your inner child by eating ten tubes of Smarties
from the Little Book of Complete B***ocks by Alistair Beaton.

 

A

Austin Shackles

Guest

• Dec 13, 2005

• #9

On or around Tue, 13 Dec 2005 00:34:43 -0000, "Larry" <[email protected]>
enlightened us thusly:

>Well it wasn't the lead free petrol my last engine died from. With an old
>engine you might as well not bother with any fancy conversion because whats
>the point of spending a lot of money on something that is not going to last
>anyway.

and if you're doing a major rebuild on an old engine, then you get the head
converted at the same time.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
Satisfying: Satisfy your inner child by eating ten tubes of Smarties
from the Little Book of Complete B***ocks by Alistair Beaton.

 

T

Tom Woods

Guest

• Dec 13, 2005

• #10

On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 23:21:55 +0000, "Paul S. Brown"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Yes - there are many modern cars with cast iron heads.

I must have got far too used to saabs (which definately have alloy
heads!)

 

B

Bob

Guest

• Dec 14, 2005

• #11

Thanks for the info.

We are getting a Lead replacement petrol. Guess I will use that out of
choice but nice to know no harm will come from using unleaded. The Octane
rating stays the same since we are at altitude. I think 93 and at the
coast they will get 95.



In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
> On or around Mon, 12 Dec 2005 14:04:01 +0200, Bob <[email protected]>
> enlightened us thusly:
>
> >
> >From January 1st South Africa is phasing out leaded petrol.
> >I have a 1985 Range Rover Classic with a 3.5l V8 carb engine.
> >What sort of adjustments will I have to make and will lead free petrol do
> >any damage to the engine?
>
> You might want to retard the timing a few degrees (about 3, ISTR, from a 98
> octane setting) depending on what octane rating they give you. Ours is 95
> octane, whereas leaded 4* used to be 98.
>
> as to the lead... you might be OK with an '85 engine. I think it's only
> early ones that are prone to damage, and not all of them - being an alloy
> head, it already has valve seat inserts. The biggest problem engines are
> cast-iron heads with the valve seat machined straight into the iron.
>