lead substitute for a '68

 I wonder if the exhaust valve rotators GM used on the mid 70's small blocks would be helpful on older engines with non-hardened seats running on unleaded fuel? It might be a way to get around additives? Did AMC ever use them?

AMX North wrote: you know that work is going to need to be done right in the middle of driving season.

The GM rotators supposdly don't like high lift or spring pressure.

FSJunkie wrote: If you have a non hardened seat head off the engine, it's not very expensive to have a machine shop install new seats and valves.   I have also heard bronze guides are also needed for unleaded fuel.

Really? So like 4-600 a pair is not that expensive haha? I'd love to find a place that would work on heads cheap around socal.

Also I would ABSOLUTELY run an honest to goodness lead substitute in anything without hardened seats. We have personally burned a head's worth of valves by running unleaded on our ford 200 6 (bulletproof engine otherwise fyi) Slapped on a reman head back when you could still get them because even 16 years ago, the local shop wanted $600!!!! to put in new valves/guides/seats in a single ford 6 head. I have no idea if the reman unit has hardened seats, but I have been running leaded additive since then and never another problem.

Also if you live in Cali, it seems they no longer even have the substitute on the shelf anymore. I bought a case of it online which should last quite awhile until they decide to not even let you ship it to cali.

Thanks for all the replies. I will continue to use the additive and am looking for a better solution.

 Back in the days with a '75 Nova 9c1 interceptor that had older vette heads 11.5:1 overall in the mid '90's I used to go to the local small airport and they would let me fill the car with 100 octane leaded blue av-gas sold by weight. Later on I had to use jerry cans while a plane was on the scale since their new 'government' scale rejected the car's weight and now they won't sell it at all unless it is going directly into a gas tank of a plane.


Side note:

Gotta find someone with a plane that would sell the gas from their tank(s), even a 50/50 mix with pump gas would be enough real lead to get by. They will always have to sell this gas since some plane engines are from the 1940's or older.


Edited by maximus7001 - Jun/13/2012 at 10:58am