Lead Substitute

Hey guys,

   My '74 Nautique of course calls for leaded gasoline. I used to buy a Concentrated lead substitute from walmart, it would mix about 1 oz. per 10 gallons of gas. I can't find this anymore. They stopped carrying it, and no other store has it. I hhave enough left for about half this season, and i dont wanna run on un-leaded fuel. What are you folks using?

haha, I use Napa when I can, otherwise I use the Motorcraft FL-1A.

mdvalant wrote: We always put lead in our 90 (1400 hrs). Family friends with their '88 never added lead and it's still running very well with 1800 hrs. It seems like it's your freedom.

I dont think anyone is implying it will do any harm... but its not doing any good either. Its your money- do with it as you wish!

tullfooter wrote: I use lead additive. But unlike Tim and Pete, I still have lead in my pencil also.

It finding someone to write to thats the trick

The bottom line is there is NO substitute for lead!! When the time comes for a top end job, then if you want to spend the extra, you go for hardened seats and SS valves. Some have not and gone with regular valve jobs!

It will but not by very much. The point is that the additive will not pay for itself.

Am I too late??

I came across this the other day......I wonder if it would work in a boat engine too can't see why not, the 95 is our low gas rating you guys use a different system to rate gas.

It could also be a con... but I like the simple way its done.

This is there big one they also make smaller ones too.



Fuel Catalyst Link

JC Whitney used to sell a magnet that you could clamp on the fuel line. It would align fuel molecules so they would burn more efficiently. Big oil must have bought up the patent, because it never caught on.   

I can get Lead substitute from Redline, everyone swears by it, people who race hotrods with older engines that required Leaded gas. The ones who ran unleaded, now are sorry. im not taking that chance, not with a boat as nice as mine. :) It's about $10 for a 12oz bottle. and it mixes 1oz to 10 gallons. at our fuel usage, we'd be covered for about 3 seasons. pretty cheap if u ask me.

74SkiNautique wrote: im not taking that chance, not with a boat as nice as mine. :)

Your are absolutely correct. I do not consider my 1954, my 1964 or my 1977 boats to be very nice. It's funny but NO one I have ever talked to in the ACBS group I've belonged to for over 35 years recommends the junk. Of course none of them have nice boats ether. Oh, I forgot about my Universal 1927 Flexifour. None of the junk is in that engine ether.
The Hot Rod and race group must be smarter on the old engines that the boat group.

Lead substitute allllll the way for me. Even if it did nothing, and i burned a valve, I could say i tried. I consider my SN to be worth every penny i spend on maint. for it.

74SkiNautique wrote: Lead substitute allllll the way for me. Even if it did nothing, and i burned a valve, I could say i tried. I consider my SN to be worth every penny i spend on maint. for it.

74SN,
Do you understand the actual mechanics of how a burnt valve occurs?    

8122pbrainard wrote: [QUOTE=74SkiNautique] BTW, you're probably too young to remember the days when "white" gas was sold for marine use. It's still around as a camp stove/lantern fuel. White gas is straight run gas with absolutely no additives in it. The old engines ran great on it for years and years!!!

Pete,
Were these old enignes 1/2 the compression of todays? Studying lantern fuel further, I read that it is around 40-50 octane and subject to spark knock on most of todays enignes. I'm looking for a lawn and garden equipment fuel alternative.

74 - if you're really worried about it, all the local air ports sell 80 octane and 100 octane LL.   you'll probably pay more than the 10C per gallon in sur-charge, but your engine will run as it should.    I have had several air cooled VW's over the years I've never put enough miles on one to have an issue.... If you feel better about addative, I say .10 c per gallon is small, consider how many gallons you'll need to use to buy a common 351w head and you'll have a good base line for comparison....

Whitfield wrote: Pete, Were these old enignes 1/2 the compression of todays? Studying lantern fuel further, I read that it is around 40-50 octane and subject to spark knock on most of todays enignes. I'm looking for a lawn and garden equipment fuel alternative.

Yes the old engines are real low compression but the point I was trying to make is they ran fine without any lead.

You don't want to run White gas in todays engines.