wonso79

Hi,

Would adding a Lead Subsitute to the gas hurt the engine if the car has been coverted to run unleaded fuel? I bought the car last year and the previous owner didn't drive it much the past 17 years so I am not sure if they converted it over or not.

kalli

No it won't hurt and in my opinion if you are not towing with your mustang you won't need it either. See what the others have to say. Just my opinion

67mustang302

Even cars set up for leaded fuel run on unleaded fine if you just put around. Performance is another issue, as it's mainly the heat and number of valve cycles that flog the valves/seats.

But no, you won't hurt it either way running a lead substitute. But the substitute is prolly something toxic that'll damage your nuts, so keep it off your skin.

wonso79

O.k. I'll give it a try and keep it off my skin and away from my nuts. Thanks!!

hotrod351

i had hardened seats put in my heads.

2+2GT

The only "conversion" would be installation of hardened valve seats in the head, which is common practice in rebuilds anyway. Valve seat recession when using the iron head as the seat turns out to be not the problem it was expected to be. Unless your car is a daily driver, you'll never see the 100,000+ miles it'll take to erode your seats. Come to think of it, Amoco stations sold unleaded gas in the 50's, 60's and 70's, and I never heard of any problems with their gas.

Look at it this way- At $2-3 a bottle, per tank of gas, how long would it take you to instead save up the money you needed to have hardened seats installed in your engine? Coupla years? It'll take longer than that to cause any damage. If you car is driven only to shows and cruise night, you'll never put enough mileage on it to require repair.

.boB

Lead was used in fuel mostly as a lubricant for the valves and seats. The only reason that unleaded fuel was invented is bacuase the lead kills the catalytic converter. Unless you have a cat, you can use lead in the engine without any problems.

The "conversion" for unleaded fuel was simply putting hardened valve seats in to resist wear, now that the lubrication is gone.

There are no street legal lead additives on the market. It is illegal to use lead on any public road anywhere in the US. And, the real truth is, you don't need it. Your engine will easily last 100K miles running unleaded fuel (with hardened valve seats). Don't waste your money.

Oxnard Montalvo

I agree, save your money. Unleaded has been the norm since the early seventies and as stated the valve recession issue has proven to be overblown. I don't know anyone who has had a problem with it.

andrewmp6

I wouldn't use anything if it runs fine now then leave it alone.

rwh129

How did you make out with the Lead Subsitute ?