Leaded / Unleaded

[inheritance]

I am told that I should be running leaded gasoline in the 63' 390 merc. super marauder motor that is in my 59 thunderbird.

Leaded gasoline is obviously not available anymore, so I found lead substitute to add to the tank of premium.

Since 1985 was the last time the car has been inspected, and also from my knowledge the last year available to buy leaded gasoline, I then think that is why the car has only been driven 7,000 miles to today from '85.


Would running the unleaded for the past 7000 miles hurt it I wonder?

I know my grandfather used to go to the local airport and put high-octane in the car back in the 60's. I guess it would really run back then. That was leaded gas though, right?

Guidance..?

[Alexander]

Amoco sold only unleaded gas for decades before lead was outlawed in gasoline. Amoco was never associated with engine failures. If you do not push the engine to extremes, such as racing it, you should not have problems with the valves. The lead helps cushion the valves and prevent them from burning. If they do burn, just replace them with hardened valves. You may want to check if this was already done on the engine.

[bcomo]

What brand lead substitute did you add --CR2 ?

[inheritance]

The lead substitute was the "Gunk" brand name.
1 12.oz bottle for 20 gallons of gasoline

I am not inclined to believe that the valves were ever hardened, but im guessing it would be simple to tell if I took it apart.

It doesn't really seem to run much better on the leaded gas now, but ive filled the tank only once as of today and only driven it maybe 15 miles. Had it through a parade today.


(not related to the lead/unleaded topic)
-- --
It does seem to pollute a lot of smoke from the engine through a hose pointing downward?? was going to make another post about this but im really holding back because I really want to add some really decent pictures so you understand what i have.

its only really apparent if you have the hood open and are looking directly at the exiting point of the hose. It connects to a valve at the absolute rear/middle point of the intake manifold.

[6TB1RD]

Down Draft tube

This is your down draft tube, it is on all PRE PCV engines of the early '60's and older cars and trucks. A small amount of smoke is normal.

You don't notice it unless your stopped. Due to the location of it the smoke and smell is pulled out and under the car.

There are conversion kits out there available. if you go to my home page and wait for the picture of the engine to load you can see my conversion, from an later 60's Tbird the tube comes from the riser under the carburetor to the PCV mount and loops over to the downdraft tube connector on the back of the intake Manifold.

The mount for the PCV can be found at a recking yard and the PCV you can pick up at your local Auto Parts store.

[Guest]

On my 60 352 I did the PCV job myself.I simply cut the down tube about 3 inches down from where it went into engine then ran a rubber hose from there to the fat side of a pcv valve then a smaller hose to the pcv port on my Holley carb.Works great no more smoke.

[6TB1RD]

Bird Nest has everything

I got the new Bird's nest Catalog with my order yesterday, When I was looking threw it I noticed that they now sell all adapters to install a PVC on these old down draft engines the adapter was less then $5.00 if I remember right.

and would look some what like this.
if you look to the right (back) of the engine you will see the setup hiding behind the return spring.

http://www.squarebirds.org/users/6tb1rd/Engine_driverside.JPG

[seven up]

lead substitute/down draft tube

Hi.

I'll add some lead substitute if I think of it for the 60 352. For my 70 FE I used to but don't bother anymore.

For the down draft tube fumes we retofitted a spacer with pcv inlet port from a later bird and kept the Ford 4100.

Those fumes from the draft tube are a nuisance in my opinion, so we went mid-sixties ultramodern PCV.

Enjoy