Leaded fuel replacement

Ive been running my cars since leaded petrol was phased out on the redex addative, no problems to date, of course they could have been fine with nothing but I didn't want to take the risk.

I remember when they phased out 4*, there was this huge panic among the classic car community about 'valve seat recession' and people were spending pots of cash getting their heads fitted with valve seat inserts. . . there then followed many tales of woe from those who had got it done cheaply and had had catastrophic engine failures because the inserts had fallen out, jamming valves and destroying pistons etc. All this because the classic car press went to town with horror stories of heads becoming useless because the unleaded fuel would cause the dreaded 'VSR', what many failed to say was that 'Valve seat recession' would only occur on an engine that was in regular 'hard' use, because all engines that ran on leaded petrol would have 'lead memory', i.e. lead deposits coating the valve seats that would last thousands of miles in normal use, and any 'VSR' that would occur would take literally thousands of miles to start being noticeable after the 'lead memory' had depleted. And by that time, either the owner would have sold their vehicle (fickle classic car owners), or the engine would probably need a rebuild anyway, new bearings etc, and any valve seat inserts needed could be done then.

There also was a proliferation of 'snake oil' remedies, that would keep lead in your fuel, like the aforementioned 'bag of pellets' . . . common sense says these were not going to work... but people bought them, and swore by them...and yes the valves in their cars probably didn't suffer 'VSR'... but that was more than likely down to 'lead memory' than a bag of 'magic' lead beans.

Only the properly developed 'lead replacement' additives would actually put 'lead' in your fuel... but who knows whether these were needed or not, most people use it to be on the safe side, but most of these also contained an 'octane booster' so you didn't have to play about with your ignition timing. Or you could buy a separate octane booster and have a myriad of little bottles in your boot to play with at the pump once you've filled up


Your engine should last quite a few thousand miles before needing hardened valve seats, especially if it's only taken out at weekends for half the year, by the time it needs them it will probably need bearings etc anyway, or you will have sold it and bought something else, or even scrapped it because the body didn't last as long as the engine...

Just stick unleaded in it and enjoy, and for that extra '97ron 4star feel' stick 'super' in it and enjoy more:)

I had seen those lead pellet catalysts but was always skeptical. The car will only do 2k a yeah max so can't see it being a problem. Thanks for all replies.
As always helpful and informative.
Where can I get tetraboost from?

Valvemaster IMHO is probably your only viable alternative.

However, I'd check that you don't have Valve Seat Recession already. Many people won't know that they don't because "all old cars run a little rough at idle". Get a compression test done to be sure.

But as said, the 'memory can last longer than you think. Signs of VSR will be the valve clearances closing up between services.

The good news is that if you are handy with the spanners, fitting new valve seats to an A-Series won't break the bank. You could even fit a Stage 3 head for further gains .

I'm going to be honest nickwheeler, I did think the same thing. To some people, £250 is a fortune even on a car worth £10,000+. On other threads, any more than £5 is more than what some wish to spend. i'm not saying the OP is like this .