Unleaded in my 14?

[Arewethereyet]

Hi all, as above really. Apart from new seats, what are you doing to get round this issue? Thanks, Mark.

[47p2]

Some members use a lead additive in their fuel whilst others don't without any short term damage. I've read that if the engine isn't working hard (over 3000rpm) (approximately 51mph in a 16hp) then there should be no long term problems by not using an additive but that was on the internet so I can't confirm if it's true or not. Better to err on the side of caution and drop some lead additive in when filling up

[Phil - Nottingham]

I agree entirely with 47P2 and would add that "just in case" I used additive in our P2 for 10 years/7K miles - waste of time and money as an exhaust valve lost its head and punched through its piston so I had to have a rebuilt head and new piston anyway.

In the last 10 years have used unleaded in all our 6 other classics without problem and only 2 of them are not unleaded compatible. I drive them hard but sympathetically and none can have any lead memory left after the miles they have done since.

Use it without lead/additive and save the money for a head rebuild if and when necessary - you will need it

Most classic car drivers neither use their cars much and certainly not at top speed to caause any VSR at all - Rovers were designed to be run hard and were faster than the norm even in the 1930's

[1938 P2 14]

I have since the demise of leaded fuel on all my customers push rod engines have just set the valve clearances 2 thou bigger, and checking them every 4000 miles no burnt vales to date.

[dhbuchanan]

You're either a risk-taker or you're not. It seems very likely that, with average use, everyone's so-called " lead memory " safety margin will have been used up by now. Opinion is divided on the long-term efficacy of lead additives. My own view is that one should convert the engine to unleaded compatibility at the earliest opportunity in the interests of peace of mind: when it's done, it's done, and the failure of other remedies is going to be very expensive.

On the back of the unjustified virtual abolition of leaded fuel, and as a result of the current delusory obsession with anthropogenic global warming, we now have the growing threat of increased ethanol content in petrol to deal with. Rather than replace much of your car's fuel route, use of Flexolite's Ethanolmate, one modestly-priced bottle of which treats 250 litres(55 gallons), seems a reasonable safeguard until we discover what other equally pointless measures the Man-Made Global Warming Gestapo has up its sleeve.