Unleaded fuel and a Spitz 1500

[Ian Perry]

OK, now the car's running...

The engine is the best bit of the car and runs well. It has always felt as if someone had at least looked after that part of it if nothing else. But I have no idea whether it's had an unleaded head put on it. Short of taking the head off**, I don't suppose there's any way of finding out? Either way round... I don't imagine any harm would come from using an additive, in which case does anyone have a suggestion which one to use?

** After the horrors of a last-minute change to an unleaded head on the old Toledo, and blowing a couple of, doing a head gasket change on the morning of the RBRR last time... I am NOT doing that again.

VMT

[Clive]

Use super unleaded, and I think Castrol Valvemaster is one of the good additives?

 

[RobPearce]

As Clive said, super + valvemaster should be fine. To be honest, if the engine's been around a bit, it may not even need it. The only time I got VSR was on a Toledo that had a dodgy float valve and was thus running piss weak as it struggled to keep up with RBRR conditions with three people in it.

[yorkshire_spam]

I ran the Spitfire for about 20K miles on just super unleaded (RBRR and 2x10CR included) without any signs of valve seat recession - from the paperwork I got with the car (pretty extensive) it doesn't see to have ever had an unleaded head fitted. YMMV

[Ian Perry]

Thanks all

I have a spare 1500 head somewhere which may have been converted (Note to self: I really do need to find it, unpack it and have a look at the valve seats), so I won't worry too much in that case. With the impending change to that veggie unleaded that rots the seals, I'll be running on super unleaded anyway. 

[PeteStupps]

Did the later 1500 heads have hardened inserts from the factory? I thought I read that somewhere, maybe it was US cars though.

Either way, as others have said you'll probably be fine. I did 10k in my standard mk3 without additive and there was no discernible recession. When I had the head off you could see some micro weld damage on the exhaust seats but nothing serious. 

[glang]

There are also additives that advertise combined lead sub, octane boost and ethanol protection such as Miller VSPe. It definitely makes a difference in my Vitesse and with it I use the cheapest unleaded available but whether you need it is another matter...

[Pete Arnold]

3 hours ago, glang said:

There are also additives that advertise combined lead sub, octane boost and ethanol protection such as Miller VSPe. It definitely makes a difference in my Vitesse and with it I use the cheapest unleaded available but whether you need it is another matter...

Like glang I use Millers VSPe even though I have been told that there is no need, so it is mainly for peace of mind. 

However I note that the label on the bottle states that it is effective against ethanol up to E10 but I certainly don't intend filling my Vitesse with such petrol!

[Nick Jones]

3 hours ago, Pete Arnold said:

effective against ethanol up to E10 but I certainly don't intend filling my Vitesse with such petrol!

Good luck with that!

We are using Wynns substi-plomb in GT6 and Spitfire. This due to a galloping case of recession in the Spitfire which the additive has stopped in its tracks.  Both have with no hardened seats that have seen a lot of grinding in to get the seats to seal - so worst case scenario.