leaded fuel

[Xsjado]

who remembers it. how was it different and how were those engines different.

[JoshM]

Leaded tasted so much sweeter, like apple pie.

[GeoffM]

You can(must) run those engines without a cat.
I have a leafblower that runs off leaded.

[Night Wolf]

can you still get it? lol

[foamypirate]

It fouls catalytic converters, provided a slightly higher octane (that's how they could run 12:1 compression on crappy chamber designs with iron heads), and lubricated valve seats. A lot of engines had issues with destroying valve seats when they switched over. Since the mid-70's, all cylinder heads have had hardened valve seats to deal with this.

[TracieS]

can you still get it? lol

In TN you can. In the middle of no where.

[Leung]

I must be too young to remember it because i have never seen leaded gasoline anywhere.

[GeoffM]

I see it by the airport. 108 octane leaded.
You can buy lead substitutes in any gas station. They come in a little bottle

[visualpoet]

It fouls catalytic converters, provided a slightly higher octane (that's how they could run 12:1 compression on crappy chamber designs with iron heads), and lubricated valve seats. A lot of engines had issues with destroying valve seats when they switched over. Since the mid-70's, all cylinder heads have had hardened valve seats to deal with this.

I bought only leaded gasoline for my first three ('70 LeMans, '73 MGB, '68 Catalina). It was still available at almost every gas station into the early 90's. While it is true that it helped with lubrication and valve seats were softer then, they never really had any engines messed up because of using unleaded in a leaded vehicle except in rare cases where they should have been using harder valve seats anyway. I ran more than a few tankfulls through the MGB and the Catalina with no problems at all.
It was mostly a myth that had spread that unleaded would destroy an engine designed to run on leaded. It took a decent amount of hard driving over a period of time to damage the valve seals just from running the wrong fuel and you couldn't just put leaded in an unleaded car, you had to make an effort; that's the reason cars have a hole just big enough for the pump nozzle now. The leaded pump nozzle was too big to fit, which kept you from messing up the catalytic convertor by accidentally filling your unleaded only ride with leaded gasoline.

Other than that, not much difference.

Now, you can find it out in farm country (mostly because old farm equipment just keeps getting rebuilt and reused), and occasionally as a high octane race fuel.

[h22sparkle]

I think anything past 100 octane is unleaded I definitely know c16 is deafinitely leaded. I run that to run my High octane mode. The bad thing is it fouls up your o2sensor and leaves nasty deposits on your plugs so dont run it often. Gives turbo cars plenty of good power when tuned properly though. I tune on the fly with just one button and go straight to my race map.

[bobbycos]

I must be too young to remember it because i have never seen leaded gasoline anywhere.

young whippersnapper !!!!!!!

[Jon]

Yeah I remember when my parents would fill up the car and you could choose between leaded or unleaded. Had a completely different smell too.

I even remember those blue stamps you got for buying the gas and could save them up in booklets to get a discount and whatnot... wow now I feel old.

[Bullhorn7]

Theres gas stations around here that still give leaded 108. Iv always wanted to know what would happen if I sliced off the cat and ran it.

[skilzz]

piston powered aircraft still use it. u can find it at any airport. 100LL(100 octane low lead)

edit: also the lead would murder the fuel system in a modern car

['93CB7Ex]

i found 100 octane and put it in my car. i have no cat and i did feel a difference. lol