VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 LEAD ADDITIVE

Hello: I have a 49 and a 54 Chevy with their respective 216 and 235 engines and have been using lead additives for years during fueling.

I recently purchased a new additive which indicates "off road use only". Could anyone shed some light on which lead additive would be the most appropriate for use in these vehicles. Thanks, Harry

Its best to use NO lead additve....and most don't contain actual lead. Your car will run just fine without the lead.....lead causes valve to burn due to the lead deposits preventing full closing of exhaust valves, it can cause bearing and exhaust system corrision, combustion chamber lead deposits, spark plug lead deposits causing a high speed miss. Removing the lead was the best thing that ever happened to gas. The only reason is was ever used was to raise the octane rating years ago when the refining wasn't up-to-date. Todays 87 octane is more than adquate for 99% of the Chevrolets ever made.

Chev Nut is correct.....stay away from the lead additive! You are totally wasting your money if you purchase lead additive.

:) :grin:

When I had the head rebuilt on the 52 in 1997, the machinist gave me an option, hardened seats or not. I opted for not, the car has run on unleaded since then with no problems. On long trips and off and on around town I will add the proper amount of Marvel Mystery Oil as a top lube. No one in our local antique and classic car club uses lead additives. That includes some high compression early V-8s.

Thanks. I'll stop using the additive.

Gene,

Without using the additive, what happens to valve seats? It was my understanding using "no lead" fuel would damage the valve seats, had they not been modified.

Thanks,
Bob

Under normal driving conditions nothing will happen to the valve seats. It is said that the seats will pound in deeper. If this were happening the valve setting will become closer causing a rought idle if the valve are not readjusted. I have driven my cars for years at interstate speeds with no problems. My 1950 has 55,000 miles and the head has never been off. About 40,000 has been put on using unleaded. Back in 1950 they never went that far without grinding valves.

The hype about valve seat recession several decades ago was just that......a lot of hype over nothing. Like Gene, I have been using unleaded gasoline in all of my cars (and three of them are V-8's!) for the last 15 years or so and not one has had a valve problem yet!

Again, lead additive in your old car is a total waste of money.

:) :grin:

Thanks for the clarification, it IS appreciated.

bob

Depending on conditions a valve grind could become part of the 3rd 10,000 mile service!!!

Back when I first heard about lead additive to counter-act the no lead gas, I started using the additive quite religiously. Must be 15-20 yrs ago now. I got to buying it by the case (pretty big discount). After 3-4 years it started to become too big of a hassle. Some said 'you need it' others said 'forget about it.' I decided to forget about it. Haven't used it for years. No problems. I do think there may be some benefit to using the lead additive if the car is used for consistent high rev / high speed driving. But who does that in a '54 these days....

Glad to see this post. I am going to inherit my father-in-law's 52 Belair Deluxe, and this was a major question I had. He always spoke about using the lead additive, but now, it looks like it is a waste of time and money.