VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 lead additive for 216

Just wondering if a lead additive is really necessary for the 216. I've been told both yes and no. Any thoughts?

You don't really need it. Your 216 should run just fine on unleaded. Mine has been for years!

Nope, I don't think your 216 needs it, My dad's 48 Chevy pickup he bought used, he used Casing head gasoline, (about the same thing as Coleman lantern fuel). and never added anything but some alcohol to get rid of the water it usually had in it. he put over a 100,000 miles on the engine in over 6 or 7 years. had a couple of valve grinding jobs never replaced a valve seat.
and another thing, I would never invest in having hardened valve seats put in, unless the old ones needed replaced any way, probably from running too lean a mixture or timeing was off.
And one more thing while I am thinking about it, there is nothing wrong with babbit rods and a splash oiling system, There just aren't that many places that can do babbiting. Inserted rods don't carry the heat away from the bearings as well as babbit rods, so there, I said it!

Good for you Mr Mack! I love it!

Thanks for the info guys. Can't wait for better driving weather! Just had a rebuilt fuel pump put in and I'm ready to take my baby for a ride!

Great! And don't worry about the lead additive. You will do just fine without it!

I will just add my $0.25 cents to this, about 5 years ago I had the head rebuilt on my 1952 216, I talked to the machinist about hardened seats, he told me that I could expect to get a whole lbunch of miles out of the engine without doing the valve seats, I thas been right at 10,000 lots of long highway miles,and no problems, I admit to using some liquid lead for the first year but now only use a little top oil (MMO) when on the road.

Glyn, I don't know if MMO works(My Dad swore by it), and I never knew him to lie to me. But it sure does smell good!

"Elvira" oil works much better! :eek:

This has nothing to do with the topic but I have to ask, Does Elvira know you exist JYD? Considering the incredible amount of energy you devote to her I would think she would want to, at least meet you. Have you spoken with her directly? Are there other, overtly devoted fans, like you out there? Now that I think about it maybe we should create an "Elvira" forum. Do you think she drives an old chevy? (I felt I had to work chevrolet back into this response-watch this-&gt And if so, does she use a lead additive? (see-I'm right on topic...)

Brian

Hey Brian! That was a good one! Well, I will have to stop that think about if she uses lead additive or not. That is a very good question. Hum.....I know that she does use an "additive" but I don't know what it is. Ya, I wish that she did drive a Chevrolet, and then she would be totally cool, but unfortunately, she drives a 1958 Thunderbird. I wonder if it uses a lead additive or not?

Regarding your question if she has a big following. Well, at the bigger roadster shows that she attends, she gets more lookers than the cars do!

Here is an item of intrest for you. Our beloved administrator, Billy Boy Barker, has not only spoken to her at very great length, but he has some very intimate secrets as well, since he is a very big Elvira fan!

Okay....now back to Chevrolet. I have five cars that run on leaded gasoline, and among them are two 350's and one 327. Since unleaded came onto the scene all of my cars have been running on unleaded with absolutely no bad results whatsoever. And, one car has 400,000 miles on it and it has been running on unleaded for about 6 years now...and it just keeps on going....

Hey Mr. Mack, I don't know if it works or not either, but my wife got it as a swap gift at the club Christmas party, so I got to use it up. That is the Mystery in Marvel Mystery Oil, does it do any good or just smell good. At least it improves the odor of the new gas we use.

I don't know how MMO works in Chevrolet engines, but it sure does wonders for your complexion!

Marvel Mystery Oil is supposed to work as a good fogging oil when putting a car into long time storage, I wouldn't have any direct personal knowlege about long time storage but if it is like long time restoration projects it could be for a while!I think if I start on our 2001 Tahoe next year I may have it done by the year it is eligable to be shown.
OH I really like these little fellows a lot!
:love:

What Viagra is to a NASCAR driver MMO is to a hot water six!

I read in the G&D that some of the guys are adding 2 stroke oil to the fuel to help lubricate the valve train. Has anyone had any experience with this ??

MT, how much of the valve train would receive lubrication from oil in the fuel of a 4 cycle engine except for the intake valve head? Looks like to me it would just make for smoke in the exhaust system.

My wife says that if she puts a little MMO behind her ears and walks around the swap meets, she attracts a lot of old geezers but no one younger than about 65! :rolleyes: :confused:

Hum...that ain't good! Do any of these old dudes drive a Chevrolet? :eek: :(

They all drive Chevrolets, they are the only ones that are attracted to MMO! Actually I had an MMO injector on my 38 Chevrolet never did figure out if it was doing any good.

Cool! But, I'm more attracted to Elvira instead of MMO. She makes my "Chevy" purrrr a whole lot better! :eek: :eek:

JYD, does Elvira really make your Chevy purrrrr or is that just your Heart 'a-thumping and 'abumping and 'a -feelin' no pain?

Oh, she makes my Chevy "purrrrrr" all right, but my heart also goes "thump thump" like a flat tire!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Scientific experiemnt, I put a small picture of Elvira on my work bench and now my 91 Chev blazer will not idle down!

Really? You know.....I had a very similar problem myself. I just put a life size standup of Elvira in my garage and the last time that I started up my Chevy, the windshield wipers started working all by themselves, and they got going back and forth so fast that they flew off and stuck in the wall of my garage. And then....the stupid horn started blowing and it wouldn't stop. I finally had to cut the wires to shut it off. But ya know, it's the funniest thing.......the horn sounded like a wolf baying at the moon instead of like a normal horn. And.....it has never done that before! Now.....what's up with that?? :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: