VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 No leaded fuel available

Hi Guys,

Don't know if this was discussed, did some searching but could not find a topic on the Fuel / gas issue.

How to go about the Leaded Fuel Phase out with the Chevy.?
Stopped at the fuel station today and couldnt find leaded fuel ant 4 stations. I did not know it was phased out in South Africa, knew there were talks in other countries.

What to do now?

the compression on these motors is low enough that you do not leaded gasoline, only regular grade 87 should be fine.

mike

Hi Mike,

We only have the unleaded fuel available. Is there an additive I need to add to the unleaded fuel?

When your 1931 was new the only gas that contained lead was the premium grade (ETHYL). it was added to the gas to slow the burning as the refining back then was not available to raise the octane.
Your engine does not need lead. In fact there were several disadvantages to lead as it was an acid and can attact engine parts, build up lead deposites on the spark plugs and cause the exhaust system to rust faster.
Your engine was designed to run on 60 octane gas so anything sold today far exceeds that number.

Hi Chevnut,

Very interesting thank you.
So if I fill up with the lowest octane unleaded fuel it will be fine?
I hear guys talk about a conversion of harder valve seats and so on. I don't need to worry?.....

The lowest octane is more than sufficent. So called lead additives are not necessary and hardened valve seats are not necessary. Infact installing hardened seats could actually damage your head.

As mentioned above, you do not need leaded gasoline, you do not need additives and there is no need for hardened valves. Go to your local gas station and fill up with unleaded regular and you will be just fine.

Thanks for the advice.

This forum is great!!

You are welcome and good luck with your project!

I started using an additive called SEA FOAM ,I started using it in my boat and it made it run better and start faster. Made the 32 run smother too. Think it mainly keeps the jets in the carb cleaner.

There is a local station near ny home that sell 100% gas. I have been running 100% gas in our 30 coupe for a while now and it seems to start quicker and run better. It is 10 cents a gallon more then ethanol gas.

Cool! In our area "real" gasoline is hard to find and it is right around $1.00 more per gallon.

We have real gas up here in Canada ..... @$1.28 a liter x4.785 is 6.08 per gallon. Just filled up in Port Huron today @3.33 per gal .Your gallon is 10% smaller and less Octane . Still 3 dollars difference. What really makes you mad is the gasoline that is sold in Port Huron Michigan is made in Sarnia Ontario Canada..

It's that round trip ticket that adds to the cost. Working in heavy truck parts supply was often the same. A local mfg. would be under contract to supply a part to the parts division of the truck mfg. overseas in Europe. If you needed the part in a hurry and it wasn't in a US warehouse it was sent from overseas to the US warehouse and then to the dealer and by the time it arrived it had thousands of travel miles, when in fact it was made less than 100 miles away. Welcome to a world economy.

Oukar...you said there is only one type of gas in your area. Is that Ethanol? If so, is that a concern-worry of yours in your antique car ? and Cottontop ..the mention of "real gas" ....haven't heard that before , is this non ethanol gas?

I think "real gas" is indeed non-ethanol. We have a few places near us that sell non-ethanol fuel and we use it in everything we have from lawn mowers to the 32 Chevy. I had a horrible time with my boat and lawn tractor using ethanol fuels even with a stabilizer like "Sea Foam" or Sta-Bil. The non-ethanol is around 30 cents a gallon more than the cost of ethanol regular. A special note in that my wife drives an Avalon and the Toyota service tech told her to use non-ethanol exclusively if possible. I feel that all run better but that might be my imagination. Our Avalanche does, in fact, get around 2 miles per gallon better fuel mileage on long trips with non-ethanol fuel.

Mac

Yes, what we are calling real gas is non ethanol gas.

They ( USA ) don't have the sin taxes the multiple Ontario governments have levied on us time and time and time again.......until 80+% of a litre of gas is taxes. If your car has to use hi test 94 octane Sunoco......ouch ouch ouch at $ 1.55 a litre .

just bend over, don't cry, assume the san quenton possition, the government will lick your ear lob and talk nice to you........ya sure they will. Its their prime source of income besides the 8% provincial sales tax.

mike

Non-ethanol gas. Drats. I don't know of ANY within driveable range of my '30. And I'm in northern Illinois. It's not like I'm in the middle of nowhere.

You might try asking the local farm implement dealer. The real gas out here is Cenex. I've assumed it was because farmers got an exemption. But I'm guessing.

I believe both Hy-Vee and Caseys sell non-E gas here in Iowa where you would think that the corn lobby would not allow that.

This fuel is relatively close:

Marine Gas http://www.valvtect.com/marineFuelGasoline.asp

Anyone have thoughts?

Does anyone have any thoughts, information or experience using aviation fuel in the old Chevys? Aviation fuel is definitely non-ethanol. Ethanol is a no no for airplanes. For my Piper Cub I pay anywhere from $5.30 to $6 a gallon for av gas. But it's 100 octane and does contain lead. Would the high octane and lead be suitable or unsuitable to our old cars?

Best Regards,

Tom

Get on the interweb and look up "pure-gas.org " It lists stations around where I live with (GOOD) no ethanol gas.It's usually a dollar a gallon more than crap gas.