Posted by Paul Cook in Kempner, Texas on Saturday, January 20, 2007 at 19:29:06 :
In Reply to: Lead additives - Jeff Chester, MoparNorm posted by Clint Dixon on Saturday, January 20, 2007 at 11:30:32 :
that way back when I was young, I bought "white" gas at the station pump. This unleaded fuel was common.
Having a lead additive to "lubricate" (plus all the other claimed benefits) didn't become important until high compression V-8's were the norm. The real bruhaha about unleaded gasoline focussed on motors that were associated with muscle cars and all that during the transistion to unleaded gasoline in all fuel grades.
The petroleum industry supported this notion, and why not? For a long time after the introduction of unleaded, we could still get leaded high test. The high test gasoline became essential for anyone with a high powered car and the petroleum industry could stick it to us price wise.
Within the life span of many on this Forum (Norm, Mike, and me excluded) no modern engines were manufactured that did not use unleaded gas.
In historical perspective, leaded is not much of an issue for old, low compression engines. When I supercharge my WDX and run it at 6000+ rpm you can be sure I'll revisit this issue.
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