All Gas; No Ethanol

[HammerTime79]

I recently purchased a 71' VW SuperBeetle. I know these engines need lead for them to survive. I found by other's comments, that the 100 percent all gas, is suggested to have lead instead of the ethanol. Is there someone who can enlighten me on this? I have also purchased lead additive from a local automotive store. Suggested Ratios?

 

[jlee]

No regular gas station will sell leaded gasoline from a pump for general use, as it's been banned since 1996.

If you haven't yet, take a look at this: http://www.vw-resource.com/leaded.html

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Baloney:

Any engine that ran on leaded will run on unleaded, although you might need premium. No other mods are typically necessary, although in some engine designs running UL there is more wear on the... umm... thing with the... I want to say "valve lifters."

And given what lead gas does to the environment, and those little baby humans, you are actually a horrible person for wanting to buy it.

Not so Baloney:

Ethanol can have a negative effect on certain materials, rubber seals, etc. cars use different materials now that don't dissolve on contact. So you may encounter some issues there.

 

[thedarkwolf]

It is the exhaust valve seats that wear. On most engines you would have to run them for a long long LONG time before you ran into any issues, but there are some that wear faster. When you rebuild the engine and being an old VW bug I assume you will being doing so soon have hardened exhaust valve seats installed and then you won't have to worry about it anymore.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Seats. Thank you.

 

[COPOHawk]

https://www.amazon.com/Motor-Medic-M5012-Lead-Substitute/dp/B002008NWA

Solution in a bottle...adds lead substitute to prevent valve seat wear.

 

[HammerTime79]

Thank you, COPOHawk, for your' much needed input.