Question for car collectors...

[Archae]

Many cars I see in collections were ones built during the days when lead was in our gasoline.

Is leaded gasoline still available, or what do car collectors do for a substitute?

[NYC_SKP]

1. There are additives, and many buy premium high octane fuel.

I don't think the lead per se is the element that makes the difference, but it's a very good question and one that I think I should have the answer for!

I can say that Octane derives from the carbon molecule, octane, and there is methane (4 carbons) and heptane and lots of other thanes!



I don't know where lead fits in.

So I will check and get back.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

[Aristus]

2. You can purchase bottles of 'lead substitute' in automotive stores.

Fill the tank with unleaded, then squirt this stuff into the gas tank.

[jmowreader]

3. The lead does two things

It raises octane cheap and it lubricates the valve seats.

Octane is no problem...no ethanol premium will get you there.

Valve seats can be handled a few ways. You can run lead substitute. You can have the seats changed at a machine shop. If your car already has stellite seats you're ready for unleaded already.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

4. jmowreader sounds right. But, can the old cars ...

... handle today's motor oils and today's E10 gasoline blend?

It's not easy to find alcohol-free gasoline.

[Major Nikon]

6. It's not really an issue

The parts that low concentrations of ethanol would affect wear out on a regular basis anyway, so chances are anyone with a classic car would have replaced those parts with modern alternatives already.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

5. Interesting essay: The ethyl-poisoned Earth - from Damn Interesting .com

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-ethyl-poisoned-earth/

At the turn of the twentieth century, as the age of automobiles was afoot, the newfangled gasoline-powered internal combustion engine began to reach the limitations of the fuel that fed it. As higher-compression designs were tried, an engine-wrecking condition known as "knock" or "ping" would invariably develop. Though they didn't know it at the time, the noisy destruction was caused when the increased heat and pressure prompted the air/fuel mixture in the cylinder to detonate all at once as opposed to an orderly burn. In spite of this problem, there was a demand for high-compression designs since they provided increased horsepower and fuel efficiency. The latter was particularly appealing in light of America's forecasted fuel famine.

In 1921, after a long string of inadequate solutions, a clever but chronically catastrophic chemist named Thomas Midgley developed a fuel additive which eliminated ping problems while increasing fuel efficiency. Though the chemical agent eventually gained worldwide acceptance, it left a rash of psychosis, a trail of bodies, an epidemic of crime, and an irreparably damaged environment in its wake


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