Leon
All you heard about the unleaded fuel here in New Zealand was true, and
still the problems go on...
Initially, there were huge problems with fuel lines and other rubber
components within the fuel system perishing. A friend of mine was lucky not
to suffer serious burns when his friends Lotus went up in flames. His friend
was even luckier - he was trapped in the car for a while and suffered smoke
inhalation... His friend also had another seven cars in the garage under the
house, but fortunately Rob was able to pull the car clear and get his friend
out.
I had problems with fuel leakages in my car and it was just one of
thousands.
The octane boosting additives used to replace the lead are very destructive
on other things as well - notably paint - not quite as bad as brake fluid
but still bad. Those same additives are known to cause cancer if not used in
conjunction with an exhaust catalyst (how many classic cars have those?)...
The other problem is that the engine performance is poor ith the new fuel,
ie. poor acceleration, poor starting, poor idling, bad pinking and the list
goes on...
And then there is the Valvemaster that is meant to save the valves. It may
work but it fouls the spark plugs and soots the combustion chamber badly. A
friend of mine who runs several Triumphs and is an A grade mechanic refuses
to use it. He compares unleaded fuels to CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) or LPG
which have powered lots of Triumphs here with no ill effect.
I personally use a Fuelstar inline fuel canister (http://www.fuelstar.com)
to good effect. Some people rubbish them - but the benefits I have got from
the unit are great and certainly seem to have solved the poor performance.
I can't say this would be the same for other unleaded fuels around the
world - the New Zealand brew is known to be particularily bad, yet no one,
within the oil industry here, seems to be bothered to make it to the same
better standard as other countries.
I hope that answers your queries from a New Zealand perspective.
David Greed
1979 2500S
Email: greed@wave.co.nz (Home)
sys_dwg@cmosaf.telecom.co.nz (Work - AlphaStation)
david.greed@telecom.co.nz (Work - PC)
-----Original Message-----
From: GuyotLeonF <GuyotLeonF@aol.com>
To: odd.hedberg@bigfoot.com <odd.hedberg@bigfoot.com>;
triumphs@autox.team.net <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Date: Monday, 15 December 1997 06:29
Subject: Re: Unleaded Fuel / Valve seat inserts
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