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Re: One Point

To: Jerry Krakauer <jsk977@optonline.net>,
Subject: Re: One Point
From: Perry Smith <tpsmithstl@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 11:25:03 -0700 (PDT)
Jerry,
 
Thanks for the correction.  I'm not the expert, so some of this off the 
top-of-my head, but I do recall some of what you say about the '70's vehicles.  
What I should have done was kept it short and just mentiong the bottom line was 
it's not necessary to add lead.  The only real concern is to make sure a 
gasoline has enough octance it it to keep the engine from knocking and no 
longer from the lubricating factors of the lead in the gas.
 
The article is at home right now and I wish I had it in hand, but as soon as I 
get it I'll post it here.
 
Thanks!
Perry

Jerry Krakauer <jsk977@optonline.net> wrote:
Perry,

Your last paragraph is not quite on target when you say "...keep it from
knocking, which has nothing to do with the lead content." The fact is that
tetra ethyl lead was added to gas back in the 1930s just for that reason. It
was the cheapest way to increase octane rating.

As a mater of fact, when lead was originally reduced and removed from gas in
the 1970s it was done to protect catalytic converters, not initially for
health reasons. The unintended consequence was the across the board
reduction in compression ratios and resulting reduced power from the use of
low/no lead gas with lower octane ratings.

Jerry Krakauer
SRL311 00099
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