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Having just come out of running a 40year old VW camper, which had an aircooled flat four engine, that ran fine on unleaded fuel with a lead replacement additive. What recommendations are there for the TV8, before I manage to burn all the valves by mistake?
Morning Kevin.
I think the general consensus on here is not to bother to use anything. As the Stag was destined for the American market it had heads suitable for unleaded petrol. My car is a late car 1976 and I have never used any additive apart from a drop of Redex. I had the heads off last year due to head gasket failure and there were no problems with the valves I just reground them all before reassembly. Some of the very early cars might be different though.
Rob.
Morning Kevin.
I think the general consensus on here is not to bother to use anything. As the Stag was destined for the American market it had heads suitable for unleaded petrol. My car is a late car 1976 and I have never used any additive apart from a drop of Redex. I had the heads off last year due to head gasket failure and there were no problems with the valves I just reground them all before reassembly. Some of the very early cars might be different though.
Rob.
Same experience over many thousands of miles in a late '71-built Mk1 and my late '73-built Mk2.
Dave
1974 Mk2, ZF Auto, 3.45 Diff, Datsun Driveshafts. Stag owner/maintainer since 1989.
As long as it doesn't ignite another explosive thread....... Boom Boom!
When the Americans gave up importing Stags because of problems, I believe BL used up the stock of hardened valves that went in US engines in the British Market models. Impossible to tell though if your car has soft are hardened valves without taking the Heads off, and just to be safe when I did my 1st HG change as well as having the Heads skimmed I also had new hardened valves fitted although the existing ones looked O.K. I still add Redex to the Tank though every now and again, but have never tried Fedex!
Somewhere in the Technical Reprints section, there's a record of a conversation with the engine designer stating that the head was designed for both leaded and unleaded. This seems to be bourne out by the respones above.
I can't recall having seen any references on here to knackered exhasut valves, but perhaps Russ might chip in with his experiences - he seems to have seen more "experienced" heads than most .
When the Americans gave up importing Stags because of problems, I believe BL used up the stock of hardened valves that went in US engines in the British Market models. Impossible to tell though if your car has soft are hardened valves without taking the Heads off, and just to be safe when I did my 1st HG change as well as having the Heads skimmed I also had new hardened valves fitted although the existing ones looked O.K. I still add Redex to the Tank though every now and again, but have never tried Fedex!
Whilst valve quality is important I always thought it was the valve seats in an ally head that were the critical factor. The tetraethyl lead in leaded petrol prevented valve seat erosion. Without lead or a replacement the material of the valve seats becomes significant. All valve seats were hardened but some were just a hardened steel whilst others were special alloys such as Stellite.
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