Lead Substitute

[k20]

Ok, at the gas station the other day, saw a guy with a 85-87 chevy pickup pourin somethin in his tank, well I went to throw a couple drink bottles in the trash and saw his empty bottle was actually a bottle of Redline lead substitute. Being an 85-87 he shouldnt need it, why the heck would he be running that? Any gain/harm for a vehicle that has the hardened valve seats?

 

[walla2k5]

Could be he had a 60's era engine...

 

[dhcomp]

may he was dissatisfied with teh low price of gas, and wanted to make it more expensive

 

[vortec]

Could be he had a 60's era engine...

that would make sense. or, along similar lines, maybe it was a modified newer engine and instead of using higher octane fuel, he just went with the lead substitute. but most likely, he's like 99% of people out there and thinks you can buy power in a bottle.

 

[4by4bygod]

Ok, at the gas station the other day, saw a guy with a 85-87 chevy pickup pourin somethin in his tank, well I went to throw a couple drink bottles in the trash and saw his empty bottle was actually a bottle of Redline lead substitute. Being an 85-87 he shouldnt need it, why the heck would he be running that? Any gain/harm for a vehicle that has the hardened valve seats?

Well, even with hardened valve seats,( that can benefit from a cushion, btw ) you still need to do something about upper cylinder wear, and valve guide and stem wear.. upper cylinder wear is the biggie though..once the oil burns off, that piston has to travel up a dry cylinder now - hello compression loss and eventual ring ridge.

redline is kind of stone - age.. it is just kerosene based, and it contains sodium which oxidizes under combustion, so the additive leaves sodium deposits on the seats, thus the supposed protection.

problem with it is, you need higher dosages than what's on the bottle for it to do you any good, ( still not as good as lead )but adding more will induce corrosion, deposits, and metallic emissions.

all of that stuff is a tradeoff between being somewhat adequate and causing damage.