redline lead additive.

RED LINE® LEAD SUBSTITUTE

Should be no need for such a product for a street engine (IMO of course).

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Interesting.  Reading ive done said that microwelds happen under load when accelerating without lead.

Wonder if I need to even be using the expensive redline lead additive.

I did grab a bottle from work of that STP race series of octane booster.  No cost to me but now I need to do some reading on it find out if its something I want to attempt to use on my 292 to try and starve off spark knock I have.


1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan - 292 Y8 - Ford-O-Matic - 155,000 mi

Could there still be engines today with remaining lead deposits from the leaded fuel days?

Well yes as LEAD-FREE GASOLINE became on-line in 72/73 and with the intro of CATS lead additives were made unavailable, except for racing and they ended that also..

So any pre-1975/76 original assembly engine could have lead deposits. That was some nasty stuff but cheap for refiners to raise octane levels.

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I too have heard of this often used water dribbled down the carb throat but also, back in the day, the fuel contained lead which always formed hard/crusty deposits. On performing valve work, it often wan not necessary to replace the exhaust valves but the hard lead salts would mound up on the underside of the valve head and had to be chipped away before grinding. This type of deposit I don't think would be too easily removed otherwise. Could there still be engines today with remaining lead deposits from the leaded fuel days?


64F100 57FAIRLANE500

IMO, you will not have issues with the valves/seats. The engine will not be under long time high stress such as constant heavy load/stress as might be the case with heavy truck duty of racing. Twenty some years on a mild 289 build I just couldn't see cutting away the original pristine seats in these particular heads. There has been no reported issues. An added benefit is the exhaust valves should run a little cooler due to better heat transfer through the integral seat, for what that's worth.  Again, just my opinion, JEFF........................


64F100 57FAIRLANE500

On this subject, here's an interesting side note.  When I put the 1957 G heads on my motor, I took them to my machine shop.  These people do a lot of work for local racers and they have been around for a long time.  I asked the machinist if I needed to install hardened valve seats in my heads.  He told me the alcohol in the today's fuel makes this unnecessary.  My car is only driven slightly, so I did not pursue this any further.  Anyone have an opinion on this?

At work we do ATF but that is mostly done to try and get rings unstuck.  weve also used that AC Delco top end cleaner in concentrate form and pour it down the intake as well then stall the engine out with it and let it sit in the cylinders for a bit.  Problem is not sure how you would do something like that with a HOlley 4000 with the primary barrels shrouded by the choke assembly and fuel bowl.   Guess you could dump it down the secondaries.


1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan - 292 Y8 - Ford-O-Matic - 155,000 mi

Miker, your post rings a bell with me. We did dribble water into the carb at fast idle  to de carbon our engines. Clouds of smoke would come out
not unlike an add for SEA FOAM. It did work, as the engine that this was done on did not ping as much and if a head was pulled you could
see how clean it was. Best part was the cost, FREE. Pete

Ian, back in the day of 10 and 11 to 1 stock motors, and 105-110 octane at some pumps we had that carbon build up problem. I was a teenager in those days (and knew a lot more than I do now), but IIRC, the local mechanic used to dribble water down the carb at high idle, maybe more than idle, maybe 2000 rpm or so. He said the steam broke the carbon loose and it didn’t hurt anything, just blew it out. My Dad’s partner had a 1/2 ton pickup with a Corvette 396 in it (what’s known as a COPO car now), and that’s what I was told they did with it. Hopefully someone with some hands on experience will chime in before you pull the heads.


miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

We don't subsidise the corn farmers over here in Australia so thankfully we don't have the alcohol in our fuel.
Getting back to the original question about detonation. I have a 1989 Landcruiser with original untouched engine that I have owned for about 18 years. It ran fine on regular unleaded in the early days, but over the years started to develop detonation under load, especially with the higher temperatures. I am now running high octane unleaded equal to your 93. I have checked mixture under load and advance curve. About the only thing left in my mind is carbon build up. Not looking forward to pulling the head.