Unleaded Fuel

[hatzflyer]

My Marlin has the O series Ital engine.
What do you recommend fuel wise, not done many miles yet but I hope that is about to change.
Can anyone reccomend the cartridges that you drop in the tank? I have seen them on ebay for about £26, or do you use some other additive?

[donsayers]

Re: Unleaded Fuel

1.7 or 2 litre? the 2 litre does not need unleaded petrol as it had hardened valve seats as standard.

[stevejgreen]

Re: Unleaded Fuel

Are you talking about the Fuel Cat.
They claim an 8-16% better fuel consumption!!!!! I doubt such a claim would stand close scrutiny.

Otherwise I would generally take the 'leave well alone' approach.
If the car is running fine on unleaded without any obvious problem additives may have little effect.
Converting your head to unleaded, with new seats and valves will cost around £250 so it becomes a mathematical question of cost of additive against cost of a modified head.

[hatzflyer]

Re: Unleaded Fuel

I don't suppose there is any way of telling if the valve seats have been changed witout removing the head? There's nothing in the paperwork.

[danny_nelson]

Re: Unleaded Fuel

Hi John,
Perhaps consider using a tested additive, Castrol valvemaster plus. This gives an octane boost as well. There are others, but not many that have been tested.

[greggpearson]

Re: Unleaded Fuel

I have always used 'Castrol Valvemaster Plus' in all my Classic Cars for many years, you don't have to put it in every time, if you forget it don't worry. I also use the top rated Unleaded Petrol for my tuned 13/60 Herald and it made it quite a bit more responsive. If you do this a lot then retuning your carburettor is a sensible idea.
Have fun.
Humbug Gregg

[greyV8pete]

Re: Unleaded Fuel

With a small dental mirror it is often possible to see evidence of the inserts from up the exhaust ports if the manifold is removed. They look like a machine turned "ring" of metal in the cylinder head, just underneath the head of the valve and tend to stand a bit proud of the port surface. Rough casting all the way up to the valve usually means no inserts. However there is no guarantee that any inserts seen are hardened for unleaded, just more likely! Peter.

[donsayers]

Re: Unleaded Fuel

(at)Peter; the head will have inserts anyway as it is an alloy head. The question is, are they hard ones?