Valve Query

[Guest zip]

My head takes leaded only. Good news is, the valves are brand new & unused stainless steel jobs. My questions is, can i strip the valves out and fit unleaded valve guides?

 

thanks

[Guest sps137]

hi mate, cant say for sure on a sierra motor but i've run my lead only motorbike (with really *bleep*ty italian alloy castings) on unleaded for three years and never had any problems. I dont add any additives and check the clearances every 1000m (standard serv intervals). They've not closed up at all in that time (about 12,000m). The only concession i make is to run optimax as it's (allegedly) higher octane and the bike was designed for 100 octane fuel!!! The general conscensus in the classic car/bike arena is to just run your motor on unleaded and check the clearances regularly for the first few thousand miles. Worst case scenario is that they start to slowly sink in which case you get them converted anyway, if not you save yourself a wad of cash

 

hope this helps

 

simon

[Longboarder]

The lead issue effectively only applies to exhaust valves and seats. No problem for inlets or for guides. Real leaded petrol still exists here and FBHVC recommends some additives which it has tested and Tetraboost which is Tetraethyl lead and pretty toxic stuff which it hasn't.

But I agree with Simon. Drive it and check the exhaust valve clearances every few thousand miles. In maybe 20,000 miles you might need a new head.

 

Nigel

 

I see from another post you're doing a 2.1 with a stage 3 head. Modding an injection head or buying a commercialy modded head ensures lead free.

[IanS]

I have run an 83 pinto on unleaded for about 20K miles without any trouble. This engine is suposedly leaded only.

 

Ian

[Guest zip]

thanks gents.

 

right. long story.

 

the cylinder head is 5 years old and unused. When i bought it, i was told it was for a 1600 & leaded use. The head is skimmed, cracktested, ported fitted with 36 mm exhuast and 45 mm inlet and cost me £200. Its a nice head to. Years ago, i fitted this head to a 1600 pinto with 40 carbs. Problem. terminal electrical failure. This head has been sat bolted onto the block for a good few years now. Yesterday i lifted the head and decided on a refurb for fr33 cam and unleaded fuel. I assumed (poor knowledge) that only the guides needed changed for unleaded fuel. Point being, as the valves are new i thought i would only need to arse about with new guides only, which would be a straightforward swap.

 

I take it to get to 'no hassle' unleaded spec i would need new exhaust valves and seats?

 

Or bite the bullet and run on unleaded...

 

 

What could go wrong if i ran my 'leaded spec' head on unleaded. would i wipe the head out, or just the exhaust valves / seats...

 

The optimax is quite good. i have been running it in my 2.4 v6 with appreciable gains in torque. For me. its well worth the extra 4p per litre @ pump.

 

thanks.

[Longboarder]

A five year old modded head may be unleaded but it's been skimmed to raise CR and its a 1600! Standard chamber volumes for 1600 and 2 litre are 38cc and 50cc respectively. That head is going to produce one high compression engine if bolted to a 2 litre (11:1+ if it wasn't skimmed). If you decide to run a 1600 engine just enjoy but don't spend lots of cash. Cheaper and easier to find a 2L injection engine and just bolt it in. The car will be transformed and no unleaded issues.

 

Nigel

[Guest Russler]

The problem with using unleaded is dissipating the heat, without the lead in the fuel this is harder to achieve. Therefore temperatures rise and with the exhaust ports being the hottest part they melt first. With standard valves there is a fair amount of meat behind the head of the valve and a large contact area, however on a performance valve this is skimmed away to reduce weight and increase flow, these also have a much smaller seat allowing less area for the heat to dissipate through. So I would say that on a standard leaded head you could run unleaded but on a performnace head such as yours temperatures are going to be higher anyway so I wouldn't risk it if it were mine, for the sake of £80 for hardened exhaust seats. If you left it and the valves start to melt they will damage the seats, and with 38.1mm valve being the largest fitted to pintos the head there would be no room to cut new seats hence a write off. If you do go for it your first sign would be pre ignition(pinking), but by then it may already be too late. I don't want to sound too pesimistic as I am always the optimist but I have seen it before and its not a pretty site.

 

Your other option would be to buy my head which is new anyway and ready to go, only joking it sounds like you have a good head there and believe me it is fun with a rally cam.

 

all the best

 

p.s. sorry for the long reply, but once I get started.........

[Guest zip]

thanks.

 

I cant work out if the exhaust is 35mm or 36mm as i dont have a measuring guage. The inlet is 45mm im sure of that. I figure that if I replace the exhaust to unleaded spec, then i may as well go up to 38mm on the exhaust. Thing is the distance between the inlet and exhaust is only a few mm, but i hope 38mm exhausts could be fitted

 

Anyone heard bad things about this device

 

 

http://www.broquet.co.uk/

 

 

Lastly, Does anyone know if they made a 2400cc pinto transit?

 

zip

[Guest Russler]

i've heard that its a lot of money for nothing.

 

On a pinto maximum valve sizes are 45.5mm inlet and 38.1mm exhaust, this leaves about 1.5mm between the valve seats. I have heard of 46mm inlets being fitted on very high spec race engines but not for road use(i believe these are one off's).

 

It sounds like you have got standard exhaust valves and group1 inlets so if you fit 38.1 mm exhausts it will be to the same spec as mine (with rally cam approx 155bhp very nice!)

[Guest FIRSTBUILD]

does this mean all efis will run on unleaded without timing adjustment ??

 

 

Steve

[Guest zip]

nice.

 

I would do the 38mm exhausts, but i dont fancy destroying a good.. well cheap ...cylinder head by not leaving any space for new exhausts after i have burnt them out. That said 35 / 36 mm could be restrictive...

 

What is 'ringwiring'. Would this mean i could fit 38mm exhausts and replace them after they are dead? I.e. i would not have to bin the head after killing the 'ultimate' exhaust valves / seats?

 

My pistons, i think, have only done 3465 miles. The bores are fresh, with no sign of wear or 'lip'. There are also markings which indicate a possible rebore on top of the pistons i.e. 0.4mm +. If thats the case, then i want to keep the pistons and block etc, but would replace the bearings and crank for either a 2 litre or if living in Woo Woo land like me, a 2.3 or 2.4 crank from a pinto diesel transit. I think, the Transits came in 2.4 and this is run in a 205 block. Do you think it would be possible to fit a 2.4 crank? Surely a 90 thou rebore a'la 2.1 spec with a 2.4 crank would not give 2.5 litres??

 

Does that sound doable?

 

Zip

[Guest Russler]

hello again

 

never heard of ring wiring unless you mean in relation to head gaskets where on high comp engines a groove is milled in the block around each cylinder allowing a copper wire to be laid in therefore pinching into the head gasket.

 

If you were to go for 38mm exhausts you might aswell have hardened seats put in thereby converting to unleaded and negating the issue of heat damage.

 

finally in relation to the 2.4 crank I have personally never heard of it but as diesel run on a compression ratio of approx 18:1 you might find it has too long a stroke to be modified to fit accordingly

 

very interested if it is possible though, sounds pretty mean

[Guest zip]

hi.

 

There is a petrol 2.3 pinto called the 'L4'. i think a crank and con rods from a l4 should be a straight swap into a 205 block though, as some engine builders in states have done this.

 

Does anyone know anything about these block casting numbers, are they familiar pinto blocks?

 

D6EE-AA, D9ZE-AA

 

 

With a 90 thou overbore and a 2.3 crank, i think that should give over 2.4 litres. Just guessing, but i reckon the crank in a diesel transit could be the same as used in 'L4'. As the diesel turbo transits use a 205 block with 2400cc, it should be possible to get 2.3 or 2.4 out of a 205 petrol unit. I dont know about compression. In the 2.3 petrol, I would hazard a guess that the compression ratio would be sociable.

 

Lots of guessing!

 

Zip

[Guest ColinR]

I've used a broquet - a couple of years in an old citroen with no problems. In fact the fuel consumption improved by about 3 mpg after fitting. The story goes that it (the broquet not the citroen) was invented by the russians so that spitfires could run on their crap petrol in the last war. If it works on a merlin it should work on a pinto.

 

It has been the subject of much discussion among members of the Civil Service Motoring Association and there have been loads of testemonials from users but no complaints and CSMA members do complain when things aren't right.

 

There is another company offering the same technology cheaper, but I can't remeber the name at present - I'll post a link when I remember

[Peter Bell]

Hello Zip, I may be wrong here but I believe that just about the only interchangeable bit from the 2.3l US Pinto and the Euro one, is the name. And the 2.3 Diesel fitted in the Sierra was a Peugeot. Ford just made the 1.8 diesel and I think a 2.5 for the Transit neither of which had anything to do with the Pinto.

Peter