Unleaded Fuel

[Guest oldman]

How do i know if my pinto 2,000 cc is ok on lead free fuel mechanic says yes but just had head redone and valves were in a state

[maccavvy]

Theres a letter marked on the head near number 4 plug. that will tell you if its lead free from new.

It can have had hardened seats fitted at sometime in its life as well..no real way of telling that one though

[Snapperpaul]

Normally it's the exhaust valve seats that pit if it's non leaded

L P or R stamped on the head face above and to the left of No. 4 exhaust port

[Longboarder]

All the injection heads are unleaded and many of the sierra pinto carb heads too. You can have an engine from an earlier capri or cortina etc which may not be.

 

Nigel

[Guest mikedbradley]

Had an odd remark from a local garage owner on this very subject, I was saying that I wasn't sure of the unleaded status of the 1.8 pinto in my 2b. His remark was that if I wasn't using the car as my everyday hack running it on unleaded for relatively low annual mileage wouldn't matter!... Don't think I'll be asking for his thoughts again soon.

[ibrooks]

Why? - it takes time to have an effect so it'll probably soldier on for a good number of years with no ill effects if you are only putting limited miles on it.

 

Oldman - you say you've just had your head "re done". What did that consist of? if there was any amount of recession then they wouldn't have been able to simply re-cut the seats and re-face the valves so were they replaced? It's hard to imagine anywhere but the dodgy-est of places doing anything but fitting hardened seats and valves nowadays so it's quite possible that your engine is now fine to run on unleaded for the rest of it's life no matter what is or isn't stamped on the head.

 

Iain

[agent_zed]

read that post 89' engines all unleaded. hth

[BigLee]

Ran mine on unleaded for about 4 years and 15000 miles before exhaust vale seat recession got the better of it, Could tell as valve clearances closed up completely,,,,, New valves and hardened seats and after another 3 years hardly any change in valve clearances in anything they got larger - So I am assuming the conversion worked. But then it aint a pinto..

[Guest oldman]

Thanks for answers will check head for markings cheers

[Guest oldman]

Checked head no stampings

[Peter Bell]

They are often very hard to see, very feint you may have to polish the area to get it to show.

[Snapperpaul]

 

You have options

Run as is with additive

Remove the head and check / Fit inserts

Find an unleaded head

 

I have a similar conundrum as I have 3 heads 2 unleaded, Big valve head which is unleaded and can't be fitted with inserts due to the large exhaust valves

Big inlet standard exhaust head which is beautifully ported and has had a lot of money spent on other machining, I could fit unleaded inserts in the future if I get valve seat regression.

A standard injection head, unleaded but would need a lot of money spent to bring it up to the standard of the modified heads.

What to do????

[Guest oldman]

Thanks again for the miles i do i will just run it