Petrol Additives

[pereirac]

I am getting totally confused with all the different reports about lead replacment additives.

What additive do Elan owners use (ideally available in the UK)?

Tetraboost has been recommended but the idea of having bottles of tetrabutyl lead around the place fills me with worry. Is it really legal to keep this in a domestic garage?

All suggestions welcome?

Thanks

Carl

[steveww]

I have been using Castrol Valve Master Plus - available from Halfords. The head does have VSR but I have not idea what the DPO used. These problems are now solved as the head is having new exhaust seats.

[Rob_LaMoreaux]

None at all.

Over here in the US most of us haven't used additive and have been driving the Elan for years. The Alloy head requires seat inserts which are fairly hard so they don't experience recession like cast iron. Also unless you are driving the car at sustained high RPM for long periods you would not see much recession anyway.

So don't worry, be happy.

I've been told not to worry about it from some leading engine research and Development people so I just use premium unleaded to keep the ping away with my 10.6:1 compression.

Rob

[steveww]

The head on my car does have VSR so they will not last forever. True the ally head does have hard inserts but not as hard as required for prolonged use of unleaded. Keep an eye on those valve clearances.

[Lotus fan]

I used Castrol Valvemaster Plus in my Plus 2 before I took it off the road to restore.
I also use it in my Esprit as it is an octane booster aswell. No pinking or other probs in 5 years of using it

Ian.

[Hamish Coutts]

Carl,

Don't worry - be happy. I fully endorse that.
I use Red Line Lead Substitute. It's American and I think, synthetic. An engineering chum of mine recons it's the best available. A bottle is expensive (?14) bot treats a hell of a lot of petrol.

I'm in Scotland, near Edinburgh, and it's readily available here. I've been using it for a while with no problems. Also the exhaust gasses don't have that funny metalic smell that you get from leaded petrol.
By the way lead replacement petrol is as scarce as hobby horse shit around here so I think there will soon be no option but to use additives with unleaded.

Hamish.

[worzel]

Hi All

I've used TetraBoost for 3 years or so with no problems.

It is dangerous stuff but probably no more than many other substances we take for granted because they've been around a lot longer. Not cheap though.

John

[hatman]

TetraBoost is probably not as dangerous to the user as the super unleaded that you can buy on just about any forecourt; the benzenes used to boost the octane rating up to 97/98 are so carcinogenic that you're advised to stand upwind of the nozzle whilst filling the tank as merely breathing in the fumes could possibly cause cancer at some later date. Scary!

At least with TetraBoost you'd probably have to start supping the stuff to actually harm yourself and, as Barry Humphries once said in connection with a slightly different subject, 'By the time you were halfway down the second glass you'd probably have sussed out that it wasn't doing you any good.'