On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 13:25:48 -0500, "JoeBLow" <joeblow@noblow.net> wrote:

>you are totally wrong and seem to know nothing of what you are talking
>about, basing all of your comments on "urban legend"
>
>Lead in gasoline has nothing to do with "black smoke" that comes out of a
>car. Black smoke comming out of a car is poorly combusted gasoline, due to
>an over rich mixture. This is a carburator problem, and has completely
>dissappeard (will 99.9%) with EFI.

Hmmm, maybe... EFI can go wrong as well but, yes, the black smoke is poor
combustion.

>Lead in gasoline is actually MUCH BETTER for ALL ENGINES because it was the
>lead that had a propensity to deposit on the intake/exhaust valves (not in
>the cylinder/pistons because temps too hot), you were basically assured a
>lifetime of properly seating (soft) valves. When the switch from lead was
>made we went to (hard) valves which now must be adjusted and their seats
>replaced eventaully. The ONLY reason we switched from lead gasoline was
>because the content of lead in the soil of highly populated areas was rising
>signicantly as the automobile #'s in the U.S. skyrocketed in the
>40's/50's/60's.

While there had been pressure on the refiners to reduce lead content for a
while, the first and primary reason we went lead-free was because it
wrecked the catalytic converters. As for lead being better, there
certainly was more deposits in every part of the combustion chambers,
including piston crowns, with lead. That engines were cleaner on no-lead
was known long before we went lead-free, due to Amoco's lead-free gasoline,
which preceded the regulations by a number of years. A de-coke did not
involve removal of carbon alone - it was the lead which caused the
deposits.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??