So, no more side trips to Algeria for Gasoline....

[Eneto-55]

Just kidding about the side-trip comment - I had no idea that leaded gas was available anywhere in the world anymore.

Algeria runs out of leaded gasoline

[Kilgore47]

Saw that in the news this morning.  Really surprised me that leaded gas was still being used.

[Los_Control]

Several years ago I had to attend a class and become a certified lead paint remover .... something stupid that Albuquerque came up with.

Just saying it was something that learned and never used.

 

Even though lead paint is not leaded gasoline.  Was one of those things I thought we stopped using years ago.

The instructor of the course informed us that we still use lead paint today in commercial applications. Such as elevators, or bridges.

 

Just  not surprised other countries are using leaded fuel ..... what about aircraft fuel, does it contain lead?

Now I wonder about race car fuel. I know some drivers go from track to track on pump gas, at the track switch to race fuel.

Couple weeks ago, Dennis Taylor prepared his car the night before at home and added race fuel. Sitting overnight the race fuel ate the rubber O rings in fuel pump and had to rebuild it to get to the track. They blamed it on the fuel, so it is not the same as pump gas. I wonder if it contains lead.

[Ulu]

You can buy LL100 at most airports. Almost all piston engine aircraft use this.

 

This is Low Lead 100 octane.

 

It‘s illegal to put it in your car here, because lead kills the catalytic converters.

 

Racing gas could have lots of methanol, which is hell on buna o-rings. I think everyone uses viton o-rings now, because they don’t swell in methanol.

[Los_Control]

Just now, Ulu said:

Racing gas could have lots of methanol, which is hell on buna o-rings

This car has 2 fuel systems, a methanol tank up front with it own delivery system. Then a fuel cell in the back to drive it on the street.

This car is something like 3000 hp, and racing on the first paved road in America. The biggest problem was getting the tune out of the car to lower the hp to keep it straight on the crappy road surface ... Tar & gravel. & more for exhibition for spectators maybe a 1/16 of a mile track.

So he was not running methanol. He was running what he called race fuel in the fuel cell. Possibly just aviation fuel with a different name?

 

So not making excuses for the guy, was his fault. Just a different type of fuel he never uses & he learned a lesson.

Yes he did terrible & went home early. to much hp for the track. His 18 year old kid did better then his daddy with a 1500 hp car. Could take more tune out of it.

I have no clue who took 1rst place, would not be surprised if it was a kid with a hopped up 230 ci flat  six that could hook up and get down the track  ???

[plymouthcranbrook]

I remember back in the 60’s when the “modified” cars at the local short tracks ran pure alcohol. 

[Sniper]

6 hours ago, Ulu said:

You can buy LL100 at most airports. Almost all piston engine aircraft use this.

 

Yes, y'all might remember that model A I worked on not so long ago.  The owner uses 100LL in it.

 

6 hours ago, Ulu said:

It‘s illegal to put it in your car here, because lead kills the catalytic converters.

 

I don't think that's the reason, after all that Model A, nor any of our relevant to this site stuff, has a cat.  It was more a health concern I believe.

[ccudahy]

It maybe had to believe, but we have a gas station in town that sells 110 octane leaded on the pump. If you were curious $8.74/gal right now.

 

[wagoneer]

And I thought those "Unleaded Fuel Only" stickers were just redundant legislative labeling! 

 

More interesting might be the kind of vehicles running the leaded fuel? Are the big automakers making lead-compatible engines for those markets? Obscure auto and truck manufacturers?

 

As has been stated multiple times on this forum, Chrysler, in its engineering wisdom, pre-hardened the valve seats for us obviating the need for leaded fuel. 

Edited September 1, 2021 by wagoneer

[TodFitch]

17 hours ago, Sniper said:

I don't think that's the reason, after all that Model A, nor any of our relevant to this site stuff, has a cat.  It was more a health concern I believe.

Original reason was for smog reduction. Once the easy stuff (unburned hydrocarbons from crankcase venting, etc.) was done the exhaust needed to cleaned up. The way picked to do that was by adding a catalytic converter. But catalyst they needed to use was ruined by lead residues from the fuel. So unleaded gas was mandated.

 

However there is another observation made decades after leaded fuel for general use was phased out: Different countries and regions started using leaded gas at different times and stopped using it at different time which provided a “natural experiment” and it turns out that the crime rate in each country/region followed a curve matching the use of leaded gas with a delay of around 15 to 25 years. And it explained why big cities had much higher crime rates that rural and suburban areas: Basically more vehicle miles per square mile means higher exposure to leaded exhaust gases. Now that leaded gas hasn’t be widely used in a generation the crime rates in cities is not all that different than for rural or suburban area.

 

Crime still exists, but it looks like a major driving force of the crime wave, and for that matter rise and later fall of unwanted teenage pregnancies, of the 1960s and 1970s was leaded gasoline. And when you think about it, it makes sense: Lead is a known neurotoxin that has no know lower limit for safety and it has the effect, especially if exposed as an infant, of reducing intelligence and impulse control.

[LazyK]

4 hours ago, ccudahy said:

It maybe had to believe, but we have a gas station in town that sells 110 octane leaded on the pump. If you were curious $8.74/gal right now.

 

I see the label says race fuel but i cant imagine enough race cars in WI to justify this at the pump.  is it also marine(boat) use?

[ccudahy]

1 hour ago, LazyK said:

I see the label says race fuel but i cant imagine enough race cars in WI to justify this at the pump.  is it also marine(boat) use?

@LazyK there actual a lot of hobby stock car racers around. Four dirt tracks and a drag strip about an hour or less away.  You see the muscle cars their, also. I don't know of any one using it for boats, I know the marina has their own pump by the docks and they use a different octane gas than typical car use.

Edited September 1, 2021 by ccudahy

[Ulu]

I quit buying gas at the marinas 30 years ago because I decided I liked my boat to run.

 

There is something else used for O-rings on refrigeration equipment, and they are green.

 

I don’t know what they are made of, but one guy on the Internet swears that he won’t use any other type of O-ring because they’re only slightly more expensive, and they resist everything.