[Public-List] Old gas engines

[mahseer at kos.net]

Our local marina only uses high octane fuel to solve the alcohol problem. 
Also remember when the A4 was designed regular gas had an octane of 91 the
same as high test today, so I fill my tanks with high test via a gas can,
a small price to pay for engine reliability.

John Boor
MAHSEER #380


> Hi, Paul,
>
> On 8/26/10 7:28 PM, Paul Cheney wrote:
>> Still scraping by with the A4, while rebuilding the carb on the dock
>> I met a lot of other people having engine troubles recently. I had a
>> friend who is also a mechanic helping me.  He suggested the reason so
>> many people are and will have trouble with older gas engines is the
>> gas itself. These engines were built to run on leaded gas, the lead
>> in the gas acts like a lubricant. The low grade gas at most fuel
>> docks also has ethanol in it which would do just the opposite. You
>> can purchase a lead additive from most automotive supply stores and
>> if you can't bring in your own high octane fuel there is another
>> additive to deal with the ethanol. Can't remember the name - it's
>> blue.  These changes made an improvement in my engines performance.
>> Thought I would share incase others are/were in the dark about this.
>
> The lack of lead and the addition of ethanol are completely unrelated
> issues.
>
> On many older engines, the tetra-ethyl-lead in the gasoline lubricated
> the valve seats.  The lead-replacement additives were made for this
> situation.  I used to use it, but then found out that the valve guides
> used in Atomic 4s from sometime before the Alberg 30 went into
> production do not require the lead for lubrication.  Using the additive
> won't hurt anything, except it MAY cause you to burn a little more gas
> for the same propulsion.  I don't remember where I got that idea, so
> don't take it as gospel.
>
> The Atomic 4 is a very low compression engine, and does not have any
> trouble with low-octane gas.
>
> The addition of alcohol CAN cause problems.  There are serious problems
> with boats having gas tanks made of fiberglass, but that doesn't affect
> the Alberg 30.  Mostly the problems have to do with absorbing water from
> the atmosphere into the alcohol, which can cause the alcohol/water
> combination to separate from the gasoline.
>
>   - George [currently in Qingdao, China's sailing capital]
>
> --
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>    When I remember bygone days                         George Dinwiddie
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>    So many I loved were not yet dead,           http://www.Alberg30.org
>    So many I love were not yet born.                          also see:
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>
>
>
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