Guys,

As recently posted here:
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=65714

I have bought this car:
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/133018.htm

It's a bit late for this kind of question but I was wondering if the engine is OK for unleaded? Spec is as follows (from the ad):

Fitted with as new 4.6ltr Cross Bolted Rover V8 (700 miles with all receipts). Vulcan Maxiflow gas flowed big valve heads/Piper 285 Cam/High Rev lifters/Steel timing gear/ Mallory Distributor/Webber 500/Port matched Offenhauser inlet/+ Edelbrock full engine dress kit.

What do you think?

Cheers,

Alex

YEs from me.

All 4.6 ( and cross bolted ) should be unleaded freindly.

Slim chance it may have had earlier heads fitted ( very unlikley ) if you look down the line of spark plugs do you

have either

option 1 a row of 5 bolts and a row 4 bolts ( or a row of 4 holes with no boltes in ) these are the earlier heads ( called 14 Bolt heads - the other 5 are under the rocker cover )

option 2 just a row of 5 bolt - means you definatly have the later type ( often called 10 bolt heads ) these will be Uleaded freindly .

Also looking at whats been done to the engine making it 'leaded only ' would not make sense.

Hope that helps

regards

Agriv8

While we are on the subject, i need to find out if my 2.9 jag engine has been converted to unleaded. Any idea how?

That is avery nice car with a very nice engine.

I bet it sounds nice and goes well!!

All XJ40 engines run on unleaded. All Rovers after the SD1 run on unleaded.

Love that car!! Is it going to be at the show?

Should be okay on unleaded but why not treat it to Shell V-Power plus a little bit of lead replacement additive. That's what I'm doing!

With a bit more octane you can run more ignition advance which means more efficiency and a bit more power. For a low mileage sports car I don't see the point in skimping on fuel.

Cheers,
Craig.

Thank you guys.

Agriv8, I'll have a look to the heads to check if they are 14 or 10 bolt, many thanks for the advice.

Danozeman, the car sounds very rough and has huge torque at any speed and rpm, I need to get used to that all, my other kit car is a BEC..

Marcjagman sorry, what's the SD1?

Cadebytiger, I will miss the show unfortunately as I need to take the car to Spain when I buy it. A few spanish guys with an interest in kit cars have been talking about traveling to England for some major kit car show this / next year, but it's unlikely that we'll take our cars with us I think

Craig,

Actually why not. These lead replacements are not easy to find here but surely not impossible. Here is a list of the ones that will do a good job preventing valve seat wear:
http://www.fbhvc.co.uk/fuel/additives.htm
Apparently, these guys tested lots of different additives and found that around half of them were either useless or bad for engines. The other half of them are listed on the link there. The link to this story will be useless to you because it's in spanish (sorry!) but anyway:
http://www.escuderia.com/sinplomo/additives.htm
http://www.escuderia.com/sinplomo/fbhvc-testresults.htm

What's Shell V-Power?

I'm not concerned about power or fuel consumption really, I have so much of each there! I need to ask wether if ignition has been adjusted for high or low octane. My car currently has contacts but I have plans for changing to electronic ignition in the future as the seller is giving me the parts and a few other spares.

One thing I'm concerned about is range. The tank in this car looks very small for the fuel consumption I'm expecting (looks similar if not same as the standard Locost tank). What's your setup? Does it feel like you are stopping on every station or do you get any reasonable margin for actually enjoying driving during a few miles at all?

Cheers,

Alex