hi i wanna know how do u convert a car into unleaded i hav a 1981 ford escort fwd mk3,because the goverment here stop makin leaded they made a replacement petrol here for leaded cars,but i weanna go unleaded once how do i do that please help,oooooo by the way i am from cape town south africa

 

you need to buy a head with hardened valve seats as this is the part that takes the bruising when you run on unleaded. you can get conversion kits im sure from burton power etc

 

thx man,but iam in south africa not in U.K that's why man i see what i can do so i can leave the engine like it is? and only concentrate on the head?

 

yes its only the head that need changed as leaded petrol used to cushion the combustion force of the valves into their seats, without the lead the valves will just weld themselves into their seats as they are too soft, hence why you need hardened ones. not a big deal to convert really

 

tnx johnny

 

or.....just adjust the ignition timing to 8 degrees btdc as thats the conversion all the companys did when adjusting to unleaded

 

what about using a lead substitute ..does anybody remember those lead shots u put into your fuel tank...they were ace but dont know where to get them now

 

Has it actually been proven that the early heads are not suitable for unleaded. According to Dave at Puma Racing the early heads run fine on unleaded.

jiggaman:Ive got an 84 Orion thats never had a thing touched on the engine and thats been running unleaded for some time now, seems ok. Have a look at www.pumaracing.co.uk

alternatively if you decide you dont think its ok get an inline lead substitute thingy, they last for about 150,000 miles

 

i can u see,but i am stayin at the coast, inland it won't be available so i deciced rather to go unleaded once,because my friend had a escort mk3 cvh he run unleaded and it buggered his engine up so i already ask the engineers here how much it will be they say bout R250 so it's cheap enough,but thanks