I'm not sure that you need to anything but drive it. I use the "middle grade"
in mine with no knocking or pinging, and the engine has the old high
compression pistons and a milled head for higher compression ratios yet.
As far as needing new valves and guides, I would suggest a "wait and see"
approach. I have not heard of any real valve recession caused by unleaded
fuel. You might want to put a compression gauge on each cylinder and record
the pressures, and then do this again after a period of time (a year? 10,000
miles?) and compare values.
I think that the advantages of unleaded gas far outweigh whatever problems may
be caused by it. IMHO, a lot of the initial flap about engine damage/wear was
not based on experience, but on guessing and trying to predict what might
happen.
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From: Scott Weldin[SMTP:sweldin@ups.edu]
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2000 11:34 AM
To: triumphs@autox.team.net
Subject: unleaded gas
My 1958 TR-3A has been in storage for over 10 years. As I'm about to get it
back on the road I suddenly realized that I can't get leaded gas any more.
Short of replacing the valve seats and guides what are fellow listers doing
about this problem? Any good FAQ sites that discuss options? Thanks for
your help.
Scott Weldin
1958 TR-3A
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