lead fuel additive in '55 850?

[JohnWayne]

Do you guys run lead additive in your old gas tractors? ... Do you find ANY fuel additives to work well on a regular basis?

 

[old]

All thats stuff is snake oil and does only one thing. Keeps the companys that make it rich
Hobby farm

 

[JohnWayne]

Ya... I searched some old discussions. Guess I'll take it back to Checker and get something I can use. What about octane booster? Does that stuff help?

 

[old]

Again these old tractors where made to run on the cheapest stuff made so nope they don't help either

 

[john_Bud]

I agree with OLD on this one!

If you want to do something for your fuel system, adding a 200:1 ratio of 2-cycle oil will help lube the upper end and adding "mineral spirits" will help clean the varnish out.

Then again, it isn't 1956 anymore and the gas you buy is pretty dern good by itself!

jb

 

[Jim.UT]

Octane is a measure of how well the fuel [i:654c4848f0]resists[/i:654c4848f0] combustion. So why would you want to boost octane? Well, it makes sense on a high compression engine. That's why you need to boost octane on old musclecars with 9 and 10:1 compression ratios. Without higher octane, the engine would "pre-ignite", also known as knock or ping.

A 6:1 compression tractor engine does not need the octane boosted. When I was selling cars I had a customer how insisted on putting premium fuel in her Pontiac Grand Prix because she wanted "the best" for her new baby. Then she couldn't understand why it wouldn't run properly and lacked power. Her fuel was resisting ignition because the octane was too high for the engine compression. Even her owner manual specified regular fuel, but she would never listen to reason....it was all my fault and the service department's fault that her car wouldn't run right.

And it will be your fault if your tractor doesn't run right with octane booster in the tank.

Rant off.

 

[Anonymous-0]

the fords have hard valves and the unleaded fuel we run today wont hurt them but some of the old ones like the oliver 1750 we owned recommend the additive or it will eventually burn up the softer valves- but the old oliver didnt much like the stuff though as I recall- good luck bkg