AV gas for the generator

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
The tetraethyl lead is primarily for *lubrication of valve seats* You figure it out. It exists via the exhaust as tetraethyl lead. In excess of 2.2 grams per gallon of gasoline. If a thousand gallons of gasoline is consumed at 28 grams per ounce then how many grams is expelled? Two point two thousand
Do the numbers. Green Blue and Purple those were the dyes used. Red for off road diesel. 87 Av has only faint traces of lead.

México has problems with CFE the power company buying illegal 1100 PPM marine diesel

Lubricating valve seats was not really the primary reason for tetraethyl lead, it is more of a side benefit for those manufacturers that cheaped out and didn't bother hardening the valve seats.

Early engine pioneers 1880s-1950s did not have gas with tetraethyl lead. Those engines never needed tetraethyl lead to live long lives. Early engines often were not much more than 4:1 compression ( Model Ts I think were something like 3.5:1 compression) and would run on pretty much any light flammable liquid or even vapor.

Many PA oilwell owners ran straight "casing head" gas in their vehicles (illegal due to no taxes being taken out but was done). Casing head gas is the natural gas vapors that are naturally present from Crude oil (has different names like Head gas, Well gas, White gas).

The vapors are drawn off the well head via a large vacuum pump, then that vapor is run through a compressor up to 60 PSI, then sent to a cooling tank to condense into a liquid natural gas form. The engine (read up on Hit AND MISS engines) that run the well would use some of the high pressure vapors and any excess was condensed in the high pressure tank.

Oilwell owners often flared off excess well gas if their wells produced too much.

Casing head is very close cousin to what we call Naptha, Naptha is used as a paint thinner/cleaner for oil based paints and also IS what folks know as "Coleman Fuel"..

And yes, I do have family connections to the old time oil wells history in PA..

But I digress..

As I pointed out, tetraethyl lead was added more for reducing Knock/Ping in early high compression engines (10:1-11:1)by raising the Octane level. Tetraethyl lead slowed down the burn speed inside the cylinder helping to prevent/reduce preignition ping with advanced ignition timeing.

Tetraethyl lead also worked as an "oxygenate" allowing more complete fuel burn before exhaust stroke and at a slower rate. The combination allowed one to raise compression, advance the spark timing ahead much further and yielded more power with less fuel.

Modern day large engines have antiknock/ping sensors feed back to the ECU and the ECU adjusts timing and fuel delivery all automatically making it unnecessary for high octane levels. That is the reason modern high compression engines can be operated on 87 Octane..

Sure, you could put high Octane and you might see a few more HP and perhaps a couple of tenths better mileage but often the higher cost outweighs the slight improvement in HP and mileage.

Yes, I am not a fan of E gas blends but I do not let the scare tactics of good intentioned folks scare me.