Unleadded Gas in an old Lincoln

[JR2]

My Dad (Jack in Alaska) and I bought a 1959 Lincoln this past summer and drove it a couple hundred miles. Now that its in storage for the winter I got to thinking about fuel and things and realized that this car was ment to run on leadded gas, not the unleadded fuel we have today. Can any one reccomend a good additive to add back in the lead or lubricity the lead added.



Pic of the car

#ad






Thanks for your help.



JR2 and Jack in Alaska

 

[E7mack96]

I'd run Turbo Blue in it. It is the old ethyl type gas of yesteryear.



I think CD-2 makes a lead additive. I still have 2 bottles of it myself.



Still may want an octane booter as well.

 

[JR2]

Dan,

Thats a good idea... except Gerty (the name my wife gave the car) only gets about 5 mpg. That could get real expensive fast at $2. 95+ a gallon.



Think the additive and premium should do it.





Thanks,

John

 

[Forrest Nearing]

there's a product called "instead o lead" that you'll need to run to keep the seats from sinking...



sweet lookin' ride!!!



Forrest

 

[jmeehan]

Beautiful car.

If you plan on keeping it, it may be worth rebuilding the heads to run unleaded gas. New guides, seats and valves would get you back on the road.

 

[rmrc]

I also use the RED LINE products in my 57 Chevy. That's one great looking car you have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[B.G. Smith]

All the hype about valve problems when lead was removed from gasoline was greatly over exagerated. Actually unleaded gasoline burns much cleaner than the old leaded stuff. I did automotive repair work for over 35 years and have seen the inside of a few. I ran a 77 Dodge pickup 195000 miles and over half of it on unleaded gas until it was taken out, not by valve trouble but an auto accident. you probably need to buy higher octane fuel but I would get pump gasoline and not worry about the valves. bg

 

[Leon R]

I have been playing with vintage cars for over 35 years and never worried about using leaded fuel. You should get 20 to 30 thousand miles on it before needing to do the valves and then you can do them with hard seats etc and not worry about doing them again.

 

[Bob Wagner]

love that car, beautiful

 

[tpuig]

Nice car! You could probably get away with a bottle of lead substitute every other tank or so, depending on how much driving is done. The motors were built pretty well, especially Lincolns of that period, so I wouldn't worry too much.



I had my engine rebuilt and put in the hardened valve seats at the time. I'lll never have to worry about regular in the convertible because of that. However, I use a mix of 100 octane and Premium in the 440, and it loves it. I also add a bottle 'o lead to every other tank just to be cautious. It's only a couple bucks and this one sees a bit more, umm, "spirited" driving than the other. Hope this helps, and have fun driving that beautiful car.

TP

 

[Eric_77]

By VERY careful if you decide to go the AVgas route. Putting that in the tank directly is a big NO-NO. It is tax evasion and most airports will not sell you fuel that they think may be going in street car.



I used a product called "Real Lead" from 104 boost(or something like that 104 octane maybe) in a 66 GTO, it was really lead.



The valve seat replacement is really only way to go and with lead being gone for 20 years now if the car was rebuilt then new seats were probably already added.

 

[JR2]

Well I know the car has not been rebuilt so I guess I should get some of whatever lead additive I can find. We don't drive it that much and I bet we will not put 500 miles a year on it. Its mostly a Sunday trip to the ice cream shop or to go out to dinner. The car has 69K original miles and runs fairly well. It probably needs a tune up and since I finally got an original shop manual we can do that this spring. After that its getting new radial 2 1/4 inch white wall tires and a dent removal/paint job and she will be cherry.



I absolutely love the car, driving it makes me feel like a different person. I totally relax and cruise along at 60 in the slow lane and smile allot. The wife thinks I should drive it more often.