Unleaded head

[jamesyt06]

Hi i have bought a 1089 engine taken out of a 4 door, i intend to use it for my van, but is there any way to tell if it is unleaded or not, got it at a breakers yard, if not what harm can be done if i just use unleaded

[bigginger]

As it's a 1098, it was never unleaded as standard. You could *possibly* tell by taking the head off, the valves out and seeing if you can see the hardened seat inserts under the exhaust valves. As for running on it if the heads unleaded - depends. If there's 'lead memory' in the head, it'll run fine for a good while. Keep an eye on valve clearances though, as there will eventually be some erosion of the exhaust valve seats, which I think means either a new head or getting that one converted to lead free. I wouldn't do that (I'd use (and always have used) an addiitive, but plenty of people here would advocate just going ahead and running it, replacing the head when necessary.

And cue Roy ;)

[bmcecosse]

Sorry - Mr G - sleeping!! Yes - I have just run them without adding anything. Worst that happens is the valves recess slightly - just keep adjusting the gaps. Spend money on additive if you will - I think it's money down the exhaust pipe! If willing to lose a bit of performance - chase up an unleaded head from a 998 Mini (dead cheap if not FREE) and if after a performance boost - use unleaded head from 1275 Mini engine - expect to pay ~£40 if unleaded, ~ £20 if not.

[bigginger]

;)
a

[jamesyt06]

Hi thanks lads go options i see