How can you identify an unleaded head

Post by **jameswallace** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:39 pm

Having just bought a midget 1275 from a guy who got it from another guy several years ago, I wasn't able to find out whether it had an unleaded head or not. Is there any way that I could find this out ?

Thanks in anticipation

Jim

Post by **moggiemadman** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:58 pm

I dont think you can test it,Because normal morris/mg/austin engines will run on normal petrol for a few years,

Cheers
John

Post by **alex_holden** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:06 pm

You could take the head off and look closely for signs of new exhaust valve seats having been fitted, but they can be difficult to see.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:54 pm

If it's the later 'factory' head then the seats are very obvious - but these heads were never fitted to Spridgets - only to much later Mini/Metro/Maestro variants. So - unless the head has been modified aftermarket - it will be a 'leaded' head. Don't worry - just run it on unleaded - it will be fine for many thousands of miles. Just keep an eye on the exhaust valve gaps - if they start to close up, adjust them open again. If you really want to, the only additive which contains tetra-ethyl lead is 'Tetraboost' - using this with unleaded fuel makes original 4 star petrol.