SIMPLE QUESTIONS!

Post by **JULIANROBINSON** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 6:00 pm

Hello,

I just picked up my '69 Morris Minor 1000 sallon on Friday... £235 of welding later, we are nearly ready for an MOT!

I just need to know... what tyre pressures should the Crossplys have in them and should I be using LRP?

Thanks!

(told you they were easy questions!)

JR

Post by **Cam** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 8:06 pm

Don't bother with LRP it does not protect the valve seats. Use normal unleaded with a fuel additive such as Castrol Valvemaster Plus (available from Halfords). £10 a bottle which treats 10 tank fulls.

Post by **Kevin** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 7:49 am

Generally tyre pressures should be 22 front 24 rear I dont think crossplies are any different to radials.

Post by **Pyoor_Kate** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 9:26 am

Re: LRP. Really cam?

That's slightly worrying, 'cos I've used LRP for the last 35,000 miles....I'm quite willing to accept that I'm wrong, but surely I'd've seen some kind of deterioration in performance / constant need to adjust valve clearance / etc by now if it didn't work?

Post by **Cam** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 9:33 am

Re: LRP. Really cam?

They would not submit a quantity to be tested when all the other additives were tested by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC). It is well known now that LRP does not protect the valve seats anywhere near as well as a proper additive (or proper leaded petrol) if it protects them at all!

It is better than using unleaded though as it is higher octane so will resist pinking more and allow the engine to run a bit cooler and have slightly more power. But at the moment the best option seems to be a good quality additive and unleaded OR if you have bags of cash then either genuine leaded (over £1 a litre now) or Shell Optimax with an additive (close to the old 5 star rating)!

The thing with valve seat recession (VSR) is that it happens mostly at high RPM, so if you just pootle about it will not have a dramatic effect. Also it makes your engine QUIETER!!! as the valves recess the clearance closes up removing the valve rattle, this continues though and the valves don't seat properly (as they are being held off the seats by the valve clearance) so they burn at the edges until it gets so bad that you loose compression and the power drops off.

A lot of people have done loads of miles on unleaded with no problems (like Gareth) until one day.................. when he had to have a valve (or a few) replaced.

LRP WILL protect slightly more than 'raw' unleaded, but it will just slow down the process a bit and not protect things as it should.

Post by **rayofleamington** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 10:47 am

Re: LRP. Really cam

The other scandle with LRP is that despite charging billions in tax on fuel our government couldn't be bothered to insist on a national or international standard for LRP. (You'd have thought they should have had that ready prior to removing leaded - seen as it was the government that stopped leaded fuel in the first place and they knew it was coming for years.)

This gives the fuel companies carte blanche to put in anything or nothing regarding VSR. In fact if they felt like it one company could add a small amount of grated cheddar and their rivals could add a dash of parmesan...
Even if they put in a proper additive and a rival used a different type of additive this is still a disaster as it is well known that the 2 main types of additive counteract each other, so if you used a different petrol station each time (or even the same petrol station but they bought their fuel from a different source occasionally) there would be no protection for your valves.
This is slightly over dramatised (and LRP 'might' be a bit better than just unleaded) but it's worth pointing out occasionally where the motorist has been let badly let down.

At the end of the day - if you did 35000 miles and you haven't burnt a valve out yet then don't worry about it. What you can worry about is the next 35000 miles - and because classic car clubs do care about car owners, there were some tests done at MIRA and there are some additives which are proven to work.
All the details are there - you can follow the link regarding unleaded fuel on the main site if you want to read it.

I've been using Castrol Valvemaster Plus for many years as it gave the best results on the MIRA tests, only costs around 4 p a litre (cost less than using LRP??), and is available at Halfords.
Last week I needed some more but the Halfords I visited only had the cheaper one Castrol Valvemaster (without the octane booster) and having given the car a damn good thrashing I couldn't tell the difference. Next time I'll be buying the cheaper one!

Post by **Pyoor_Kate** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 12:18 pm

Rightho. Next time I'm over by my new favourite motorfactor I'll buy some Castrol Valvemaster Plus.

Can we all chant, "Oil companies are evil"? Please?

Post by **Cam** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 12:32 pm

Oil companies are evil, Oil companies are evil, Oil companies are evil, Oil companies are evil, Oil companies are evil..............etc.

Post by **d_harris** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 12:46 pm

but so's the government! remember how much fuel tax we pay

Post by **Kevin** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 1:36 pm

remember how much fuel tax we pay

Well at least those of us who are not students anyway

Post by **Cam** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 2:00 pm

Students still have to pay fuel tax!

But I'm with you there Kevin if you are having a dig at students!!

Post by **d_harris** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 3:42 pm

No, its income tax we avoid (during summer holiday jobs)

Post by **greydrinker** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 7:57 pm

have have bought 1963 moggi with hub disc conversion Marina wheels

i bought five hub caps of e bay which FIT MARINA WHEELS ONLY

to find that there were two types of wheels 71- 74 75 onwards

i need two three wheels pre 1974 to make the lod lady decent

looking again any ideas

jeanette

Post by **doobry** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 8:02 pm

greydrinker,
You might want to put an ad in the wanted section..