What sort of Petrol?

[andywhiteley38]

Hello all,
I am soon to take delivery of my first Moke. I've had a few minis way back in the 80s when I was a lad! The car has not had an unleaded conversion and whilst I consider whether or not to do this I would appreciate any advice on if it is Ok to use just E5? Should I add something to it and if so, what?

[Nigel(no top)Sykes]

I dont have hardened inserts in the head of my moke so I always try to fill up with Shell VPower and then add Castrol valvemaster. I realise it’s an expensive route to travel but, realistically, I don’t do that many miles a year so it’s not totally wallet breaking.
The VPower has a lower E number than the run of the mill supermarket rubbish so the rubber seals will last a bit longer and the valvemaster additive takes care of the valve seats so long as I don’t thrash it down the motorway for hours at a time.

[Tim]

I've been using E10 in mine for more than 10 years. I like it because it has a higher octane rating at a lower price and my engine doesn't run-on when I use it. At first I was using an additive (Flashlube) to stop valve seat recession, but it became harder to get and more expensive so I stopped adding it.

Last year I had the head reconditioned and it was showing some signs of valve seat recession, so I had hardened valve seat inserts fitted on the exhausts. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have stopped using the additive, but valve seat recession wasn't the reason II needed to get the head done and having the seats fitted at the same time wasn't that expensive. It cost about the same as 8 250ml bottles of Valvemaster.

People panic about E10, but I have no concerns using it and I actively look for it at certain petrol stations here that have the higher octane version. I have had no sign of it harming either the plastic or brass components of my SU. I did have to replace a section of fuel hose from the metal fuel line to the carburettor with modern stuff (it has something like 5 layers of different material to hold all the solvents in) but the original rubber hose at the fuel tank end is still OK.

Tim

[andywhiteley38]

Thanks for the info.