I was doing some surfing just looking over head options for my 440. I saw a couple people mention that the use of hardened valve seats are not as important as they were say 25 years ago due to the detergents used in current day unleaded fuels are much better then 15 or 25 years ago
What does everyone think? I always thought without them would lead to sunken/ burnt valves
I would be a little leary of that and go ahead with the hardened valve seats.Maybe there are more detergents in todays fuel but who knows what else they are adding to it.
let me ask Dave (the guy you got the truck from) about it. He works for a software company that tells refineries exactly how much they can get out of a barrel of oil... he'll know for sure
that is pretty cool, that whole refinement process interests me. Off the topic a wee but Wayne Wooten (TDC) worked on a barge that took all the by product and made it into asphalt among other things
I remember him telling us they actaully get very little out of a 55 drum of crude oil for gasoline
Kevin, lead kept the valves from pounding themselves into the head. Lead deposits will keep this from happening for a while, if there is any left from 25 years ago. You will need hardened seats no matter what. Give me a call if you want to discuss it. I had a very bad experience when they first took lead out of gas. Too much for little old me to type.
Heard back from Dave... he said the amount of additives put in modern fuels to lubricate injectors is not enough to do valve seats.