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Old 14-03-04, 05:25
JD Baillie's Avatar
JD Baillie JD Baillie is offline
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Default Lead Free Gas

Was filling up the 152 and my wife asked if I needed a lead substitute additive for the old flat head. I don't know. Any answers out there?

JD
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Old 15-03-04, 08:22
Robert Dabkowski Robert Dabkowski is offline
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Default Lead Replacement ?

No straight answer to your question. Cdn. M152s came from the factory with hardened sodium filled valves and hardened valve seats so you SHOULD be ok without adding a lead replacement BUT who knows if/when your engine was rebuilt and if so ... were hardened vave seats etc installed or the cheaper "regular" ones. I guess that its really your total yearly mileage/hours that determines the need. If you're only driving to 3-4 parades/shows per year then I wouldn't bother. Or pull the head once a year and check the valve seats condition. A new head gasket for a Dodge flat head six should be easy and cheap to find, just make sure that you use a truck gasket with the extra cooling channel at the front face. Robert in Toronto
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Old 15-03-04, 08:44
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JD Baillie JD Baillie is offline
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Hi Robert,
Truck has 7K original miles. I'm not sure how much I'll be driving yet. Took it on its first big trip in years today. Did OK .. a little shimmy at 40MPH and roaring like all beat to hell. But I don't think the engine has ever been rebuilt. I spoke with the first Civvie owner when I bought the truck and he said he didn't do much to it .. certainly nothing major. So it likely has the original stuff in the engine. Original owner drove it from northern Manitoba to Vancouver Is averaging 35MPH but comming down the Rockies he said he let her pin the speedometer... eeeeeeek! Oh well he survived to tell me about it and laugh.
Can you elaborate a little on what these 'hardened' parts are? .. Or what the process was and why it was used?

Rgds
JD
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Old 16-03-04, 02:45
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Bill Mulholland Bill Mulholland is offline
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Default Lead Free Gas

Hi JD; The hardened parts are the valve "faces" and "seats". In using unleaded gas which has the "tetra-ethyl lead" among other additives removed, this also removed the lubricating effect of leaded gas. The valves actually rotate as they come down on to the seat, This served to remove carbon deposits and allow even cooling of the valves. If you look on the manifold side of your engine on the side of the block, you may find a small tag rivetted in that loc. It is titled "RCEME Rebuilt Engine" and will show the bearing size, cyl bore, etc. I doubt very much if your truck has survived with the original motor, as these Dodge engines had a very finite life span, mostly due to driver error in over revving or in the case of Sigs Vans, excessive idling to keep the batteries charged, which in turn caused premature engine failure. Most of the later rebuilds had hardened valves and seats installed, so running it with un-leaded gas will not cause too big a problem. But to do a real kindness to your poor old flat head(engine that is) pick up a container of LEAD-SUBSTITUTE(various brands) from your local auto supply. All my old engines get a dose each time I have enough money to put a tank of gas aboard, and I have never had a problem with valves in over 20 years of restoring.
Cheers, Bill
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Old 16-03-04, 03:15
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JD Baillie JD Baillie is offline
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Bill,
Thanks for all that. This truck was in national stocks until the mid 70s and was sold out as it was thought there was a cracked block. The buyer found that the fuel pump was leaking into the crank case, fixed that and never had another problem. While the truck is a 152, it was never a sigs van that I can see.. and if it was it was fitted and then unfitted to return to stocks. I'll look for the tag but I think this is an original engine. There is less than 8K on the odometer. The rest of the truck is in rather outstanding condition.

Rgds
JD
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