Regular or unleaded?

really basic (dumb) question... Does a 64 Galaxie 500 XL (390) require regular fuel, or can it burn unleaded? If it takes regular, and there isn't a gas station around selling it, what can I add to unleaded gas so that it will work?

your car used leaded (REGULAR) gas. No one to my knowledge has it any more. two things you can do is use a lead substiute, or you can have harden valve seats installed.
The lead in the gas helped to lubricated the valve seats,with out it they will were down.
Use the lead substitute untill you do a valve job

I always ran premuim unleaded in my 390. It kept it from pinging with the higher octane.
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there is a study done by the petrolium industry I will try and find the jist but it basically stated there is no detremental effect on vehicles using the non leaded gasolines but I agree when you do build the engine have the harden seats installed just for fun, also you may need run an octane boost as I run premium fuel in my Galaxie but I also have a high compression engine and not that it will not run without the 99 octane I create with a mixture it just runs much better I feel it in the seat back

Been several posts on unleaded vs leaded for these older sleds. Should be no problem using unleaded regular under normal conditions.

The heavy wear and erosion that was "documented" some years ago was under severe conditions such as hauling 1500 pounds of cinderblocks in your trunk every day up mountains in the desert or some such thing.

AMOCO had regular unleaded gas through the 50's, 60's and 70's with no issues that I'm aware of. You can always locate the CAM II or Turbo Blue pumps in your area and go $4/Gal for 115 leaded[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]
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Everything I have read suggests that unleaded will work fine as long as you're not running steady RPMs for long periods of time (like trucks do) which allows the ex valve to get hot and hammers the seats out.

If you want hardened seats anyway, be careful about letting just anybody put hardened seats in your heads, since the early ones were not designed for them. Its possible to strike water if the machinist goes too deep in the seat area of the head. FEs take a shallower seat than some other engines.

Good words. Thanks.

I'll add alittle to this with my encounters with valve recession. I've only had the problem with one car I owned. A 86 TVR which was powered by the German Ford 2.8 V6. When the car was made europe was still using lead in their fuel. The car told me when it was time for a valve adjustment by not starting, on a hot restart, let it cool and off you went. This happened every 3,000 miles and was due to recession. This car had a solid lifter cam and a small change in clearence kept the valves off there seats when cranking after a few mins of heat soak. Cranked like the plugs were out. With a juice cam it would have started. And I'm sure the engine design plays a part also. The only thing I hauled around in that car was some fine looking ladies.[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img]
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http://www.hiperfuels.com/index.cgi?...ExpandedDepts=


http://www.cosbyoil.com/racegas.htm

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: adgdghr on 6/15/04 8:34pm ]</font>