Perry,
Your last paragraph is not quite on target when you say "...keep it from
knocking, which has nothing to do with the lead content." The fact is that
tetra ethyl lead was added to gas back in the 1930s just for that reason. It
was the cheapest way to increase octane rating.
As a mater of fact, when lead was originally reduced and removed from gas in
the 1970s it was done to protect catalytic converters, not initially for
health reasons. The unintended consequence was the across the board
reduction in compression ratios and resulting reduced power from the use of
low/no lead gas with lower octane ratings.
Jerry Krakauer
SRL311 00099
|