Thanks for that info Jerry! I knew that leaded fuels blocked up the cats,
but I had no idea that they de-leaded fuel for that reason and not health?
Then again, back in the '70s kids were also allowed to ride around with no
child seats and some houses were painted with leadbased paints. so that
makes more sense now. Good info for history buffs like me though!
Eric
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jerry Krakauer" <jsk977@optonline.net>
To: "Perry Smith" <tpsmithstl@yahoo.com>; "Matthew Cox"
<oscilloscope500@yahoo.com>; "roadster list"
<datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2005 1:03 PM
Subject: One Point
> 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
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