Granted, I'm at altitude (Denver), but a 7.5:1 compression Spitfire
should run just fine on 85 octane. I drove my 79 and 76 all through the
winter with the "additive" all the time with no ill effects.
Mike
JeffreyLos@aol.com wrote:
>
> Thanks to all who responded to my dilemma of white smoke, misfiring, and
> funny temp gauge readings. It will be a couple of days before I get to check
> compression to see if the head gasket is blown (hope not), and check the temp
> transmitter. I had retorqued the head bolts after the rebuild (good tip), and
> so far there has not been any appreciable loss of coolant (but it has not
> run very long either). The observation that periodic starting of the engine
> during the winter doing more harm than good was something I had not
> considered. Thanks. The suggestion that there may be water in the gas was
> interesting but I think unlikely in this case. However, it got me to thinking
> about the last tank of gas I bought which was non-leaded regular (instead of
> the premium I had been using since 72 Spits have 7.5:1 compression), and the
> fact that in this state they start using a chemical additive in the gas
> around November 1st each year which apparently causes some problems in some
> older cars. If the misfiring is caused by the gasoline, could it result in
> the white exhaust(and moisture) coming from the tailpipe? Will a vacuum leak
> at the intake manifold contribute to this? Or am I just exercising wishful
> thinking trying to aviod thinking about replacing the head gasket. Thanks
> again for your time and insights.
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