What petrol should I feed the R series?

[Beaker]

Just wondering what petrol people reccommend putting in.

I would like to steer away from LRP, as it really isn't very good and you hear many complaints about it.

I was thinking along the lines of Shell Optimax and a lead additive.

But what would be a good lead additive to use?

Lindz

[SimonR]

Optimax and Castrol Valvemaster are what I shall use in my R-Series when it's operational fulltime. MaestroMatt (who's away doing exams at the moment) uses Optimax and the 'unapproved' shell additive although he's going to change to VM.

If you're not driving it too much (say fewer than 5,000 miles a year) and you're not driving too hard then you could probably skip the valve master and just replace the valveseats when they eventually cause trouble.

My father recently got his cylinderhead remachined at a cost of £300. The place said that the valves were okay for unleaded due to it being a later evolution of that engine.

Due to the octane, the R-Series *loves* optimax.

One consideration tho: Matt's last last fuel flow transducer didn't last very long at all and we're wondering if it's got anything to do with the fuel/additive. It may have just been a faulty unit.

[Beaker]

Cheers, I will go and search for some Castrol Valvemaster.

We (me and Dan) tried finding some additives yesterday before we went down to pick it up. But the local motor factors, only had one type in and it was very expensive. One small tin per tank for £5

We bought some shell additive from the petrol station yesterday tho, when we filled it up with petrol. Interestingly enough it said on the bottle not to be used with leaded petrol, can't see it would make much difference tho'. I presume the car had LRP in it previously.

I won't be driving the car too much, just to shows and perhaps a sunday drive once in a while. Its too nice to be driven regularly. I have george as my run around, although his bodywork needs some major attention.


Lindz

[Guest]

Hello, thought I would take a break from revision to back up F153's comments on Optimax. I currently use Optimax and Castrol Valvemaster (a £5 bottle will do you several tankfuls of fuel). Make sure you buy the green Valvemaster as the red one boosts octane which you don't want as you are using Optimax which is already high octane.

[e692wtt]

I swear by Shell Optimax + Millers' Superblend Zero Lead 2000 (costs a fiver to treat 150 litres of petrol, readily available near me). The Millers' bottle comes with a built-in dispenser in increments of 5ml so it's really easy and clean to use.

Had no trouble during 3 years of use, but I also used Red Line Lead Substitute before this for 2 years which was cheap and economical but came by mail order and was extremely messy to measure out (just a bottle, no dispenser).

[MGTurbo]

ULSU and Miller's VSP (with octane boost) would be the best stuff. If your going to be using the car daily (10-12k miles a year) could work out expensive. As a low mileage example i suspect it would have been fed leaded for quite some time so will have some lead-memory left. Motorway work will be what burns the seats and valves out, kept below 3000rpm and 3-4k miles a year, you may not have a problem for a very long time.

Gareth

[matthewsemple]

Still using LRP in both my cars... no problems yet and I have been using it for however long it has been around (about three years) with much motorway work in the R-Series MG1600. MPG very good compared to Unleaded.

The fuel flow transducers all seem to be faulty and stopped working in most MG1600s and VPs long before additives or LRP came along.

[tony]

what about just using unleaded,is that so bad ?

[D87SMW]

Originally posted by tony
what about just using unleaded,is that so bad ?

Does it have an unleaded cylinder head?

[E_T_V]

No it is an 83 R series engine, none of them were ever unleaded I believe, and it hasn't been converted either.