This will likely date me: when I last was riding my 1975 860GT, I was able to buy leaded gas. Now, decades later, I am curious about whether the valve seats in my non-Desmo 860 engine will handle unleaded gas, or must I use a lead additive, such as Redline or some other. I know that many engines were not adversely affected by switching to unleaded gas, because the seats and valves had a buildup of lead around the seating area.
Comments? If I need to retrofit new hardened seats, a good time is when I have the engine out of the bike.
Thanks in advance.
Richard
Valve seats vs unleaded gas
Re: Valve seats vs unleaded gas
The valve seats will be fine, they are a silicon bronze material and not prone to recession like cast iron. Your bigger concern should be the condition of the valve guides which were prone to rapid wear.
Re: Valve seats vs unleaded gas
Thanks for the info. as a matter of fact, my bike was in the early recall when they were replacing the guides that wore prematurely. All I had to do was bring in the offending head(s), and the guide was replaced free of charge, with a lap-in.
Regards,
Richard
Regards,
Richard