I have recently purchased a 1971 Triumph Toledo 1300 4 door saloon. As I am new to classic car ownership I would like to ask, could I run it on normal unleaded petrol or do I need a mixture? I expect the latter will apply but I thought I'd check.
You will get different answers depending on who you can talk to but this is my experience - over the last ten years I have run two leaded only cars as daily drivers, an MGB GT and a mini. Having read up on the subject of lead replacement additives I decided on the mini to try without as some were saying they had done many miles without issues. A series heads are stupid cheap (free usually unless it's a1275 or something unusual) so it wasn't too much of a worry. The head was taken off after three years and 27000 miles and there was no appreciable wear to the seats. The same head is going strong a further 15000 miles later with its new owner who is a mate of mine. The MGB GT covered 16000 miles and again there were no issues. Valve clearances were checked twice yearly without any signs of seat regression (rapidly closing gaps is a bad sign). My new 1300 Dolomite has been run for the last three years without additives and will continue to do so in my custody, again with six monthly checks on valve clearances, it will only cover a couple of thousand miles a year tops. The smooth running nature and perfect tune was commented on by the MoT inspector a couple of weeks ago.
If it was my car I would run on unleaded and keep an eye on the clearances, others may have had different experiences.
Mahesh is referring to ignition timing. It might not need adjusting if you use super unleaded.
Toledo Man
West Yorkshire Area Organiser Meetings take place on the first Wednesday of the month at 8.00pm at The Railway, 1 Birstall Lane, Drighlington, Bradford, BD11 1JJ
2003 Volvo XC90 D5 SE (PX53 OVZ - The daily driver) 2009 Mercedes-Benz W204 C200 CDI Sport (BJ58 NCV - The 2nd car) 1991 Toyota Celica GT (J481 ONB - a project car)
Former stable of SAY 414M (1974 Toledo), GRH 244D (1966 1300fwd), CDB 324L (1973 1500fwd), GGN 573J (1971 1500fwd), DCP 625S (1977 Dolomite 1300) & LCG 367N (1975 Dolomite Sprint), NYE 751L (1972 Dolomite 1850 auto) plus 5 Acclaims and that's just the Triumphs!
I think I'll try it on unleaded and see how I go.
