General E30 related discussions -
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Alex
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 2:30 pm
just got my car spec from cotswold (cheers

and it has the option
EQUIPMENT FOR LEADED FUEL
does that mean its designed to run on leaded fuel or it will run on either leaded or unleaded

Last edited by Alex on Wed Dec 17, 2008 2:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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SPADGE
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 2:31 pm
Alex wrote:just got my car spec from cotswold (cheers :thumb) and it has the option
EQUIPMENT FOR LEADED FUEL
does that mean its designed to run on leaded fuel or it will run on either leaded or unleaded

Unless you have a supply of leaded fuel then i guess you will no the answer to that

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Alex
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 2:33 pm
SPADGE wrote:Alex wrote:just got my car spec from cotswold (cheers :thumb) and it has the option
EQUIPMENT FOR LEADED FUEL
does that mean its designed to run on leaded fuel or it will run on either leaded or unleaded

Unless you have a supply of leaded fuel then i guess you will no the answer to that

my local asda still sells the stuff

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Felix79
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 2:36 pm
Alex wrote:SPADGE wrote:Alex wrote:just got my car spec from cotswold (cheers :thumb) and it has the option
EQUIPMENT FOR LEADED FUEL
does that mean its designed to run on leaded fuel or it will run on either leaded or unleaded

Unless you have a supply of leaded fuel then i guess you will no the answer to that

my local asda still sells the stuff

It's illegal to sell it in the UK , the pumps would not have old 4 star for love nor money. At the most it is Lead Replacement Petrol.
Felix79 aka Dan
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Alex
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 2:44 pm
LRP thats what i mean, to me its the same thing becuase i was only a kid when they banned it

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capri_rob
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 3:21 pm
Felix79 wrote:Alex wrote:SPADGE wrote:
Unless you have a supply of leaded fuel then i guess you will no the answer to that

my local asda still sells the stuff

It's illegal to sell it in the UK , the pumps would not have old 4 star for love nor money. At the most it is Lead Replacement Petrol.
Not strictly true - there was a thread on this the other day.
You can still buy Leaded 4 Star fuel but only from specialist garages :
http://www.leadedpetrol.co.uk/
Put in your postcode and it will tell you where the nearest stockist is.
e30topless said : Proper BMW's have 4 headlights, last of the run was the E30 and E34/E32 anything after that is just complete shite
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Felix79
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 3:37 pm
LOL a boat Garage near me apperently.
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zaust
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 3:38 pm
Look at the stamp on the head, if it was made 87 onward's it will have the valves ready for the unleaded fuel.
On my early 86 lump I ran the in line lead tube (full of lead adding ball's) noticed the difference quite quickly as it stopped the pinking within a few hundered mile's.
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djk
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 5:21 pm
Can you not run a pre 87 engine on unleaded without modification then?

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Alex
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:17 pm
djk wrote:Can you not run a pre 87 engine on unleaded without modification then?
my C Reg chromie had a large green sticker under the bonnet saying designed to run on 95 ron unleaded, not sure if that was a modification its had but its a bmw sticker
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beemerbird
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:21 pm
djk wrote:Can you not run a pre 87 engine on unleaded without modification then?
I run mine on unleaded with no modification - just the addition of some Lead additive type liquid when I remember.
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djk
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Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:35 pm
I just thought that if you had an alloy head, valve seat recession wasn't a problem, so lead replacement was not necessary. Other than that, maybe there's a problem with detonation as the octane of normal unleaded is lower than 4 star, but I thought all e30s could cope even with naff eastern european lemon-juice without pinking. Doesn't matter to me as all mine are later cars, just curious.
Regarding the original post, is 'equipment for leaded fuel' just a roundabout way of saying 'delete catalyst' - weren't most mainland european market cars catalysed from something like '88?

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powelly
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Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:36 am
Leaded petrol isn't illegal in the UK, here is the website for the company that distributes it in, it's pretty expensive but it is available, I used to use it in my Triumphs up until I did a proper conversion.
Just becasue a given engine uses an ally head does not mean it will automatically be suitable for unleaded fuel, my old Dolomite 1850 and Sprint both had ally heads but the valve seat inserts were not hard enough from the factory, this is the case with many older vehicles, BMW included I guess.

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