Aircooled VW South Africa

Hi guys. I have a 74 autovilla with stock 1800 and a 63 beetle with more or less (haha)stock 1300. I was surprised the other day to see that my local filling station doesnt stock leaded fuel anymore. What I could gather from asking around my 2 aircooleds can run on unleaded without problems or adaptations? Is this true? What are you doing seeing that leaded are being phased-out? What about the lead substitute additives? or the lead substitute petrol such as Sasol dual fuel?

Quick way to find out is to run it on unleaded. The lead in petrol helps lubricate seats & valve stems, the std valve stems on the T1 don't get much lubrication from the oil system as they hang downwards so it is difficult for the oil to travel uphill, therefore no need for valve stem seals, the seats guides & valves are hardened originally from the factory so it should be no problem running unleaded, the problem lies with the local engineers, when they started reconditioning heads all those years ago, they had no idea that unleaded was on it's way or just couldn't care fitting the hardened items, so any head that has work done on it is probably not got hardened items. I know this for a fact, because one of the bigger firms doing air cooled heads up until last year, were not using hardened seats (Mc Donald's Engineering) they made their own. I have not tried Sasol fuel but a Friend of mine has a 1980 Escort and runs on the stuff his head is also not set up for unleaded, additives is an option.

a lot of companies in SA have a lead replacement type fuel. I know BP has one, used it a few times, with no problems. Not sure if it really is a lead replacement or just hype

I like the lead fuel because of the exhaust colour... tells you many things if you know how to read it,,, unleaded fuel just gives you a black exhaust

I read this article a while ago. It looks like the hard chromed stem exhaust valves of the 1967 and later beetles in the US can handle unleaded. It will be interesting to know if the same applies for SA?
http://www.geneberg.com/cat.php?cPath=2811_2812

Shell SA issued a list of older cars that are unleaded compatible... the bug was one of them. Our valves are of the correct design for unleaded fuel and have been like this for many years.
It is good practice to add some lead additive occasionally, especially when using brand new valves, just to help them run in nicely, but its not entirely necessary

The Naamsa (south african) website says our 1700 1800 and 2000 are recommended to use unleaded and is also LRP compatible. I'm running unleaded already in my 2000 . If you hear knock just retard your timing a smidge. They don't say anything bout beetles though but since 68 they are all supposed to be compatible if we used the same parts as in the states.

Hi, received the following from VWSA:

Thank you for your email correspondence received by our Customer Interaction Centre ? my apologies for the delay in responding.

It is recommended that you use unleaded Octane for both vehicles, without any modifications required.

We trust that the above will be of assistance to you and assure you of our best attention at all times.

Kind of the same response that I got.
I do think it's wise though just to check your timing and mixture anyway as there is a drop in octane.

I still don't trust this lot.

There is to much confusion, lies, misinformation and other stuff coming from the fuel companies and Government.

Did you know there are only three refineries - Cape Town, Joburg and Durban. Every fuel company gets its fuel locally from the SAME refinery. Do you know BP's claim? Hmmm!!!!

Beetles have soft alloy heads and need Leaded or LPR to run OK. Run Unleaded and you are in danger of burning valves because the lead deposit cushion will be burned away in a short time and your hard valves will be bouncing away on the soft valve seats eroding them - it just escalates rapidly from there - Kind of like a Tsunami.

My 20bucks worth.

Cheers

David

I agree with rattbug. I do not trust vwsa. From my experience having my Polo serviced at various vw dealers, the mechanics and dealers do not care when you drive in with an older car. The attitude of "been there sold that - now its your baby" is very pronounced with vw. I also do not think the present vwsa mechanics has the experience with older vw products.

I am going to stick with LRP for a start.

I understand what you guys are saying, but I still maintain that IF your heads are done per VW specs then unleaded if OK. The stock seats are damn hard and are not made from cast iron or any other soft metal.
Face it, the Yanks, Brits, Germans and Japs all run their vws with unleaded and it is ok for them.

Not saying LRP is a bad thig, I will run it wherever possible as well, but unleaded isnt something to be scared of.
If its a new head or a recon head, then you should run a LRP or a lead additive for the first tank or 3 until things have worn in properly.