Quote:
Originally Posted by north
Unleaded gas really extends exhaust life. The lead in the gas of that era would burn in the combustion chamber and burning lead produces very corrosive acid which accelerated the destruction of the exhaust system (and things like rear bumper chrome and pot metal taillight bezels etc).
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Thanks for this info. It's interesting to me so I did a quick online search to learn more. Per this blurb:
Link to Shell Oil info on Avgas combustion and Pb fouling the Tetraethyl Pb burns to an oxide which I would NOT expect to be corrosive (stable, not easily ionized, effectively insoluble in water). The article goes on to explain, however, that Avgas has a bromine compound added to react with the Pb to form a bromide instead of an oxide. A bromide could explain corrosivity in the exhaust...
Maybe they used the same bromine compound in leaded auto fuels?