Sydney, Other side effects of lead ingestion include settling in the bones causing Chronic Hypertension, and it causes mental illness. there is a lot of evidence to conclude it help cause a lot of the problems the ruling class of the Romans suffered during the latter part of the Roman Empire. Bill Higdon
> One compound that refiners added to gasoline, both automotive and aviation, > was > tetra-ethyl lead. This improved the anti-knock or detonation properties for > the > high octane fuels such as 100, 115, 130, etc. aviation fuels. The EPA banned > the use of leaded fuels for automotive applications and is pushing hard for > the > same ban on 100 LL. Problems with leaded fuels are sticking exhaust valves > and > rings, burned exhaust valves, corroded exhaust pipes and mufflers, fouled > spark > plugs and plaque in carburetors and fuel injectors. Actually the EPA was not > concerned so much about engines and such, but what the free lead in the > exhaust > emissions was doing to people. Problems cited were still borne and deformed > babies, and retarded kids from lead poisoning. Adults are not immune from > such > nerve damage either. > > My understanding is there were no production engines designed to run on > leaded > fuel per se. Rather the designs were for a specific octane fuel. > Compression > ratio is the design parameter. The cheap way to get the high octane fuel to > perform correctly was to add the tetra-ethyl lead. Refiners did figure out > how > to make high octane fuels work without the lead, such as the automotive > gasoline > we use and pay dearly for today. > > Sid Wood > Tri-gear KR-2 N6242 > Mechanicsville, MD, USA > sidney.w...@titan.com >
