The 1968 Chevy Impala

[Zachariah]

found out from my grandpa that i will have to place in some Redex lubricant every time i place in fuel for the car, because the car only ran with Leaded petrol. hhm, interesting. not entirely sure which one though

 

[someguy360]

I'd just get some unleaded heads to slap on it.

SBC parts are plentiful and affordable.

 

[Zachariah]

unleaded heads? how much for them? where would be a good place to look at?
i am thinking the lube would be annoying every time i refill. not to mention where you actually have to put the nozzle in. would be bothersome

 

[J_D 2.0]

unleaded heads? how much for them? where would be a good place to look at?
i am thinking the lub would be annoying every time i refill. not to mention where you actually have to put the nozzle in. would be bothersome

Its really only the valve seats that stop you running unleaded as most leaded cars had brass valve seats which requires leaded fuel to stop valve seat recession.

Modern cars use powdered metal valve seats to prevent the valve seat recession when using unleaded petrol.

 

[someguy360]

As said above it's really just the valve/seats etc that are not suitable for unleaded.

But alloy performance heads are actually pretty cheap for SBC's compared to the old Holdens etc. by the time you add up someone redoing your old cast heads you could probably buy a new set of Edelbrock alloy heads etc which would help your power in the big ol beast.

Either way your cylinder heads have to come off.

 

[Zachariah]

Its really only the valve seats that stop you running unleaded as most leaded cars had brass valve seats which requires leaded fuel to stop valve seat recession.

Modern cars use powdered metal valve seats to prevent the valve seat recession when using unleaded petrol.

very interesting, thank you for explaining

 

[Zachariah]

As said above it's really just the valve/seats etc that are not suitable for unleaded.

But alloy performance heads are actually pretty cheap for SBC's compared to the old Holdens etc. by the time you add up someone redoing your old cast heads you could probably buy a new set of Edelbrock alloy heads etc which would help your power in the big ol beast.

Either way your cylinder heads have to come off.

thats good info, the best set of heads to get is from Edelbrock? would you know how much? there is nothing else that might need to swap for this conversion to be good?

 

[someguy360]

https://www.summitracing.com/search...t-line/edelbrock-performer-rpm-cylinder-heads

The performer RPM heads are a good $$ to performance kind of head.

Good for future proofing if you start playing with a cam/carb etc down the line.

 

[Zachariah]

https://www.summitracing.com/search...t-line/edelbrock-performer-rpm-cylinder-heads

The performer RPM heads are a good $$ to performance kind of head.

Good for future proofing if you start playing with a cam/carb etc down the line.

which is something i plan on doing in the future. so with these heads being alloy is now good for unleaded? it was the brass that was the problem with the seats/valves ?
not too expensive either.

that's interesting

 

[someguy360]

Any new or reco heads you buy now will be set up for unleaded whether it be cast iron recos or new alloy. Leaded fuels were phased out in the US in the late 70's/early 80's and in Aus in the early 90's.

Or you can get yours reconditioned with unleaded valves/seals etc and some machine work for performance improvements (aka compression, porting etc), but imo wiht the price of SBC heads new compared to machining and labour costs these days, probably won't be much difference and alloy heads are much lighter (and they look puurdy)