Trabi/IFA Chat Forum

I always thought the effects of lead were worse than not having lead. If that makes any sense.

As I understand it, TEL was added to gasoline as a cheap anti-knock additive. Not an upper cylinder head lubricant. Eventually the lead will coke up the valves and everything else in an engine.

As a matter of fact AMOCO fuels were unleaded (or at least one of their fuels was).

When I got my grandmother's 68 Ford, I asked around about using a lead additive. One guy said not to waste my money because his small block had been running unleaded for well over 100,000 miles with no valve damage. However by that time Ford may have been using hardened valve seats anyway so it may not have mattered.

I sometimes wonder if this was like the R12 scare of the early 90s. When car companies were hoping people would buy into the fact that R12 would no longer be available and people would have to scrap out their cars because the A/Cs would not longer function. Only to find that there is no difference between an R12 and and R134 system. The only difference is the oils in the refrigerants are different which are not compatible.

I sold four cans of R12 on Ebay for $80. I paid $1.50 a can for them 25 years ago. Then turned around and both several cans of R134a at Big Lots for $8.00 a can!

I wish Keri would answer these theories, I think between all of us she is the only one actually educated in the matter. The rest of us just go by what we heared....

My 56 Buick didn't have hardened exhaust seats when I bought it. It didn't have valve damage but it had cylinder head demage. The exhaust valves started to eat into the cast iron due to the lack of lead lubrication. (I assume)

The lead called something big word start with thetra something something was in the gas for lubrication. As far as I understand. It was also better for the carburator and fuel pump. (As I heard)

The R12 system works at a lower pressure and with a different compressor. Most of the R12 systems have piston operated compressors. For some reason if I change an originally R12 system over to R134a it gets way less cold. So all my old cars like my 81 280SL Mercedes and my 71 Buick with the old Fridgidair compressor are charged with the R12 juice. When you convert the system over you supposed to change all the O rings as well from red to green ones, and I would also change the compressor. But then you will find the next weakest part of your system....

I'm not sure if it's true that the R12 is eating up our ozon layer but what I know for fact that there is a rather large ozon hole right now! I'm flying airplanes for living and we have this problem mentioned in our manual. We have to avoid the big giant hole or else! It's contantly moving by the way....

So I guess you have no old AC units in your Fiats and Trabant so you had no use of the old R12 cans... I wish I could have bought them from you! Living in Texas AC is essential!

I have my doubts about allot of things. About the hole in the ozone layer, greenhouse gasses, etc.

I thought the hole in the ozone layer was at the south pole. If that's the case then looks like if people doing research down there would get an instant sunburn or burst into flames if they were not wearing some sort of protective suit when they stepped out of their research facility. I wonder when they even discovered there was such a thing as an ozone layer.

This greenhouse gas thing. I'm not sure what to make about that. I could say it's getting hotter but once I hit 40, I think it's just harder for me to tolerate the heat like I use to.

Speaking of air conditioners. R12 may actually absorb heat better than R134a. I have heard of having to change O-rings and all but not the compressor. They do recommend flushing the system out with lacquer thinner to get rid of the R12 oil. The oil used in R12 I think is a mineral oil and for some reason is not compatible with R134a.

I built a custom air conditioning system for my Fiat Spider (bad photo):



Based on what I read while choosing components, everything was suitable for R12 or R134a.

All components were pretty much sized for the car. Meaning the condenser is 12X20 which is the largest unit I could use. The evaporator/blower unit was the largest I could use that would fit between the center console and door. The compressor is actually smaller but I had to go with it because of my custom turbo system.

This is with running R134a:



That same day:



The system works great, the problem is the car is so poorly insulated, the A/C has to run on full blast but does keep me cool.

Here are some pics of my A/C build:

http://s222.photobucket.com/user/turbofiat/library/Spider%20AC%20system?sort=6&page=1

Here is a system I am planning on installing on my Yugo.

http://s222.photobucket.com/user/turbofiat/library/Yugo%20air%20conditioning%20unit?sort=6&page=1

But I'm going to replace the condenser and use a new compressor.

You look like a real hard core handy man! I did my fair share of installing AC in old cars as well, so I do appreciate what you done on your cars.. You might want to try closing your top on the Fiat spyder to improove AC efficiancy....

I could copy parts of my airplane manual and other stuff but we are getting very far from Keri's experiment with synthetic oil and Trabant seals.