Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Getting the 'eatl out: Part 1 A look at the future of gasoline By J im Wolcott Leaded gasolin e may soon be a thing of the pas t. For th o se n o t tu n ed in to the su btle way s our government m anipulates fed eral regulations, in the March 7, 1985 issue of th e ' Federal Register, the Environ m e n ta l P r o tec ti o n Age ncy (EPA) p ro posed rulemaking for comp letely banning leaded gaso li ne --.: effective as early as j an ua ry I, 1988. Th is p roposal co mes o n th e h eels of th e cu rre nt regu lat ion s th at lim it the maxim um lead conten t o f pum p gaso li ne to 0.5 g ra ms -p erga llon (g p g) beginn ing J u ly I , 1985, an d agai n low er that lim it to 0.1 gpg beg in ni ng J anua ry I, 1986. T hese are regulati on s that raise some interesti n$q uestio ns . Wh at does this l.~.~ J?~ :'P?~qrfgl~S.?'; :~JW..qQ 4s lead 'do for engines? Wh y was lead p u t into gasoline in th e fir st p lace? First , yo u have to consider th e na tu re of gasol ine. Gasoline is o ne o f the byp rod uct s of refining crude o il; wha tever yo u do to process a barrel o f crude, you end u p wi th so me gasoline. In fact, a t th e turn of th e centu ry th is was a p ro blem ; o il refineries had n o market for the stu ff, a nd wou ld p ump reIin ed gasoline in to strea ms , rivers an d ocea ns as was te - a byprod uct with no lar ge-scale use. T he advent o f H enry Ford 's Mod el T cha nged a ll th at , a nd refin eries turned thei r a tte n tion to blending gasoline for use as a ')'l1jJtQT ·Lud .. ( t .l ;" I Y.2 I .I ,~ I ." Bu t bl en ding gaso li ne that was pure and vo la til eno u g h (h ig h octane) to ru n those engi nes was an expensiv e proposi tio n ; In th e ea rly 1920s, the refin in g industry bega n exp eriment ing wi th art ificia l ways to in crea se the vo lati li ty of gaso line , a nd fo und th at a co m po und ca lled tet raeth yl lead (T EL) co u ld en ha nce the cha rac teristics o f low-grade gaso line. So w hat does TE L do for gasoline? Chemically. TEL is aco lorless orga nic co m pou n d th at is so lu ble in gasolin e. When blended in ga so line, it boo sts tha t fuel's resistance to detonation. wh ich m eans it beh a ves as a hi gher-grade fuel a nd ca n safely 'ru !! in engines wit h hi gher 'co m p ression ratios. Hi gh er co m p ressio n paves th e way to mo re power and bett er fuel I eco nomy. H o wever. TE L does mo re th an just boost the oc ta ne rat in g o f gaso line . D uring co mb us tio n , TE L cha nges into co m p lex lead sa lts (lead oxichlo ride. lead ox ibromide a nd lead oxi su lfa te) th at coa t th e p iston cro wn . th e com bust io n cha m ber, spark plug. valv es a nd exha us t tract - wh ich is wh y engi nes run o n lead ed fuel develo p a brown coa ting within the co m busti on cha m ber. Su rp risi ng ly. wh en T EL was first blended with gaso li ne in the 1920s, this lead coa ting ac tua lly ca used engine damage. Affected motorcycles Assuming a l ead ban, exactly what motorcycles are in danger? First of all , anything manufactured before 1 970 was designed before there was any discussion of removing lead from gasoline. If it ' s a . pre- 1970 four-stroke. it's definitely an endangered species, The fol· l owi ng chart shows which motorcycles manufactured .fter 1970 will be affected by a total lead ban : BMW 1980 and earlier models Harley-Davidson All prior to Evolution engine Honda _ 1 977 and earlier models Kawasaki 1974 and earlier models Suzuki ' : , . . . None Yamaha 1974 and earlier models BSA , , , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A ll models Ducati All models to date Laverda __ ~ All models to date Mota Guzzi All models to date Norton . : A ll models Triumph . . , , _ All models , : , • • - ' . • . ... ' . r '

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