So, fed up with reading the silly FB groups and trying to chat about this, but the new bio fuel thing has happened in the stations and wondered if it's true about using the premium fuel from now on? Just rebuilt my 65' gazelle and fitted alloy head etc. Had the valve seats hardened as usual to suit unleaded but now I'm thinking I should only be using the premium fuel (I think E5) from now on which I do not mind as it's better in other ways anyway, just thought I'd ask here. Maybe someone has a useful link to read.
PS;
I went on the gov site (UK Gov), that's not good for old-old cars as Singer is not a manufacturer on there!
E10 fuel for Singer Gazelle (UK)
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mikeyr
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Re: E10 fuel for Singer Gazelle (UK)
with a Alloy head and hardened valve seats, I would think you do not need Premium gas. I ran my 4Ad on Premium when i had it since it did not have hardened seats and was still running strong after 20,000 miles when I sold it. I had about 60,000 miles on the motor but the first 40k or so were with leaded gas. Of course that was a low compression ratio motor, so less damage from low RPM motors and unleaded gas. The Gazelle's motor is a little higher compression ratio and you likely drive it more at freeway speeds than i did my 4AD.
It seems you have done all you can to prevent damage to the seats, i would just drive it with the cheapest gas. In the States, we could also get a product called Relead as a additive, I used that in my FIAT Dino while I owned it, as you can imagine rebuilding a Dino head (2 of them) costs a little more than a 4AD or Gazelle. I had no issues in the 8 years I owned the Dino with Relead.
One thing to note, is some old rubber fuel lines don't like E10, if the lines were bought in the last decade or so, they will be fine, if they are more then 20 years old, they will likely not like E10 and will need replacing after a while.
It seems you have done all you can to prevent damage to the seats, i would just drive it with the cheapest gas. In the States, we could also get a product called Relead as a additive, I used that in my FIAT Dino while I owned it, as you can imagine rebuilding a Dino head (2 of them) costs a little more than a 4AD or Gazelle. I had no issues in the 8 years I owned the Dino with Relead.
One thing to note, is some old rubber fuel lines don't like E10, if the lines were bought in the last decade or so, they will be fine, if they are more then 20 years old, they will likely not like E10 and will need replacing after a while.
Mike Rambour. Site Administrator
1953 Singer 4ADT (sold), 1934 Singer 9 Le Mans, 1934 Singer 1 1/2 4-Seater Sports (sold), 2009 BMW K1300GT
1953 Singer 4ADT (sold), 1934 Singer 9 Le Mans, 1934 Singer 1 1/2 4-Seater Sports (sold), 2009 BMW K1300GT
Re: E10 fuel for Singer Gazelle (UK)
I guess it's the rubber that will suffer, eg the pipe that joins from tank that fuel sits 8n, the pipe from the pump and the seal in the pump. I think issues come about when the fuel is left laying around and the car is not regularly commuted. So 8 may stick to the dearer fuel until I learn more.