Fuel Lines/Rubber Lines and Hardened Seats

[yellocharge68]

I have read and heard that some of our cars from the era of Leaded fuel do not fair well with todays unleaded fueld.  I was wonderingf if in fact using the unleaded, but higher octane modern fuel does in fact de-grade the rubber hoses/lines in our cars.  I was also reading both on Moppar and the Bowties that hardened valve/lifter seats need to be hardened to prevent engine failure or to be able to handle the  Modern Octane/non leaded fuel.

ThankFully I can begin the final plabns to aquire my next Charger and get it in my garage immediately after retirement this Summer.  Any advise or guidance on this information will be greatly appreciated and if you can point me in the right direction to study up on the material it will be very much appreciated.

Regards Mopar Land !!!    

[John_Kunkel]

It seems to be a crap-shoot, some people suffer exhaust valve seat erosion and some don't...a lot has to do with how hard you drive the car.

Unleaded fuel with ethanol added is definitely destructive to old rubber parts like fuel hoses and pump diaphragms, if there's no ethanol in your fuel you'll probably be OK.

[70 sublime]

In my old 69 Charger I pulled a 383 out a 71 Newport to put in my car 10 years ago
Engine was never apart and had about 65 000 miles on it
I used the cheapest gas at the pump all the time in the car which most had ethanol in it
I had over 10 000 miles I put on that set up with no engine problems
The only rubber part I had to change was the original rubber line that went from the gas tank sender unit to the metal gas line because it had dried out and started to crack and leak so did not blame the type of fuel on that

[70 sublime]

Are you looking for a Charger project or turn the key and go type car ?

[yellocharge68]

Good info..... Sublime, my plan is to find, have inspection done then buy a Turnkey 1968 Charger with a 440 engine! If at all possible an all original driveline, but if not that isn't a real breaker.  I am about to finally retire, and have a projected budget of $125K........ I certainly do not want to sped that much, but the supply of the body second generation chargers is not meeting the demand and is driving the prices way high!!!!!

[Kern Dog]

Here in California, we are saddled with ethanol in everything.
I have noticed no ill effects to the engine but the rubber lines do go bad faster, especially the cars that sit outside most of the time. There are higher grade EFI spec hoses you can use to prevent it.