Phasing out of LRP and Rover 216SE EFi (1982-89)

Phil (phil snipped-for-privacy@bigNOSPAMfoot.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

If it is, then it should not have been for sale in the UK. All cars sold here new after some time in the mid 80s had to be capable of running on undeaded, IIRC.

Use Super undeaded - Optimax and the like. It's higher octane than LRP.

Don't bother doing anything with the valves.

If the bloody thing's only done 40k miles in 15-20 years, I presume you're not going to be putting starship mileage on it now. You'll probably be fine for the rest of the car's life.

If it does start to recede, then you have to do what you're talking about doing now - inserts. If it doesn't, then you've saved £200+.

Alternatively, use an additive in undeaded.

The message from Conor contains these words:

Is this the S-series, as used in later Maestros? I fitted an unleaded head to an E-reg one which some plonker had been running on unleaded having believed the claims of the "throw this in the tank and you can use unleaded" merchants. When we bought it there was bugger all compression on one cylinder 'cos the valves had receeded - took about

Anyway, fitted a head with inserts and it was fine - the ECU managed the timing without trouble.

Put Unleaded in, see what happens. I had a Triumph Acclaim, 1983 A reg, and it ran just fine on Unleaded, slight loss in 'performance' but no notable ill effects apart from that.

Acclaim (and 213) had honda engines????? Fine on unleaded IIRC (my 213 was anyway)

Are you sure there's a knock sensor? I don't recall any 216 having one.

John

Yes, they do, even the carb'ed ones with Ecu managed sparks.

Tim..

If you can get a head cheap then you could just see how long the standard one lasts, it might outlast the car !! A spare head would be useful anyway to send off to have hardened seats fitted. You could email ferriday engineering, they know quite a bit about unleaded conversions: snipped-for-privacy@ferriday.co.uk

Check their website:

The message from "mrcheerful ." contains these words:

Didn't on the wife's Maestro. I had the receipt from the bloke fitting a Broquet "fuel catalyst" and UL fuel from then on. Took about 4000 miles to shag the head to the point where it was only firing on 3 and he virtually gave it away.

Why not just use Castrol Valvemaster or one of the other FBHVC approved additives at around a fiver a bottle which treats 250 litres, its only acouple of pence a litre. I have had sucessful results for 4 years now ( well since leaded went out of production anyway) Available from halfords. Steve the grease

It's possible you may not be able to adjust the timing if it is handled electronically.

Yes, it was usually the valve seats which determined if an engine could use unleaded long-term. FWIW, I had a 1.6 Montego which has the same engine (albeit not fuel injected). I ran it on unleaded for several months with no noticeable problems. Your car may well be low mileage, but it's also an old Rover which is reputed to disingtegrate - the resale value of the car probably wouldn't be much more than the cost of having the head converted. Of course, if you've no plans to sell it anytime soon, and you're sure it will be capable of passing the next few MOTs with hardly any work, then it *may* be worth doing...

Quite correct, a couple of degrees is needed. However, as you rightly point out, the 1.6 'S' engine has the knock sensor which should ensure that the ignition is advanced as far as possible for the type of fuel used.

No idea - a haynes manual will tell you sizes of valves, etc. but not if it's possible bore them out. An engineering works with experience of unleaded conversions should be able to tell you.

Darren

Guy King ( snipped-for-privacy@zetnet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

And still some people try to claim that these fuel cats aren't really snake oil.

The message from Adrian contains these words:

With luck, anyone who was likely to have believed it will have trashed their engine by now and the market's dried up.

It wasn't sold to me.

Ahh, but that is what it has done *up to now*. It will be used rather more from now on.

The undeaded has worked well up to now. It's still very much alive.

Phil The uk.d-i-y FAQ is at

Thanks for the confirmation.

Have talked to the machinist now and he convinced me they can do it. He wants me to take the car along so he can eyeball the head to see himself exactly which model it is. I found that quite reassuring myself.

-- Phil Replace NOSPAM with bigfoot to reply

Yes, S-series. G-reg. I don't know anything about Maestros.

How did you get the unleaded head, or did you convert it? I thought they ditched that engine for the Honda after this model.

Great news.

-- Phil Replace NOSPAM with bigfoot to reply

Yes, for a few thou miles I think. See above reports.

-- Phil Replace NOSPAM with bigfoot to reply

Yes, it's part of the injection kit.

-- Phil Replace NOSPAM with bigfoot to reply

Will do. Thanks for that Mr C. A swap replacement would indeed make me more comfortable than letting a machine shop loose on my one and only head.

-- Phil Replace NOSPAM with bigfoot to reply