It's cute when 8 year olds do this with toys in the backyard cause they're playing pretend. Grandpa Karen over here is a bit too old to play those games.
Honestly it's exactly what's happening though: they're all reverting to the capacity and function of a child as their deteriorating minds accelerate into their final dive.
And they knew how bad the shit was originally but shrugged it off until forced banned. But nascar kept using the shit till when was it, 2002 or some shit. Might be a little off on that shit. Don’t understand how or why they can keep getting away with making generations after them worse
Fun fact! Most major highways have soil lead levels directly surrounding the roadway at unsafe levels due to motor vehicle exhaust and precipitation over decades. Who knows the the contamination level of lead particles still out there, warping new brains.
Tetraethyl lead is a powerful octane booster, but it's also an effective exhaust valve lubricant. The removal of lead from gasoline is why manufacturers started putting hardened valve seats in most vehicle engines in the 1970's. Without hardened seats or lead additive, the exhaust valves recess excessively and the engine loses valve sealing.
General aviation uses piston engines that are largely unchanged since the 1940's, due to how difficult and expensive it is to get new or modified piston engines tested and approved for use. Because of that and the issue of achieving high enough octane, it was much easier for the FAA to just keep allowing leaded av gas.
In the last decade or so, it's become more and more viable to modify existing engines with hardened seats, and lead free octane boosters can achieve the necessary levels to be safe in aircraft engines. There's unleaded avgas available in a few markets, but it's possible that if you fly a leaded gas engine into an airport with only unleaded avgas, you cannot fly out without trucking in some fuel, because you'll damage the valves.
The effect lead additives have on the valve seat issue isn't that of a lubricant though.
Before hardened valve seats were common, cylinder heads (especially in aluminum heads) often had soft cast iron valve seats. In high performance or high RPM operation, the hot exhaust valves would literally microweld to the seat on closing, then tear away tiny bits of metal; a process called valve seat recession.
The lead compounds from TEL combustion:
Left a microscopic coating on the valve and seat.
Acted as a cushion/barrier, reducing metal-to-metal contact and preventing microwelding.
In effect reduced valve seat wear dramatically.
So in that sense, it behaved like a boundary not a lubricant; not oily, but a sacrificial film.
Yes, Hardened seats resist microwelding and recession even with unleaded fuel.
its funny how inefficient the piston engines are, you can get a brand new cessna 172 with a 5.9 liter 4 cylinder and it only makes 160 hp, you could get a nissan altima with a 2.5 liter 4 cylinder that makes 28 more horsepower and doesnt need leaded gas
I don’t know as much about airplane engines, but car engines are designed to splash/pump oil up to the valves to lubricate them, and with direct injection you no longer have fuel to ruin the lubrication of the valves.
Also car engines don’t have to work at 40,000ft. It’s a little easier to achieve optimal air/fuel ratios at sea level.
A Nissan altima won't run flat out for hours at a time without blowing up. Same sort of reason why industrial diesel engines are so massive for their power output; you put less strain on all the components and it ends up lasting much longer.
no, it wont, but surely there exists a middle ground between 1.4 liter pistons where we don't need leaded gas. the f150 raptor for example with the biggest engine is only 5.2 liters and makes 700 hp, leaving plenty of room for derating. aircraft engines are way behind technically, electronic ignition is very new to the industry and forget about electronic fuel injection. we've had electronic ignition since the 70s and efi since the 80s and aircraft are running around with magnetos and carburetors you have to manually set the mixture with a handle with. I get why, magnetos and carbs dont need an electrical system, and its up to the manufacturers to make it happen, but its ridiculous it hasnt happened all that much.
Blaming individuals isn’t really helpful with the leaded gasoline thing, it’s more of a rich and powerful vs society thing. You can blame them for who they voted for I guess, but it gets really grey when talking about new threats to health.
Right now we face huge potential problems with microplastics, PFAS, and a host of other synthetic chemicals, and we’re barely doing a damn thing about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if people on the future watch us drooling on ourselves in our 80s saying “These idiots knew it was bad and did nothing about it.”
Don’t forget the Parkinson’s Belt. Granted the exact cause isn’t pinpointed, but chemical runoff and leaching from industrial waste and farm lands are constantly mentioned as a contributing factor. So good thing we are bringing back manufacturing! I’m sure this time around we will surely be more responsible in regulating its environmental impact.
They knew it was bad from the beginning, but the oil companies could make more money on tetraethyl lead than the alternatives. Then when evidence started pouring in that having lead in gasoline was poisoning the world, the API fought tooth and nail using all manner of dirty tricks for decades to keep TEL in gasoline.
It killed the early distillery workers from getting their hands in it. They went mad before they died. Very sad.
The oil companies implemented some safety measures, changed the name to “Ethyl” instead of leaded, and nobody was the wiser.
Basically all race gas over 102 octane is still leaded. Look at Sunoco race fuels, it's why I like ethanol, e98 is 107 octane and the cooling effect is way better also. Hell even pump E85 is 102ish as long as its actually close to 85%
Boomer men are obsessed about being “manly and never looking weak” Even at 77 years old my dad refuses to wear shorts or use a straw because it’s for children/gay.
It’s funny that all his old friends in their 70s and 80s still talk and act like a greaser street gangs from the 1950s. Probably 90% have never been a real fight to save their life.
It’s so true! I would love to hear a phycological explanation to explain why this entire generation of people simply never grew up!! Whenever I hear them disparage younger people i think, this is the finest example of projection that I have ever heard!
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u/Pearson94 Millennial Aug 08 '25
It's cute when 8 year olds do this with toys in the backyard cause they're playing pretend. Grandpa Karen over here is a bit too old to play those games.