TOPIC:

Do I need to add anything to the gas on my 1980 kz750 h1 because some people said it used leaded in the past

I just put in premium gas, and it runs fine for me!

I'm sure I could get away with regular gas, but I put it premium just cause.

I don't know if it makes any difference but I use premium and add Lucas fuel additive to help lube the valves. The lead in Regular fuel lubes the valves and helps the valve guides to last longer. There are lead substitutes out there that you can add.

Four-stroke Kawasaki s were designed to run on unleaded fuel...the corporation was aware in the early 1970's of the looming mandate in the US (one of their largest consumer bases) to switch from leaded to unleaded fuels.

Mcdroid +1

I've used nothing but unleaded since my bike was new. I use premium, and maybe that's unnecessary, but it has always worked well for me. Ed

Kinda sorta on topic:

1990: In amendments to the Clean Air Act, lead was banned from gasoline. The measures would take effect in 1995, giving gasoline companies five more years to completely phase out lead.

I thought lead was banned from gas in the eighties, not 1995!

And on another side note, if you think premium gives more power than regular, go try it out on a two stroke triple. There was a huge difference on my 500 triple, regular gas made a lot more power than premium. If you're using premium for it's additive package, then more power to you, but if you're using it for more performance, you're wasting your money. If that's what you want to do, I'm cool with that also

While lead is not required, it probably does help reduce valve wear. I ran unleaded premium for many years. When my 750 was new, it would ping on regular probably because it was jetted too lean from the factory. I now run a leaded octane booster to get a little lead and raise the octane on the 87 gas up to about 90 and it runs really well. I also use Lucas fuel conditioner because it keeps the gas fresh and prevents deposits.

If your bike runs OK on regular, going up to premium doesn't buy anything.

ADD: on modern cars, most new engines that "require" premium actually do make more power when you give them premium, but run "OK" with regular. That's because the engine control systems are so complex they can detune the engine to run on lower octane gas than designed for to prevent detonation or pinging, but crank it up to full when the octane is high enough. So in those cases, premium will give more power. But with bikes, no difference.

Premium and Seafoam from time to time.

HBKwaka wrote: Premium and Seafoam from time to time.

Read the Seafoam MSDS

I got flamed for suggesting kerosene as an engine flush, by the very same people that extolled the benefits of using Seafoam in the crankcase. Left me ROTFLMAO

Can't find anything that says it's for fuel treatment, but here's the Seafoam MSDS page.

Seafoam MSDS page