Broquet Fuel Catalyst

[dazlee]

Hi all,

Has anyone heard or used the Broquet Fuel Catalyst. I am thinking of using it in my VP 88 for a solution to use unleaded.

Any advice on this?

Many thanks

Daz

[MG MAL]

In my opinion there is only two ways to run a car which is designed to use leaded petrol.

Have the head converted to for un leaded fuel use,

Use a good quality lead additive.

There is a third option, but only if you are lucky enough to have a local garage still selling leaded 4 star.

The broquet fuel catalyst is a waste of money


mal.

[E_T_V]

I'd have to say I agree. I'd use lead additive and all should be fine.

[Jack]

Make that three in agreement that these "solutions" do not work - tests have been carried out to confirm this (published in classic car mags around the time leaded fuel was phased out (2000))

[e692wtt]

Our survey said eeh-urrr, I will agree with the 3 people above. If it was that simple then the manufacturers would have fitted them as standard.

The British Standards Institute (BSI) didn't introduce a British Standard for unleaded additives, so the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) designed and performed their own 'unleaded additive' tests on brand new 'leaded only' 1275cc A-series engines (one of the engines most vulnerable to valve seat recession when not fitted with hardened exhaust valve seats) - the tests cost the manufacturer of each unleaded additive £5,000.

Neither did the BSI produce a British Standard for Lead replacement Petrol (LRP) and this also fell outside the remit of the FBHVC (they only tested unleaded additives back then) so has never been proven.

Products endorsed with the FBHVC 'crest' are fine for use in 'leaded only engines' - I've done well over 50,000 miles in my 'leaded only' Monty (1.6L) on Millers' Superblend 2000 with no problems at all (he's got 144,300 on the clock now). Personally I wouldn't use anything not 'passed' by the FBHVC, nor would I use LRP unless I had to (fuel crisis anyone? :laugh: LRP kept my car on the road last time!) and then I wouldn't use the stuff 'in anger' - but then there are other people on here who use no other fuel apart from LRP and report no problems at all.

[islandcat]

I have to disagree with you on this subject. I ran my Mayfair 1.6 for 5 years and countless thousands of miles on a fuelcat catalyst. It worked fantastically and I never had a moments trouble of running on unleaded. I would recommend it to anyone. And for the price, its hard to go wrong. If you think it may be worth checking out, their website is http://www.fuelcat.co.uk/mainpage.html

[islandcat]

I had similar misgivings but proved to be unfounded. I bought a spare cylinder head ready to be converted and fitted, just in case. All it did was gather dust in the garage!!

[threelitre]

I have to disagree with you on this subject. I ran my Mayfair 1.6 for 5 years and countless thousands of miles on a fuelcat catalyst. It worked fantastically and I never had a moments trouble of running on unleaded. I would recommend it to anyone. And for the price, its hard to go wrong. If you think it may be worth checking out, their website is http://www.fuelcat.co.uk/mainpage.html

Umm, yeah, I do run my Maxis and Maestros on unleaded without doing anything or taking any additive - and they continue to run without problems. So I would tend to say that the fuelcat doesn't make a change at least.

Alexander

[mtamin]

I was of the opinion thet the catalyst approach was not advisable but about a year ago I bought a Vanden Plas Allegro with 1750 engine. It had already had a Broquet fuel cat installed by the previous owner some 5 years before. I too have a spare head ready to fit but I am also finding that it just gathers dust on the shelf and the old E series engine runs just fine at the moment. I use unleaded without any problems at all.

[maestromaxi]

I personaly wouldnt recomend these fuel cats. My dad put one in his maxi when they were first on the market, and after 6 years of use you would have thought that the little lead pellets would have disolved a little to show that the lead had been used? Well, they hadnt changed appearence one bit! Onother factor that works against this product is when one of the classic car magazines were doing a test for unleaded additives, they would submit one for testing. Doesnt really inspire confidence in the product, does it?

[e692wtt]

OK, can anyone explain how these 'fuel catalysts' work?

[MG MAL]

Not really, but i can tell you all this.


My R plate BGT was fitted with the afformentioned fuel cattalyst, by the previous owner around 20k miles ago.

In the history file it said "uleaded conversion".
Having just been towed home after the BGT burnt out two valves today, :worried: i called the p/o, and he said that the conversion was an in tank fuel catalyst by Brocquet and not an unleaded head. :banghead:


Mal.

[Steve H]

I've used Valvemaster additive for the last 70,000 miles and haven't needed to adjust the tappets (yet).

I seem to remember when the main tests were first done the Valvemaster additive with octane boost increased the octane rating up to an equivalent of four and a half star when used in the correct quantity to stop valve recession (anyone remember five star fuel?). I usually use a mix of the octane boost variety and the straight lead replacement type. The engine seems to like this mixture.

Steve

[maestromaxi]

OK, can anyone explain how these 'fuel catalysts' work?

The idea of these fuel catalists is that the lead pellets slowly disolve in the petrol. But they dont, well, my dads havnt anyway. Saying that, the last time they were checked was about 2 years ago when the wire fishing line thingy broke. At that time they had been in the tank for 5-6 years and still looked the same as the day they were put in. If they wouldnt submit them for testing, its no suprise to me that they dont actualy do anything.

Dont bother with them, just use a good fuel addative then you'll know it works.

[E_T_V]

I think the substance in leaded petrol is tetra-ethyl Lead which protects the valve seats. I can't see how you can convert lead to tetraethyl lead by simply sitting it in petrol without a catalyst or heat present