Unleaded Fuel, Did the 914/6 2.0 use Leaded Fuel? Options

[Jeffs9146]

As it says above, does the original 2.0 914/6 use leaded fuel or is unleaded ok? The book says 98 octain but it doesn't say anything about Leaded or Unleaded. My 74 had an Unleaded Only sticker but the 6 doesn't!

Jeff

[ArtechnikA]

As it says above, does the original 2.0 914/6 use leaded fuel or is unleaded ok? The book says 98 octane but it doesn't say anything about Leaded or Unleaded. My 74 had an Unleaded Only sticker but the 6 doesn't!

the original 914.6 used leaded fuel because that's all there was in 1970 unless you were in one of the rare areas where Amoco 100 Clear was available. (i wasn't).

it is required in catalytic convertor cars, and possibly it's recommended for thermal reactor cars too; i don't know if your '74 is a cat car or not. (911's were, lots of other cars were too - but some weren't. BMW tried for a long time to get by with thermal reactors and avoid the unleaded requirement - and those last few cars were dogs...)

it was an issue for American muscle cars that were trying to run valve seats directly in their cast-iron heads. aircooled cars have always run very hard valve seat inserts and are unaffected by the absense of lead - usually, they're better off without it.

BTW - that 98 number was a Research number; it's approximately equivalent to the 92-94 "AntiKnock Index" Research-Motor average posted for conventional unleaded premium.