what fuel does my car take?

we have a mk1 1.1c, wondering what fuel it takes?

started it up for only 2nd time since we bought it & sound quite bad & smokes a fair bit

though maybe we had the wrong fuel in?

my mate seems to think it may take lead replacement & not unleaded which is what its running on now…

 :dontknow:

has it been standing long? unleaded doesn't store for long, some fresh fuel may help, sure its not the valve stem oil seals gone?

All MK1's will take unleaded - may just need timing change though. Do a search of the forum but from memory (don't quote me!) it needs to be 1 degree BTDC

Cheers
Andy

Sainburys petrol stations are still selling 4-star/Lead Replacement Petrol.

With your mk1, add some LPR. See what happens.
If it runs okay with LPR, then next try unleaded RON 98/RON 99 petrol.

If its okay with RON 98/99, try regular unleaded (but only half a tank).

If it runs really bad, fill the other half of the tank with RON 98/99 or even LRP, or get the ignition timing changed to suit regular unleaded.


Do the above over a series of weeks/fill-ups.
At each stage, if it runs bad go back to the previous okay fuel.

If it's a standard 1.1, it'll do fine on 95RON (standard unleaded) - in fact, it'll run fine on fuel as low as 91RON.

If it's a Formel E (high compression 1.1), you'll need 98RON, which is fairly expensive    You could try retarding the timing, if this is the case, but you will lose power doing this.

GTI's need 98RON too, and the above retarding info also applies.

Leaded petrol is not required for its valve seat-protecting properties in any '77-on VW engine, but real leaded petrol (not all LRP) was 98RON, so was useful for GTI's & Formel E engines.

PS: I think that the standard timing for all Mk1 engines is 6 degrees BTDC - it certainly is for the 1.3 (GF) and the 1.8 GTI (DX)