Low Audi Content

["Al Powell" <apowell@agcom.tamu.edu>]

Just coz I BTDT....

Gross nicely pointed out the presence of sodium-filled valve stems 
in a 1967 vintage car...I would like to mention that my dad's 1957 
Mercedes 219 (denotes a 6-cyl, 1 carb motor...) had/has sodium-filled 
exhaust valves.  This trick for enhancing heat transfer from the 
valve face is at least 40 years old, and found even in some fairly 
plain vanilla autos.

As I recall, the replacement valves dad bought were about $18 each in 
1970 dollars, which made them durn pricey!  They also came with a 
caution about disposal, which I'm sure encouraged some members of the 
Junior Archimedes Scouts to cut the stems and drop the contents into 
(hopefully tall and only partially filled) buckets of water.  As Bob 
points out, getting hot sodium on ones' skin is no picnic.

Out of morbid curiosity, has anyone ever run into sodium-filled valve 
stems in a US-made car??


*******************************************************
Al Powell                        
Voice:  409/845-2898 (a new number)
Fax:    409/862-1202
As of July 1, email will be: Apowell@learn.colostate.edu      
*******************************************************