[delco1946]

I'm not finding a ton of info on the matter but my engine makes a noise. I'm assuming its knocking for now. I haven't had my car for a while so I drove it all weekend, at first with clear premium gas during which I didn't recall hearing the noise. I now have ethanol premium and its knocking. the cost difference is almost $2 dollars per gallon and those stations are few and far between.

I just spent thousands on this car for other things, and have other cars also costing me money, so an engine rebuild, expensive fixes, etc is nowhere on the horizon. Besides the gas issue, what are other ways i can minimize knocking.

It sounds like a possible option is switching to a cooler spark pug? Ie instead of autolite 46s use autolite 45s?

My carb needs to be rebuilt as gas is leaking from the carb (too slowly to see but the manifold will be damp when parked). I'm sure it hasn't been done in decades so the gaskets are thrashed, no doubt. Can an overly lean mixture from vacuum leaks in gaskets also causing knocking? I sorta thought it was running rich all these years, but if it was it shouldn't be knocking, right?