toddalin

I definitely get more drip with synthetic in the '64. But not so much as to change it out, and I think there is benefit in being able to tolerate higher temperatures.

Ever thrown a belt in the dark and run the engine over 3 miles with no water pump until it pings before shutting it down?? Happened to me but with the synthetic, I haven't seen any ill effects afterwards.

DUB

For what it is worth... The Amsoil Z-Rod 10w-30 oil is all I sell for flat tappet engines at my shop...with or without catalytic converters.

As as for "too much" ZDDP...lets say..it would NOT be good to run your engine on 'break-in oil' all the time.

DUB

sub006

My C2 leaked a bit of oil when it was new. I parked on dirt under a carport in those days, who could tell?

TCracingCA

I think these synthetics are awesome! I guess some people here, are still biased reading comments on forums that have no basis really for the negativity against it and fail to see that manufacturers are using and recommending it and that people like myself are experiencing good results in our Corvettes. But I can't speak to the breaking in of any of my engines, because I hadn't made the switch to synthetics, until after I had built them and broke them in.

If your engine leaks with synthetics, then learn to do a better job assembling your engine!

Lastly, to pick the oil weight, one should make those decisions based on the build, where the clearances and tolerances are set or what type of wear you have if older.

Ps In our air-cooled Porsches in our Family (R build car and will run it in the new RSR build), we run the Brad Penn green stuff! That would be an entirely different conversation (air cooled), but those level of oils are awesome products also!

biggd

I was a Mobil dealer for over 20 years. Mobil 1 is a great product for new vehicles but I wouldn't run it in an old car unless the motor was completely rebuilt. I'm not a big fan of running 15w 50 in a motor unless the motor is on it's last legs. I've had many cases where we put Mobil 1 in a motor with high mileage that never leaked or burned a drop oil and it was a disaster. I still use Mobil 1 today in my independent shop but I will not recommend it to a customer that has never used it before and has high mileage on there car. There is nothing wrong with non synthetic oil as long as your engine is running efficiently and you change it regularly. On older cars with carburators, it's still advisable to change the oil every 3000 miles. The newer cars with PCM controlled fuel injection just run so much cleaner that you can easily double that mileage and still keep your engine oil clean.

TCracingCA

Ok I am cheating and suck the dirty crap right out of the block with a fitting venting my engine out of my headers. Nothing passes through my Carb, except for fuel and air! (No vacuum being pilled from the carb for anything else except my fuel concerns, no PVC, no smog, nothing), then I am also vented to the atmosphere or drawing air from the atmosphere completely by breathers knowing fan air flow or air flow into the engine could come in dirty, so those have filters, and a road draft tube pointed backwards to rear of car, so I am about as non-smog and non-green as you can be! Thus that goes along way in not having pressures building in the engine, so maybe I was mean to you guys that are not letting it all breath!

Additionally, when switching to synthetic, it was a total purge of the total oil system, with pan off, oil pump out, filter off, heads off, etc. so I had no erratic dinosaur oil in the engine any longer. Thus no errant sludge, no errant pocket of a differing oil that might momentarily be acting as my lubricant or mixing corrupting the blend or whatever!

Old engine, new engine-- I don't see how it would matter if you choose the right weight. In the older engine. Therefore I filled it with a heavier weight synthetic in the higher mileage engine and in the lessor mileage one, I knew my clearance, tolerances and filled it with a lessor weight. I double checked my choices by consistency of the oil pressure gauge and the pressure level through the op range!

Ps some guys still run some cork type gaskets, so there is some seep into the material and I can see some oil dripping. Some of the gasket makers and modern gaskets take care of some of the old issues!

in other words, please know what you are talking about everyone, is my recommendation!

Ps even though I haven't had the chance to break in an engine on synthetic, I cheat also on that process of breaking in an engine! I have broken in the cams and lifters with lighter springs and then change them!

biggd

A carburetor can't mix fuel and air as efficiently as computerized fuel injection. You will always end up with carbon build up from excess unburned fuel in the crankcase. Which in turn makes the oil turn black that much quicker. The light weight oils in todays car are meant to cause less friction and thus give better fuel economy. Also prevent excessive wear on start ups as thinner oil will get to the bearings quicker in all types of weather. Thick oil in an old engine is fine but it's really just a band aid for a worn out motor. There is no need to use 15w 50 or 20w 50 in a new or newly rebuilt engine.

Frankie the Fink

Its odd - I added a PCV system to my otherwise stock '61 and saw an immediate improvement in oil coloration. At the regular oil changes the oil is still a nice honey-brown...with the old road draft tube it was inky black.

My '63 (also stock) came with the factory PCV valve and the oil goes from honey-brown to inky black in the first 500 miles after a change. Go figure. Mobil 1 15W-50W in both motors.

So, is my cobbled together PCV system on the '61 scavenging contaminants better than my factory (CV-590) '63 PCV setup ? Or is it just an idiosyncrasy of the two engines ?

I may play with an adjustable PCV valve on the '63 just for grins to see if I can 'dial it in' any better (and because I'm bored).

biggd

Maybe the carburetor on the 63 is not working at optimum efficiency. Usually excessive unburned gas causes the oil to blacken quickly.

TCracingCA

I have to see? When was the last time that I was beat anywhere by a peer car with FI or of the same breed, uhm! NEVER! But if I ever want better gas mileage which was not even in the plan, then I might consider FI and I seem to lose to everyone on fuel mileage, go figure!. I think most everything (very little in that category) that might not burn goes out the headers! My plug coloration has been perfect and I have a real nice color with no black carbon on the header exhausts. The baffled connection pulling out from the block to the headers is helping. I also don't run synthetic out to the same intervals of 10K or higher as with a modern car and am changing it at about the 6-7K point. Also in the car I have used the most, I don't consider the engine worn, but loose and thus I run 20-50.
If someone is getting dirtier oil by running a road draft tube, then something is getting up that tube, so that is a problem installation and it is open to the atmosphere in a bad location, and I doubt if it drafting, but pressure or vacuum or something is causing a suction from that venting point. Something is not right in that engine!

My oil pressure gauge has seemed to go instant pressure, where as with old dinosaur oil had to build just a little on start up, and stayed thick with the gauge sluggish until warmed up, where the synthetic was flowing good as the gauge was indicating or it was all my imagination! So I think the natural viscosity of synthetics is aiding the circulation and oil gets back pressurized quirker, which seems to be aiding longevity. I had 55K since going synthetic on an 67K total engine (Gen 1- 327) and I took it apart for some mods and everything was looking good!

TCracingCA

NASCAR guys build fresh engines and run them on Synthetics. And FYI, they have carbs!

biggd

I never said Mobil 1 wasn't a great oil but from my experience as a mechanic/shop owner, of well over 40 years I would never put it Mobil 1 in a motor that has never used it before and has a lot of miles on it already. I have had multiple bad outcomes in the past. I would how ever use it a freshly rebuilt motor or any motor with low mileage, under 30,000. I've never been into racing so I can't speak to that aspect of Mobil 1. I really don't care if your carburetored car has never been beat by a Fuel Injected car and I'm not impressed by it. Im sure the majority of us on here are just everyday drivers trying to take care of their cars for maintenance free driving. If you put Mobil 1 in a motor with a lot of mileage on it already you're asking for trouble. JMO, take it or leave it!

biggd

He's not into efficiency or environmentally friendly. He's just into going fast.

sub006

As a lifelong Castrol guy, I prefer Syntec. My oldest hot-rodder son, head mechanic for a collection of 50 old cars, including a Duesenberg, pre-WWI Cadillacs, Packards, etc. uses Mobil 1 in his Silverado 4wd and 388 ci '63 Chevy II.

You pays your money and takes your choice!

63redvette

That's exactly why I installed a water low flow warning light under my instrument cluster from ZIP. But for oil, I just run the old dinosaur goo.

65GGvert

Nascar runs fuel injected cars now.

biggd

I made tons of money over the years rebuilding carburetors in house. Other than lawn mover carburetors I haven't touched one in ten years. I built my 67 Coupe to drive. I wanted dependability and performance with good gas mileage. That's why I went with a newer Fuel Injected engine and 6sp Trans without a second thought.

TCracingCA

Ok a fuel injected NASCAR would kick my butt!

Also I appreciate any participation from shop Owners and engine builders. I don't do fee work for people, so I have the luxury of blueprinting, blueprinting, balancing and balancing more, component selection, chamfering, lightening, painting block internals, clearancing, or whatever cool crap I feel like doing for my own projects (probably why lately I ain't getting them finished) and do the little things that generally the masses wouldn't understand, nor be willing to pay for. My crankshaft alone, costs about as much as a 383 Crate engine!

And I am actually trying to not be the definitive expert here, but most know my personality and I will just generally act like I know everything! Why not, it's fun! But actually the introduction of breathing and venting conversations into engine oil quality effect and longevity and such was a very good addition by whoever introduced that into the thread.

PS the Fuel injection comment was the first stone thrown at the carb crowd. Thus we can fight back, so my speed boast was just throwing a rock back as a counter-attack! Because I know that there is always someone bigger and better with a faster car!

PS the formula guys even take it to more of an extreme and even analysis the piston moving and the correlation to the displacement of air and movement and channeling of air within the block. Thus as 8 cylinders go up and down, you hold that the air displaced jumps to the ideal place within the block, but the firing order on a V-8 doesn't cooperate with that much. Therefore a lot of turbulence (I hope I spelled that right?), created in there and therefore pressures and oil flying around, so I think the less environmental control the better. Open it all up, and scavenge and exhale and breath, etc.. and it goes alone way if done right to keep things good and should assist with longevity and reliability, etc.!

PS sometimes I will throw two rocks back at the same time, and fight dirty!

PS I think I dated myself on NASCAR's having carbs-- because I stopped following it, the year they let Toyota in!

Frankie the Fink

I haven't touched my dual quads on my '61 (Carter WCFBs) in 2-1/2 years and drive 5,000 miles annually. Cold or steamy hot weather - no matter...the car starts with a flick of the key and tools along on 87 octane, ethanol-laced gas from the cheapest pump.

Not sure what more you ask for vis a vis reliability.

TCracingCA

If we calculate your projected life span vice 5000 a year and times it by some algebra, and round up, then you should be good on things!