using single weight oil in a passenger car

[Pablo]

8 quarts of no VII enhanced, high TBN oil. Well there you go!

Rocker panel rust - I couldn't keep up. By then, mine was an 1800 anyway, with a weber carb, etc... I bought a 1984 VW Sirocco. For the chicks!!!

 

[BarkerMan]

Yes, Camu Mahubah, this is where I learned about crank scrapers, same with making my own head gaskets. Mixing my own coolant solutions I learned from a tuna boat engineer.

mechtech2, I remain unconvinced that multiviscosity oil in moderate climate can be considered better without qualification than single grade oil. I do believe that it is a save solution for lubrication needs for most people, not always a better one. If you get involved with your vehicle there are other solutions than the common ones that most fall back on. You can call my old fashioned but you have to remember this 510 is running on the original crank without grinding and the original pistons. There is no way to know if a 10w-30 during the same period would have done better but the single weight oil has done a very good job and should not automatically be considered inferior.

 

[racer12306]

I must say bravo for 1. keeping a car that long and 2. for doing what you have.

No need to argue about straight weight vs multi-viscosity when you pull 500,000 miles out of a gas engine.

Keep the car till it won't drive anymore.

Out of curiosity what kind of gas mileage does it get?

 

[Shannow]

Barkerman,
perhaps you could start a thread in the Automotive General telling us all of your mods and maintenance practices.

It's impressive what you've shared to date.

 

[BennyL]

wow, BarkerMan... your knowledge and experience with cars and stuff in general is cool as [censored]. i wish i knew you. i feel like you'd be the kind of friend i'd always be asking for advice!

 

[BarkerMan]

Thanks for the kind words. Mileage, I'll have to check and get back to you, but I will check.

One advantage I have with this car is that everything is easy and familiar. I’ve look at many new cars and the view under the hood is pretty scary.

I would also like to explain one other modification I’ve made. My car came with a distributor and points. You had to set the dwell and then the timing. It did not throw much of a spark and solid state ignitions then were expensive. I installed a Vertex Magneto that I purchased from Joe Hunt. It produces a big fat spark with a lot of amperage. I think that burning as much of the fuel air mixture as possible helps the rings don a better job. I smoothed out the passages to the intake and exhaust valves and unshrouded the area around the valves in the combustion chambers, and polished everything. I also ground my own camshaft to give a bit more lift, a softer opening and keep the intake open just a bit longer so I can run a higher compression and still use regular gasoline with a profile that allowed me to use valve springs with a lower rating. The intake valves have been profiled to allow for more air and lighten them up just a bit and the guides have been trimmed and shaped to allow for better flow. The exhaust valves are sodium filled and have also been trimmed just a little bit and the keepers are titanium. Since I was an apprentice of sorts I just could not resist. I tested my setup on a flow bench and tuned the valve spring ratings with the head assembled, turned the camshaft with an electric motor and used a timing light to watch when they floated. I’m using very light springs and never take the engine above 6 thousand rpm. Please let me know if this is TMI.

 

[G-MAN]

BarkerMan, I'm curious as to what sort of winter temps your car experienced over all the years you used straight 30.

 

[BarkerMan]

It snows a couple of times a year, enough to dust the ground and once in a while a few inches but nothing more than that. Temps would get below freezing a couple of time a year but nothing really cold. The car has always been kept in a garage overnight. If it's going to be cold I throw a heating blanket in the engine compartment and wrap it around the engine. It's a commercial unit and keeps the heat in the engine all night. It does not take much electricity and it's fire proof and has a thermostat. I have used the blanket in my experiments with plastic and other materials. I have built several sail boats over the years and have experimented with cold molding and the use of alternate materials for hull construction. Don't laugh, it works just fine.

 

[ThirdeYe]

Would you consider yourself a Nissan/Datsun aficionado? I think you'd enjoy this: http://www.twinturbo.net/net/viewmsg.aspx?forum=general&msg_id=2079707

 

[racer12306]

I am truly fascinated reading this.

 

[Curious Kid]

Nice to have you aboard BarkerMan, and hope to hear more.

A bit of curiosity and connective effort lead me to polish the intake track and minimize valve guide protrusion, and the like on my first vehicle...but nothing to the extent as you've shared. Must have been fun in the shop!

Take care.

 

[esmitty82]

EIGHT QUARTS!

Holy Cow Man! That is awesome! But I have to ask and I didn't see if you posted it, but how often did you have to change the oil? I would think with that much oil you could have some rather long OCI's!
Ed

 

[BarkerMan]

Incredible collection. There were a couple of 510 sedans and one blue Renault R10. Thanks for the link.

The oil change intervals have been 3 to 5 thousand miles. I pay about $100 for 4 5 gallon pails. I save the used oil to mix with asphalt to reseal parts of the driveway each year.

 

[BarkerMan]

Does anyone on this forum use single weight oil besides G-Man? I see 5w-50 Mobil 1 on the shelf at Wally World and wonder if the trade in viscosity is worth having that much VII's in the oil. Do the VII's have any lubrication value if they are the molecules that actually are the ones making contact between two surfaces? I understand that you want an oil thin enough so you can turn the engine over and thick enough to protect the engine at operating temps but I thought the real wear occurred from just after startup up until the engine developed enough heat for things to start working at designed clearances and become more evenly heated all through the entire engine and cooling system. Have I been wrong all this time? Or is it that people don't want to change their oil as the season changes and multi viscosity oil is a good enough solution? Could this be the reason that synthetic oil is a better oil, because a 30w synthetic can be classified as a 10w-30 because it does not need VII's?

 

[mechtech2]

My thinking is that a multiweight is 10-20 times thicker when cold than when hot. Too thick.
So having a straight weight that is massively thicker when cold can serve no useful purpose - it is much worse.

Big miles on an engine are rare only because people get rid of their cars in this country because the body, suspension, or tranny goes bad. Engines almost always are running when cars are bone-yarded.

Consider that all automotive Mfrs. use multiweights . It is very good advice to use multiweight oils in automotive engines.

 

[racer12306]

Originally Posted By: mechtech2
My thinking is that a multiweight is 10-20 times thicker when cold than when hot. Too thick.
So having a straight weight that is massively thicker when cold can serve no useful purpose - it is much worse.

Big miles on an engine are rare only because people get rid of their cars in this country because the body, suspension, or tranny goes bad. Engines almost always are running when cars are bone-yarded.

Consider that all automotive Mfrs. use multiweights . It is very good advice to use multiweight oils in automotive engines.


Seem's to me that if someone pulls a half a million miles out of a gasser on a straightweight oil they probably used the right stuff. Only time will tell if the original poster keeps the car till it falls apart or if he gets a new car. But I bet that he will use 30 weight in this car if he keeps it.

 

[BarkerMan]

Actually I went to 40w about 250 thousand miles ago.

I think that startup lubrication is handled by the oil that is already there and for that moment at startup viscosity does not matter much. It's the time right after startup until you hit normal temps that the real wear happens. I guess you'd have to see the insides of my engine to believe that a single weight oil does a good job. Also at operating temps all those VII's can't be good for lubrication, at least not as good as oil. I think there is a point where thin enough for warmup might be a little thicker than a 10w oil even though you can produce graphs and numbers that prove me wrong I can show you several examples where single weight oil has done a good job. A neighbor has a 1950 Chevy truck that has been run all it's life on 40w Delo 400 and it's doing fine. In the winter he runs Valvoline 20w20. The difference is that he watches his maintenance and is willing to change the oil viscosity when it gets cold. And this is an enginer that has dippers on the connecting rods. I guess I'm out of step here.

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: BarkerMan
Does anyone on this forum use single weight oil besides G-Man? ........Could this be the reason that synthetic oil is a better oil, because a 30w synthetic can be classified as a 10w-30 because it does not need VII's?


Yes - Here's my ACD SAE 30/10W-30

Amsoil ACD SAE 30/10W-30

 

[BarkerMan]

Pablo, that Amsoil ACD 30w looks like a very robust oil. How much does it cost and what sizes is it available in?

 

[BarkerMan]

Found it, thank you Pablo. So there are a couple of us tht don't know enough to use multi vis oil.