What oils did you use for carbeurated vehicles

zray1 said:
cold starts on my classics are handles by either an electric or manually operated choke. The air is restricted, the gasoline amount remains the same. No fuel dilution has been noted on any oil analysis (so far).

That said, overall the A/F mixture is going to be richer on the average carbureted car vs modern cars with their computer controlled fuel injection systems. My K code Mustang and vintage Paxton Shelby’s are certainly examples of vintage gas hogs.

View attachment 170570


View attachment 170569

Z
Click to expand...
Always loved those cars set up with the famous Paxton superchargers (y). Plus just in awe of the webber carb set ups. Those are worth solid gold today! Read about a guy who somehow ended up with webber carb set up who traded it for a racing engine owned by Bobby Allison. That is how much folks value them.
 
My dad ran Pennzoil 10w -40 in everything back then. When I went to hs and started driving our teacher told us that Pennzoil made sludge and said to only use castrol or Valvoline And to use 20w-50 in summer and 10w -40 in winter. I did that for many years
 
When I started driving, carburetors were few and far between. But today I run 10W30 for a 350 SBC in my C10. I've been using high ZDDP oil for my flat tappet cam, but I'm not convinced it makes any difference, since we broke the engine in properly.
 
I asked my brother this last night. Said he’s running M1 0w40 in 71’ C-10 pickup he restored. In his his 68’ Cadillac DeVille with 500 ci v-8 he’s running M1 10w30
 
We were encouraged in the late 60s / early 70s to use 10w40 and we did for years with no obvious issues and not much gas in oil.
Yes, carb vehicles did end up with some traces of gas in the oil. It was so little that most people did not even realize it. When I moved into classic cars / collecting and working on some in the late 90s thru 2018 the oils available were so much better than in prior years that all of the car guys I was involved with used with no problem , 10w30 UNLESS their cars were high horse / street or strip drag cars. We were always in super hot climates so cold start ups were never a consideration at all like many must deal with.
 
OVERKILL said:
I only briefly owned a carbureted vehicle (my 1974 Olds Cutlass Supreme) and I used Canadian Tire Motomaster Synthetic 5W-30 in it at the time, which was made by Imperial Oil.

In the boats, I ran whatever my grandfather had available (with the exception of the hotrod 312, which I ran Mobil 1 5W-30 in) which was typically Valvoline white bottle or Castrol GTX in 10W-30 or 10W-40 unless it called for a straight-weight like SAE30 or SAE40.
Click to expand...
I have the same engine in my olds (but a 1974). I've run pretty well everything in it over the 120k miles since 2007. We replaced the timing chain and gears, water pump and fuel pump, along with all gaskets except head gaskets. Currently using m1 0w40 but I used to use a lot of amsoil until that got too expensive, then Pennzoil, Kendall, etc. I even used motomaster synthetic but in 5w50 before that car, in my 305 Chevy's.
 
I used Havoline back in the early 90's for my high school car which was a '76 Monte Carlo with the 2bbl 350. A mechanic friend of my dad's recommended it and used it in all his vehicles.
 
Used a lot of Quaker State 20w50 for a long time, some Havoline. When I was part owner of a small classic car collection, we used Brad Penn Penngrade 1 15w40, then used Driven GP-1. Had I know about Swepco 306 at the time, I would've used it instead. Penngrade and GP-1 are good high zinc oils for 3000 mile intervals, 306 is a dual rated HDEO with higher TBN and is capable of longer drains. They stopped updating it after the API CI4+/SL update and instead rolled out new products for CJ4/SM and CK4/SN. I've also used some Redline High Performance as well.
 
Back in the day it was Penrite HPR30 (20W60) if I had the coin, or Castrol GTX 20W50 if I didn’t have enough coins in my pocket.

OCI was 5,000 to 10,000 km (3,000 to 6,000 miles).
 
Valvoline 20w-50 racing oil, because everyone thought “gas station oil” would ruin your engine. Early 80s urban legends. Along with how “horrible” Monroe shocks were. Lol
 
Castrol GTX or Valvoline XLD- both 20W50.
If I had the cash, BP Corse 25W50
Edit - 5,000km.

Later on, M1 15W50, and 15,000 (I did 76,000km one year when just out of Uni...living in Canberra, working in Yass, Girfriend in Sydney, then next one in Melbourne)
 
1973 Camaro with an older built 396: Valvoline 20W50 and K&N filter

Various "normal" cars in the 80s and 90s: Pennzoil 10W30 or 40 and the cheapest Fram filter I could find
 
53' Stude said:
Hello again. For you folks that drove carbeurated vehicles back in the day; what grade of motor oils did you folks use and what was your OCI length? Dad and I talked and he used Kendall 10w30 conventional back in the day with AC DELCO filters for 3k max
Click to expand...
I used Duckhams Q (the green stuff) in my 440 6 Pack Roadrunner. Used Castrol GTX in my old 356.
 
Pennzoil 10W30 and the cheapest fram I could find for the daily drivers. 20W50 Valvoline and K&N filters for my built 396 Camaro.

1968 Chevy 396.jpg
 
Holiday gas station 30 weight in gallon jugs, Amoco LDO (The Long Distance Oil) 10w-30 when I worked at the gas station, Havoline 10w-30 when I used my dad's oil (in the cylindrical cans).
 
In my 1968 Dodge Charger R/T and my 1973 Road Runner with a 440...Quaker State 30 w racing oil and a can of STP...
 
My dad had a 1989 Toyota Tercel with the carbureted 1.5; one of the last carbureted vehicles you could buy new.
It got Toyota-branded 10W-30 from the dealership, and we always had bottles on the shelf because it burned oil.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

53' Stude
Oil choice for mild 305 Chevy small block in a caprice
Replies
17
Views
735
53' Stude
B
Long OCI
2 3 4
Replies
61
Views
3K
camrydriver111
Twisted1
High mile 4.6 Ford - Ok to use heavier oil?
2 3 4
Replies
60
Views
2K
thastinger
R
  • Question
Will frequent oil changes compensate for bad oil?
2
Replies
31
Views
3K
TheRuley
D
Using conventional 10w30 in the summer and 5w30 synthetic in the winter
2
Replies
23
Views
635
Nesterenko
Back
Top