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Posted By Discussion Topic: flathead oil -- page: 1 2     Grant 02-09-2019 @ 2:49 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 535 Joined: Oct 2009 Agreed with 1934 Ford ........... 20W50 seems to work well in our '36. The brand is Valvoline VR1. Engine is a '36 LB with no oil filter. An oil change is done in the spring, with top-ups as necessary until foul weather returns in November. The first tank of gas every year gets half a quart of MMO. It seems to be a happy old Ford. 1934 Ford 02-05-2019 @ 5:14 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 568 Joined: Oct 2009 I sure that all of the above is good advice, but it requires you to know and trust a lot of hand me down engine information that may or nay not be true. For this reason I use 20W50 in all my flatheads and have for years. I have an engine with great rebuild paper stats about being bored 30 over, but when I blew a head gasket all the pistons were stamped 40. 20W50 gives me thin enough to start in cold weather and thick enough for summer. Plus I think it leaks less than the thinner multigrade. If it's a really high mileage engine I use straight 50 racing oil with a little STP May not be scientific, but it works for me. Synthetic is a waste of money in flatheads in my book, because I never had a flathead built to such fine machining to know the difference. I drive my cars like they were made to be driven (Lots of miles) 1934 Ford's since 1972 len47merc 02-02-2019 @ 3:58 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1165 Joined: Oct 2013 TomO - rewording your initial comment to add a bit of clarity to your intended message: "...but adding ZDDP (to oil already containing ZDDP in concentrations engineered, balanced and optimized by the manufacturers' engineers) can lead to a situation where the concentration of the chemicals is too strong and that can damage the engine". Hypothetically speaking and taking it to the extreme to make your point further (i.e., no response requested from anyone to any of these) - how much more could one add to 'make it even better'? Pint? Quart? Heck, how about just running pure ZDDP? Where does one reach the point of it being 'too much of a good thing' (if it really is a good thing in the first place)? Your point is on the mark (as always) and practically speaking requires no empirical data and documentation for validation. This said there are reams of information on the subject on the internet as you say. Quality, brand-name, modern HD 10W-30 gets the job done more than adequately as has been discussed here many times previously (do a search for those who have not tried searching the Forum yet) and IMHO is better for our engines than higher-weights. I look forward to hearing of your results with synthetic TomO - glad to see you're dipping your toe in the water for those of us yet to do so. My son rebuilt and super-charged an engine (cast iron block & heads) 3+ years ago for a road racing car/driver and switched to and has ran Mobil 1 ever since, changing it only every 10,000 miles. Engine has ~50,000 miles on it now and fundamentals (compression, etc.) are consistent with those recorded after break-in. It has been driven very hard including multiple times at Virginia International Speedway. Not a flathead but you get the point. I've yet to see even a new quality-built flathead - daily driver or trailer queen that is cranked only on occasion - not eventually leak/drip from the rear main, and not over that long a period of time after being cranked and ran to operating temp for the 1st time. Not intending to be offensive to anyone at all, it is widely considered such representations of flatheads that do not leak are urban legend. Hail back to the cotter pin in the bottom of the bell housing - hmmm...wonder why the engineers originally put that there in the 1st place? Sorry to all - been a while since I last posted and just had to get that out. Thanks as always for the great input Tom. Steve carcrazy 02-01-2019 @ 9:35 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1597 Joined: Oct 2009 What I have found to work adequately in my '53 Ford Flathead V-8 is Pennzoil SAE 30 Detergent Oil, API Service SN with 8 ounces of Red Line Engine Oil Break-In Additive. This amount of additive provides the required amount of ZDDP to reduce the amount of wear on camshaft lobe and valve tappet surfaces. This car is a driver, it has been driven on road trips up to 7,500 miles. It uses no oil to speak of and has no leaks. The oil and filter are changed every 2,000 miles. In my experience, the use of oils of less than 30 wgt viscosity in a newly rebuilt '40 Ford Flathead V-8 produced an oil leak at the rear main bearing. alanwoodieman 02-01-2019 @ 6:37 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 864 Joined: Oct 2009 I tried Mobile 1 and it leaked out thru front and rear seals, engine burned it up like there was no tomorrow. went back to Kendall and solved both of these problems Drbrown 01-31-2019 @ 9:20 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 563 Joined: Nov 2013 Totally agree re MMO. MMO has been around since the 1950's (or more) and I always thought it was just another additive. When I bought my '47 it had been sitting for a long time and had what I thought sounded like a worn piston pin or bad pump rod. A vacuum gauge suggested it was more likely a sticking valve. Adding the MMO to the gas quickly stopped the sound and all good since. Very happy I wasn't facing an engine tear-down. The car still sometimes sits for some extended times so I continue to use the MMO. TomO 01-31-2019 @ 5:30 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7244 Joined: Oct 2009 MG, there are too many to provide a link to just one. Google ZDDP and you will find many opinion articles on the subject as well as some articles written by oil companies. Today's oils are a complex mixture of chemicals and adding your own chemical can upset the balance created by the oil company. As an example, in the 1950's we used to add MMO to the oil and drive the car for 1,000 miles to free up stuck lifters and valves. I would reduce the driving time today to 100 miles or less with the MMO mixture in the oil and if that did not solve the problem, tear down the engine and repair it. Tom MG 01-31-2019 @ 12:46 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1250 Joined: Nov 2009 "Using a quality oil with ZDDP will not hurt your engine, but adding ZDDP can lead to a situation wher the concentration of the chemicals is too strong and that can damage the engine." Tom - Can you point to the article where the above info can be read?.... 36cabriolet 01-31-2019 @ 8:14 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 7 Joined: Dec 2018 Thanks for the input guys its appreciated !! TomO 01-31-2019 @ 8:07 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7244 Joined: Oct 2009 I use 10w-30 oil in both my 1940 Mercury and my 1953 Lincoln. I change oil in both of them every 1,000 miles or sooner if I do not drive 1,000 miles in the summer. I change the filter in the Lincoln at every oil change. After doing some more research, I am going to try Mobile 1 in my cars this year. They have made some significant improvements in the synthetic oils in the past couple of years, so it is time for me to give them a try. Using a quality oil with ZDDP will not hurt your engine, but adding ZDDP can lead to a situation wher the concentration of the chemicals is too strong and that can damage the engine. The amount of anti-wear chemicals in the modern oils is enough protection for our engines. A little Marvel Mystery oil in the fuel tank can help prevent sticky valves in the flathead engines with solid valve guides. Tom

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