Customs which oil in 49 chevy 216?

hi guys, 20/50,,10/30,, or 10/40,, whadya recon?

 

Shell Rotella 15W40. Diesel oil

 

I cant help with weight(straight 30 is what i go in everything) but you may consider a delo, rotella or similar, since they have more of the 'good' stuff environmentalists complain about, especially zinc-diphosphate that was recently cut back in standard oils due to envrionmental/polution reasons, but is needed on non-roller motors

EDIT: oh i just noticed you are in the UK, i was talking about US regulations, but still stuff to consider, since you guys probably have it similar over there

 

Yes. We all recommend oil with high zinc

 

A lot depends on your engine. If it's high milage with lots of caked up sludge everywhere, high detergent oil like diesel isn't recommended. can cause the **** to break lose & plug up your oil pick up. If you don't know what oil in the UK has zinc hopefully someone will post later.

 

Great point, a lot of old oils are non-detergent, and i have heard many cases of that happening, buy then again when did the UK switch to detergent oil almost exclusively??? If nothing else some good oil changes might be instore

 

since your in the EU try Fuchs Silkolene motorcycle oils ( pro 4 race) , they have the zinc needed , and good stuff , just check to see if it has a API rating lower than Sj ( sj is the start of low zddp oil ) on it . 10w 40 should be good enough , as for mineral oils don't know what brands you carry over there

 

As has been mentioned already, as long as your motor is clean inside you can't beat Rotella 15-40 in early engines. I add a pint of STP just to be sure there's enough zinc to protect the cam and lifters.

Also, if your engine has a partial-flow oil filter and not a full-flow filter, frequent oil changes are a must.

 

I run Delo 15-40 in everything, but Rotella is good stuff too. But like was said, sludged-up motors don't like detergent oils so you can do what I do:

Drain your motor
Make a 50/50 mix of oil (I use strait 30 for this) and kerosene, and fill her up to normal level
Run the motor for a few minutes (no more than 5)
Then pull the pan, oil pump pickup, and filter if you have one
Clean Everything (!)

This should have knocked all the sludge and scale out of the galleys and p***ages and deposited them in the pan. If it is as bad as my '38 Buick was, you'll have about 3/4" of gunk in the pan. Then fill the crankcase back up with a good high-zinc detergent oil and go go go. I learned this little trick from my dad who said it was standard practice at the service station he worked at in the early '60s any time a non-filtered motor came in for a tune up.

Disclaimer: depending on the amount of your deposits, you may get more leakage or oil use out of a tired motor. But to me, I'd rather have good, clean oil dripping out or blowing by, than dirty tar running through the motor.

 

I know its been said biut i5s worth saying again, you need toput in the zink additive. Any street oil doesn't have it. I use Valvoline VR1 racing oil which has the appropriate ammount of ZDP for flat tappet cams.

 

Valvoline VR-1 Racing, SAE 30.

NEVER put anything but motor oil in a crankcase. Accidentally failing to ruin an engine does not equal success, just luck. Feeling lucky?

 

I've been running 30 wt. for 17 years daily driver only vehicle '49
Chevy truck w/ '56 235.

 

30 wt is good. if delco engine oil supplement is available from a gm dealer where you are, add a 16 oz bottle to 5 qt of oil. this will give you the zddp content that your engine needs. a flat tappet cam must have this. this is the combination i use in my corvette. the studebaker has a roller cam so it's not necesary.