what type oil do ya put in a flatty?

changin the oil, in the 8ba what grade doea she need

 

I run 30 weight Wolf's Head. Can't go wrong with old junk in old junk.

 

A decent choice for pre-PCV engines is 15W-40 diesel oil, added amounts of antiwear indrediants & detergents.

 

I like multi-grades for their higher detergency...15W40 should be OK...or 10W30...a little heavier if the mills got some miles on it...

 

If you decide to run a detergent oil, change it the first time after only a couple hundred miles. If it was running non-detergent there will be sludge built up and the detergent oil will break it loose and plug everything up. Of course if it is a fresh engine, no problem.

 

i just drained the oil in the old ******* and it had so much **** in the pan, i could move it around with my fingers, so i tried to drop the pan thats a no go with a 53 motor in a 40 pulled the front motor mounts and jacked her up and still wont come off so now im hand dredging the pan **** loads of fun. i had to take a brake and clean up and get in the a/c. ****

 

I always use an pure SAE 50 oil. And change it all 2000mls.

 

You're bound to get as many opinions as responses to this one.

Some folks think because the owners manual says one thing, that's what you do, "If it was good enough for old Henry..."

Others swear by the modern marvels, "If this were around when Henry was alive..."

Just use good quality oil, change it more often than you would your Honda Civic, and it should be fine.

Oh yeah, do a search in the archives - this very subject has been "debated" a fair amount...

EDIT - Found this over on BillB's Techno Site:
http://www.btc-bci.com/~billben/oilwgt.htm

 

I use 20/50 Castrol, I do have a PCV on my modified 59ab manifold atop me 8CM. Change it every 1000 miles.

 

Mazola oil, oh no wait that was for the naked twister post never mind

 

i di a search and it wouldnt pick up oil any way i typed it, under four letters, i tried it first second and all over wouldnt pick it up, im not new at this i always use the search but havent figured out how to do short words. i ended up going with 30 weight.

 

Ain't that the truth!

Studied 5 different flathead rebuild books - written by flathead gurus - and came up with 5 different opinions!

The one constant was; CHANGE THE OIL OFTEN! (filter or no filter)

 

Can't go wrong there!

 

I'm a synthetic blend fan ... Takes the heat great and the blend doesn't seep out of the gaskets as much as a full syn ... If I'm cheep I like the Chevron Delo (sp?) that the guys run in the Big trucks ...

 

I always use non detergent and change it every couple thousand, also no oil filter on this one.

 

I'll throw in my $.02
The guy I got my car from said he always used 30w, because that's what it called for.

After seeing in the motor myself I saw it was in good shape, so I cleaned the pan and use name brand 30w detergent oil.

 

the thickest I can stir enough to poor into the motor!

 

I use 15W40 Rotella diesel engine oil in my flathead engines. Works for me.

 

And I dumped his expensive Rotella out and added Carquest(Valvoline) 50w with Lucas oil stabilizer Actually I noticed less leaks and it seemed to run smoother.

 

About a year ago I drove a 40 convertible to the Billetproof. Its got a old worn out f/h with low oil presser.
So I put some 70 w nondetergent oil in it.
They make it for top fuel cars.

Oil presser went up.
Smoked less
Used less
Rods stopped knocking

Cut it with something lighter if your chicken.
You reading this Grimlock?

 

70w? lordy. i have had experience really only with 59abs, but 10w30 always went fine so long as the compression was ok. you just cant run it over say 2500 miles, it gets DANGEROUSLY thin and ****ing filthy.