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  • #16
    Some of the Stude engines I have rebuilt have been a mess- worn lifters (severe pitting) and cam lobes. I attribute these worn engines to having been in cars that previously were "just an old car" and thus not taken care of, and all of these engines had sludge in the pans and every crevice. As a comparison, I pulled the heads off of my '99 F150 (blown spark plug and ruined head) with 100,000 miles on it. I change the oil about every 3,000 miles, and the engine was almost spotless even up in the cam area. I also could see factory hone marks in the cylinder bores! The new (used) head that I sent to the machine shop had sludge in the cam area, and varnish on the tappets. Obviously neglect may have been why that head came from a junk yard.
    I am now adding STP (contains an unknown amout of zinc) to my Studes at each oil change, as I do drive them at prolonged freeway speeds in the summer. I feel this is cheap insurance against premature wear,but not as important as regular oil changes.
    Last edited by BRUCESTUDE; 12-01-2010, 08:22 PM. Reason: forgot something

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    • #17
      I had a 400ci engine out of a 73 Monty Carlo i had junked out, decided to put it in my 34 Chevrolet 3/W Street Rod as is, but decided to put a new oil pump in it for insurance. Only oil pump the parts store had was a high VOLUME pump, not a high pressure pump. so i took at anyway. well long story short i was suppose to race a guy at work with his 340 Dodge dart. I decided to put my 4:62 gears in the 34 coupe. he had slicks and i didn't, so he jumped me out of the gate, but just past the 60 foot mark i caught him and was on my way to a victory, then the engine started slowing down and i knew it was locking up so i shut it off and lost the race. Got to the pits and and looked at the engine and oil was everywhere. It had sucked the oil pan dry with those high reving gears i was able to drive it back home (3 miles)but the engine was tight and hard to start.
      Thats why race cars have deep oil pans. it was no big loss as it was just a salvage engine. but i had cleaned it up nice.<G>
      101st Airborne Div. 326 Engineers Ft Campbell Ky.

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      • #18
        this is a good topic I have many studebakers and I was a auto mechanic for years and have rebuilt all brands of engines and people who use motor honeys in there engines were the ones with build up in the oil pans the fact that the oil filter were not full flow or no filter at all and the fact that they used non detergent oil in engines with no filters the sludge would settle in the pan and would not come out with oil change

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        • #19
          I have owned more than 100 cars myself and worked FT and PT in garages, dealerships & service stations. I service my own cars at mileage intervals much less than recommended. The only oil related issues that I can remember were in the early 1990s. I switched my vehicles (five) over to STP oil (not oil treatment) when STP came out with it. I had valve train failure in my 1988 Oldsmobile Delta 88. I had lesser problems in the other cars, including my 1958 Packard hardtop, that I drove less. I replaced most of the valve train in the Olds and changed back to Quaker State/Texaco/Atlantic oil in all of the cars and had no further problems. Later, I learned that a lot of (most) people experienced lubrication problems with the STP oil. I believe that it was taken off the market.
          Last edited by studegary; 03-05-2011, 04:08 PM. Reason: changed "10" to correct "100".
          Gary L.
          Wappinger, NY

          SDC member since 1968
          Studebaker enthusiast much longer

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          • #20
            Sorry for the belated entry into the discussion...

            Back in the mid 60's, I noticed a Lark 6 (probably '62 or '63 vintage) in the service department of the venerable Frost & French Studebaker-Packard agency in Los Angeles. The engine had been pulled and torn down. The Lark was from the California state motor pool, had been routinely serviced in state shops with Chevron 10W-30 oil (required by state contract). Chevron apparently hadn't yet gotten their viscosity-improver additives quite right, the stuff had congealed filling the engine with something resembling a thick gray putty. Service manager said this happened to several state-owned cars, all for apparently the same reason. Chevron paid for the replacement engines.

            I think that catastrophic failures of lubricants because of deficient products are fairly rare. I never had issues with any of the quality single grade products (so beloved by Studebaker and Packard) or major brand multi-viscosity products. Now I use mostly Redline 10W-40 or Mobil 1 15W-50 synthetic oils in my vintage stuff here in sunny, warm inland southern CA. They are quality products, don't need to be much concerned about special additives, etc. I'm not putting down the makers of reputable additives (like Lucas), but I'm not comfortable that I have enough product information and expertise to be much more than a mad alchemist pouring things into my engines. By the way, because of the emissions requirements of late model vehicles, not all Mobil 1 products are currently recommended for flat tappet engines:

            Gil Zimmerman
            Riverside, CA

            1955 Speedster
            1956 Golden Hawk
            1958 Packard Hawk
            1958 President
            1963 Avanti R2

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            • #21
              I had one of those 'blob' engines once, and it was air-cooled just as that Corvair was. Customer brought his mid-sixties VW in because it would barely turn over. Tests seemed to indicate it just needed a starter. New starter didn't fix it. After more checks I removed the oil drain. About 10 minutes later a thick, black goop started to ooze out. I let it drain overnight, flushed and refilled the next day. Owner swore nothing had been added to the oil. What I did find was the insulation pad had come loose from the firewall and was being sucked up against the cooling fan shroud causing the engine to be constantly overheated.
              Restorations by Skip Towne

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              • #22
                Mobil 1 Synthetic

                That is pretty interesting stuff Gil, that means that of 22 Fully Synthetic Mobil 1 in various speciality and Weights of Oil, ONLY ONE, will work properly in our older Engines with flat tappets!

                So of 22, 21 will NOT work correctly. ONLY ONE, the 15W-50 will!

                There are a few that are close in ZDDP rating, but I am sure they have other additives for Diesel Engines etc. that do not make them "recommended" for flat tappet GAS Engines.
                StudeRich
                Second Generation Stude Driver,
                Proud '54 Starliner Owner
                SDC Member Since 1967

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                • #23
                  Originally posted by JohnMSeymour View Post
                  Maybe you guys saw my earlier post where I mentioned I was going to change the oil in my '51 Champion before starting it for the first time. I removed the drain plug and nothing came out ( just like Johnny's corvair). So, I poked my finger through the hole, drained the oil and removed the pan. Yesterday I filled a coffee can with the sludge that I scraped off the bottom of the pan!
                  John,

                  That reminds me of a story with my 1st car that my grandmother gave to me in 1974. It was a 1961 Lark VI Regal sedan. It had the OHV valve six and automatic trans. It didn't have an oil filter as apparently that was an option. As the car began to smoke and burn a little oil my grandmother had been using re-refined 50 weight motor oil in (cheapest she could buy) and simply just add oil when needed and never changed it. When she gave it to me it was idling roughly, so I commenced to change plugs and points (all of which were pretty much burnt to nothing, that helped the little engine to run and purr like a kitten, but when adding motor oil I had to wait for the funnel to take 1/2 minute to drain into the valve cover.

                  To remedy this situation, I removed the pan, valve cover and the little side doors to valve lifters on the block and scrapped out solid sludge with a pocket knife as much as possible. I cleaned the pan and valve covers and then re-installed, just keeping the pan bolts hand tight. The next step was instead of refilling the engine with motor oil, I used kerosene. Ran the engine for about 5 minutes, drained and removed pan and cleaned it out again. I repeated this again with kerosene and again dropped and cleaned the pan. After getting the sludge and gunk out of the engine, I used a new gasket on the pan and put fresh motor oil in. I found a canister type oil filter with hoses and bracket on a junk yard Lark donor car and installed it and then began regular oil and filter changes.

                  I latter gave the car a valve job and put new rings on the pistons without removing the engine from the car. That eliminated the smoking and the little engine performed flawlessly until I later sold it four years later, when I was graduating from college and could afford something a little newer, a two door 1973 Ford Gran Torino with a 351 Cleveland. I wish I still had the Lark though.
                  sigpic
                  John
                  63R-2386
                  Resto-Mod by Michael Myer

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                  • #24
                    You know, this reminds me of when i first got my '62 pickup, Ed. After I got him home and out of the trailer, I checked the oil. The dipstick was dry. I put it back in and tried again... nothing. So, assuming that there was no oil, I put in five quarts of oil and fired him up. TONS OF BLACK SMOKE!! I shut the old fellow down and checked the oil level again. Now it showed oil most the way up the stick. So I drained it. Blop, glop, blurp, plop... and the rest came out in a rush. Luckily, I used a much larger pan than usual. The crud and crap that came out scared the crap out of me! So, I poured a can of Chemtool in each valve cover opening, leaving the drain plug off overnight with a fresh pan underneath. There was about a quarter cup of liquid under the engine next morning. I pulled off the distributor cap and used the starter to turn over the motor a bit and it worked a bit better. Now there was a whole cup down there. By that afternoon the rest trickled down. So, I put the cap back in, poured five quarts of oil in again and also another can of Chemtool, then started the truck up (after putting yet another can of chemtool in the gas). After letting it run for five minutes, I shut the engine down. Then I drained it yet again. The oil drained just slightly less viscous than honey. I'd forgotten to change the oil filter.

                    At this point we're talking about using ten quarts of oil and three cans of Chemtool and I'm not done yet.

                    Taking the Cadillac to town, I got three one-gallon bottles of 10w40, two filters, and three more cans of Chemtool. Then headed for home. I changed the filter, added oil and a can of chemtool, then fired it up yet again. Or tried to... several times. Had to go back to Weaverville for spark plugs as those in the truck were fouled.

                    After getting thoroughly greasy and scuffed up hands installing the new spark plugs, I got a call from Greyhound and had to leave for work. The truck then sat for several days like that with five quarts of clean oil and a quart of chemtool in it, well stirred (not shaken) by the starter. When I finally got home, I started the truck, ran it for five minutes, and drained the oil (now at over fifteen quarts of dirty oil). Being out of gallon milk jugs, I had to resort to other containers, some of my Mum's ancient tupperware storage canisters. (Not a good idea after all, as if they tip over the lids just pop off and oil everywhere.) The oil came out nicely (finally), and yet was still filthy. At least though, it wasn't muddy like before. It took three more oil changes over the next two weeks of driving it (along with the adventures involved with that), before the oil started looking more normal. With all that dirty oil, I really made points with the local NAPA,
                    "Again?? How much oil are you going to waste on that old CLUNKER???" The counterman demanded.
                    "STUDEclunker, if you please," I rejoindered.
                    Last edited by studeclunker; 03-05-2011, 06:25 PM.
                    Home of the famous Mr. Ed!
                    K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Studebaker!
                    Ron Smith
                    Where the heck is Fawn Lodge, CA?

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