Best Oil For my 1941 Hudson

BernieBuechman

I am using penzoil sae 30 oil right now in my car as well as marvels mystery Oil. I AM just wondering what are recommendations by other Hudson owners which may be better results for oil use.

                                                                                                                    Thankyou Bernie

ken1962

One word - Zinc - old cars need this missing ingredient not found in some Modern engine oils - just like lead missing in modern fuel can stuff up engine valves unless you add an additional product to the fuel or update the engine to handle new fuel. I use a diesel oil in my 1936 which is higher in zinc and a bit more heavier so the splasher engine can fling it around without it behaving like dish cleaning liquid cheers ken

railknight

Valvoline VR1 Racing Oil has high zinc (ZDDP) levels and is available in numerous types including SAE 30 and SAE 10W-30.   Another brand is PennGrade motor oil which also has high zinc levels.  The Valvoline VR1 motor oil is often available at local auto parts stores and PennGrade can be purchased by the case on Amazon.  Be aware, these motor oils can be a bit pricey versus regular motor oil so you may want to shop around cost wise. 

squirrel

Higher than normal levels of ZDDP might be useful when breaking in a racing engine with seriously stout valve springs...but for normal old engines, the loads are low enough that the reduced ZDDP in modern oil is plenty.

If you feel like you must spend a lot of money on oil, go for it. I just use walmart brand oil, it's cheap, it works fine, I don't have any issues with engines wearing out. And I drive older cars a lot. I'd rather spend the money on gas.

Val

Shell 15W40 Rotella T4 is what I use in my 39. I spoke to a lube specialist at Shell and he told me the diesel oil 15W40 has the high zinc count for older engines. It works well. I use Marvel in my fuel tank 

Geoff

Definitely go for the high zinc oils.   These engines are notorious for high wear on the cams and lifters.

Beforemytime

More oil discussion:

https://openforum.hetclub.org/discussion/171274/the-dreaded-oil-thread#latest