Re: [HSS] Re: A slippery situation

Unknown

I go along with James. This sounds like another "urban myth" to me, and I

would like to hear it from a qualified lubricant technologist before I give

it any credence. If you want inferior lubrication and more wear, and a

dirtier clogged up engine in the long run, go to 30 weight non detergent

oil. I'll stick to Castrol GTX as a good general purpose heavy duty

detergent oil for all may cars, as I have for many hundreds of thousands of

miles. sure, I have had the occasional bearing break up, but his is due

more to fatigue and high mileage than any case of lubrication failure. I

used to hear old-time mechanics talk about the way babbit bearings used to

wear and need adjusting, no doubt due to the poor lubricants used back in

vintage years. This just does not happen today, even in our vintage

engines. As for the other urban myth of detergent oil releasing great

globs of engine-wrecking gunge, this just does not happen. The last

thing a vintage engine needs in vintage oil. The only reason they didn't

use detergent oil in the twenties, is because they didn't have it. My

opinion, speaking from experience, rather than a clinical qualification.

Geoff.

----- Original Message -----

From: "James Coats" <jamcoats@uab.edu>

To: <HudsonSuperSix16-29@yahoogroups.com>

Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2005 6:29 AM

Subject: [HSS] Re: A slippery situation





> The additivies used in modern oil will attack the rubber and cork

>> gaskets very badly and can also wash babbitt off of the bearings in

>> some cases, poured babbitt being especially susceptible to harm.

>

> I am sorry, but I don't buy that. I have built quite a few engines up

> to 2003 model year... and modern cars use just as much babbit and

> rubber and cork as ours do.

>

> First of all, we are currently on API service SL. The American

> Petroleum Institute, in testing new oils, has to make sure that they

> are compatible with ALL PREVIOUS RATINGS, and they do. If you are in

> doubt, do some research.

>

> Secondly, Camshaft bearings in almost ALL engines are babbitt. ALL

> babbit is poured. It begins to melt at 780 something degrees, if

> memory serves me correctly, and it melts at the same temperature under

> the same conditions whether it is being heated by a little old man

> with a blow torch and poured into a main journal or heated by a a

> machine and poured into a casting to make a bearing. Crankshaft

> bearings are usually composed of a tri-metal composition of

> bronze-backed babbit with a zinc alloy facing. RACE BEARINGS are

> often 100% babbit, because of high-rpm durability and particle

> embeddability. Gaskets are STILL rubber and cork. I just put together

> a 2000 model Pontiac 3800 series II supercharged V6, and every gasket

> in it is paper, rubber, or cork. IT requires API service SJ, or better.

>

>

> Non-detergent oils are designed primarily for two things: Lawn mowers,

> and old engines that have a lot of wear, where you don't want the

> detergent in the oil to break loose crud that is keeping your engine

> from smoking and/or using oil. I refuse to use a non-detergent oil in

> a vehicle without an oil filter, because the main idea of the

> detergents it to keep contaminant particles in suspension in the oil

> where they can't attack the surfaces of parts. As a matter of fact, I

> use full synthetic oils. They behave JUST LIKE conventional oils in

> lubricating, except flow at a lower temperature, become volatile at a

> higher temperature, have a more stable, consistent viscosity, and a

> superior more consistent molecular structure. If you don't believe

> me, like some people think synthetic oils tend to "stick" to moving

> parts, take a crankshaft, put it on sawhorses, pour conventional 10W30

> on it, then pour synthetic 10W30 on it, and tell me which is which.

>

> My mechanical training began and to some degree remains in aviation,

> and many FAA licensed Inspectors of Airworthiness and Airframe &

> Powerplant mechanics have told me, as well as written articles, that

> one of the reasons aviation engines last a hell of a lot longer these

> days than they did 60+ years ago is because the quality of our oils

> today is so much better. For those of you unfamiliar with aviation

> technology, it has not changed a lot since the 20s. For example, we

> still don't have adjustable ignition timing-- you set it, and that's

> where it is. We also have a tremendous number of old engines still

> flying, particularly from the late 1940s and 1950s. If any engines

> would be susceptible to attack because of ancient materials such as

> rubber and babbit (ha), it's ours. And every A&P I know runs the

> latest full synthetic oils.

>

>

> Best Regards,

> James Coats

> Coats Classic Cars

> Birmingham, AL

>

>

>

>

>

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