New Oil Filter Kit. What oil to use?

[Grumps]

With the new oil filter kit installed, what should I do? Drop the oil pan and clean. What oil should I use then?

[nkaminar]

More information is needed. What oil filter kit? What oil were you using before? Do you suspect sludge in the oil pan? (You can remove the oil filler tube and stick a stick down there to see if there is sludge.) How many miles on the engine from the last overhaul? Is the engine stock or what has been done to it?

[hazelhoff]

Read Richard Widman: “Choosing the right oil for Chevrolet Corvair”.
The only oil manufacturer willing the share oil secrets, at least that I know of …

Henk

[J Franklin]

Clean the pan and valve chamber, then use a good 10-30 or 10-40 detergent oil.

[Grumps]

I bought this car in June and have been working on steering and brakes, so this is going to be the first time for me to change the oil. I don't know what the previous owner was using so I thought I would start out with an add on oil filter kit and start out running it with fresh oil. The kit was bought from Snyder's and looks to be styled like a Kenz and is a simple bolt on system. The previous own didn't have much information on the car, but I did find some papers under the seat that said the motor was replaced at an odometer reading of 76,424 miles and it is now reading 81,240. The motor runs perfect, and I hope that it did have a rebuild and ther is only 5,000 miles on the rebuild. What should I check when I pull the pan off?

[katy]

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Originally Posted by J Franklin

use a good 10-30 or 10-40 detergent oil.

Ditto

W/only 5000 miles on the engine I wouldn't bother dropping and cleaning the oil pan.

[J Franklin]

Originally Posted by katy

Ditto

W/only 5000 miles on the engine I wouldn't bother dropping and cleaning the oil pan.

Maybe so, unless you are just curious.

[amclass]

Originally Posted by J Franklin

Maybe so, unless you are just curious.

Just engine replaced or replaced with and rebuilt engine? I would be curious and would at least drop the pan. That gives you some peace of mind. Also, you may see if the engine is rebuilt and if the engine still has babbits or inserts already ...

[J Franklin]

Originally Posted by amclass

Just engine replaced or replaced with and rebuilt engine? I would be curious and would at least drop the pan. That gives you some peace of mind. Also, you may see if the engine is rebuilt and if the engine still has babbits or inserts already ...

Best for "Peace of mind" Lots to see and understand!

[Lee29coupe]

Dump the filter kit, use high quality synthetic oil and change it every six months or 300 to 500 miles, which ever comes first. Good synthetic like Caster, Mobil One etc will remove all sludge after a couple of oil changes. The Model A has a super low pressure oil system that doesn’t push oil through filter element very well and most oil is diverted out of the top of the oil pump when backup pressure overcomes oil pump spring pressure anyway. After car sits for awhile most oil gets cold and thick and seeps out of filter and filter has to fill up again before it can get oil to valve chamber and babbits so you start engine somewhat dry until oil can go through all that add on stuff. Trust old Henry Ford, run it mainly as he made it but use the best synthetic oil and change it regularly. Don’t bother with the filter, it does more harm than good in the long run. Spend cash on goodK&N air filter kit instead.

[Lee29coupe]

One last thought. Study the oil pump,cam drive, oil pump spring and notice at the top of the oil system,the cover can be raised from oil pressure underneath it and dumps oil right into valve chamber thus bypassing the oil filter system, old Henry had it all covered. Just keep car lubed and adjusted and make sure you drive it on a regular basis.

[Synchro909]

Originally Posted by Lee29coupe

Dump the filter kit, use high quality synthetic oil and change it every six months or 300 to 500 miles, which ever comes first. Good synthetic like Caster, Mobil One etc will remove all sludge after a couple of oil changes. The Model A has a super low pressure oil system that doesn’t push oil through filter element very well and most oil is diverted out of the top of the oil pump when backup pressure overcomes oil pump spring pressure anyway. After car sits for awhile most oil gets cold and thick and seeps out of filter and filter has to fill up again before it can get oil to valve chamber and babbits so you start engine somewhat dry until oil can go through all that add on stuff. Trust old Henry Ford, run it mainly as he made it but use the best synthetic oil and change it regularly. Don’t bother with the filter, it does more harm than good in the long run. Spend cash on goodK&N air filter kit instead.

That's the first time I have heard that but that doesn't mean there is no truth in it. Do you have any evidence of that?

[alexiskai]

Modern detergent oil and no filter is the worst of both worlds. You’re suspending the sludge in the oil and running it through the engine over and over.

[Jeff/Illinois]

Lee29coupe... interesting and the way you explain it, it does make sense

[Lee29coupe]

If you change oil you drain suspended material. Synthetic oil doesn’t produce sludge like old organic oil, I learned this with working on old 40s,50s and 60s Harley Davidsons. They run hot and are really bad on oil, I had a 1948 that had a ton of sludge in under cam cover, started using Mobile One and engine rid itself of sludge when I removed cover to change cam. It’s not a wonder product but a engineered lube that works different than organic oil. Like I said the oil pump/cam/distributor system will produce increased oil pressure to displace top of oil pump system if there is a block in that cam chamber oil feed passage. That oil dumps right into cam chamber from the top of cam spring.Trust me, if I could get my oil in my 29 coupe filter I would, I had the side screw on type and i would remove filter and it would not have very much oil in it, different brands of filters used for observations, all drained after little time. Modern systems use high pressure, Model A used a splash system, take off breather tube with engine running and you can see what I’m talking about, be prepared for a oily mess. The systems in the A were designed like aircraft, they go to a safe mode if malfunctions happen, built for common poor people in the 20s. My Grand parents would use old oil from farm tractors to change oil in their Model A because tractor was more important than car in those times. Really wish we could have modern oil filter system.

[WHN]

Originally Posted by Grumps

I bought this car in June and have been working on steering and brakes, so this is going to be the first time for me to change the oil. I don't know what the previous owner was using so I thought I would start out with an add on oil filter kit and start out running it with fresh oil. The kit was bought from Snyder's and looks to be styled like a Kenz and is a simple bolt on system. The previous own didn't have much information on the car, but I did find some papers under the seat that said the motor was replaced at an odometer reading of 76,424 miles and it is now reading 81,240. The motor runs perfect, and I hope that it did have a rebuild and ther is only 5,000 miles on the rebuild. What should I check when I pull the pan off?

Some advice from a 60 plus year owner.

Don’t fix something that’s not broken!!!

If you car is running great. Leave it alone and enjoy it. I have seen a number of good cars really messed up by best intention owners.

If you doctor told you everything with you heart was fine, but let’s just have open heart surgery and check things out. “What would you say”.

Leave it alone.

Haze gray and underway.

[Grumps]

I did remove the oil pan and cleaned it out and I was curious and wanted to know if the motor was a Babbit or inserted, it is inserted, so now I know a little more about it. While I had the pan off, I also checked the oil pump and replaced the bushings and I replaced the timing gear because it had big chunks out of it, so I am glade that I did remove the oil pan. I still have the oil filter install and I went to a 10W-30 synthetic oil.

[nkaminar]

If you have insert bearings, do you have a pressurized system? If pressurized you will have seen steel oil lines inside the engine that run to the front and rear main bearings.

Did you put an aluminum cam gear in? It will last a lot longer than the fiber ones.

[Grumps]

Yes, it has steel oil lines, so I guess it's a pressurized system and no I didn't use the aluminum cam gear. Tell me what the pressurized system does? Will it have more oil pressure?

[johnneilson]

Grumps,
short version;
Original Model A had only gravity oil to the mains, oil pumped up into lifter valley and had gravity tubes down to the mains. Rods oiled via splash, a scoop on the end of the rod driven thru a pool of oil.
A modern system uses pressurized oil fed directly into the mains, if crank is drilled than also into the rods.
Due to the design of the bearings, length and width, it does not take much pressure to keep the bearings happy, IMHO, 20-30 psi is plenty. Since the oilpump drive was never meant for a pressurized pump it will wear prematurely if you try to pump 50-60 psi.
Best, John