How about full pressure lubrication? Did those cars specifying non-detergent oil have filters and full pressure lubrication or splash lubrication without a filter?
I would also want plenty of anti-wear additives. I have seen oil specifically marketed for classic cars that isn’t meant for modern cars due to the emissions control systems getting fouled by the additives. You can also buy zinc additive packages in a bottle/can to add to regular oils when used in classic cars.
Then there is diesel rated oil which might not be a bad option for you. I run this in all my outdoor equipment without emissions controls and it seems to do quite well. They seem to start easier and run smoother, especially the ones with hydraulic lifters.
I don’t know what’s the best oil to use for you classic. But absent anything definite I’d be more inclined to use 10W30 rather than 10W40 myself. The wider the viscosity range the more compromises the designers have to make in the oil’s formulation.
@cwatkin. I know that the 1963 Studebaker Lark V8 where the manual specified non detergent oil had an oil filter and full pressure lubrication. The last car I remember that had splash lubrication was the 1953 Chevrolet with the manual transmission. The 1953 Chevrolet with the PowerGlide had a full pressure lubricated engine. The 1948 Dodge I once owned had full pressure lubrication and a full flow oil filter. Heavy detergent oil wasn’t marketed when that car was manufactured to the best of my knowledge.
All the 15W 40 oil I have seen is diesel oil and has zinc in it and would be a great oil in a 312. It is also high detergent which would solve some of the top oiling problems.
Like triedac, I also admired Studebakers. I grew up in one and owned 2 myself. The V8got much better gas mileage for the time and had more power than many larger displacement engines. Every one of their V8s built by Studebaker had timing gears rather than a chain and their engines were built with closer torelerances than other cars at the time and required about 5000 miles to break in. The last few years used Chevy engines when they moved production to Canada because they had no engine plant there.
That’s not living, it’s noisy, rough riding, and somewhat primitive. Plus, I spent too much time in my youth installing external oil lines to the heads of those infernal Y Block engines to bypass sludged up oil galleries.
We had both a 60 Falcon and 61 Lark and no PS. No problem. No prob with my 61 Corvair either or VW naturally. Our 58 and 61 Chev wagons were all standard too and no big problem steering. I think the steering ratios were different for standard steering though. My 68 Dart never had PS and it really wasn’t that hard to steer.
My understanding, which could be wrong, is rack and pinion takes more effort from the driver than recirculating ball systems, hence with most vehicles using racks power steering became standard. Same with disk vs drum brakes, again I could’ve wrong, please correct me if I am, disk w/o power required more pedal pressure than drums.
RE: Studebakers, I drove several with V8s, no PS, no problem. The only one that was tough to steer was my 49 Champion, Flathead 6, up in the air, wheels off ground could turn the steering wheel with one finger. Low speed driving, required both hands to turn.
I think like most things, no one flipped a switch to make PS standard, it just evolved over a period of time in a natural process of buyer and seller. Consider going to a new car lot in 1964 and looking at new Oldsmobiles. You would not likely be interested in the one that had standard steering or standard brakes, even though it was a pretty metalic blue. So why would dealers order cars with features that would be hard to sell? They wouldn’t, and of course they could charge more for all the features and people liked them. Just like AC.
Then came colors other than black, and then back-up lights, and radios, and tinted windows, and V8s, and gasp, car payments.
Model Ts were available in colors other than black fro the factory until Ford came up with a fast drying black paintthat sped up production. Interestingly, from 1909-1913 Dodge brothers did nothing but build parts for Ford’s Model T and had more employees and built more parts than Ford did. They even built Model T engines. The Dodge Brothers even lent Henry Ford the money to start the present day Ford company. Hr had gone bankrupt with his first two automobile companies and the banks would not lend him any more money.
Ford resented the Dodge brothers because he had to give them 25% stake in his company and grew to hate them and eventually all redheads.
Henry started bankruptcy rumors to drive the price of his stock down so he could buy the Dodge brothers shares, Instead, as the price dropped, the Dodges bought more shares.
My grandfather was the production manager at the Detroit plant of Budd Wheel for many years. Of all the automotive companies Budd Wheel supplied, Ford was more of a hassle to deal with than all the others combined.
I have no idea whether this is an honest assessment or not, but my school’s first autoshop teacher–who claimed to have worked with a couple of parts manufacturers in the early days of the auto industry–referred to the Dodge Brothers as “a couple of alcoholic bums”.
@VDCdriver The Dodge brothers had a reputation as being crude and hard drinking. Their money bought their way into wealthy society but reputedly were not much liked.
Here’s a link to the story about the Chevrolet brothers. There’s actually 3 brothers.
Quick summary: Louis founded Chevrolet Corporation in 1911 w/ ex-GM founder W Durrant. Durrant wanted to offer an econobox to compete the w/Ford Model T. Louis preferred luxury cars, so he quit, selling all his stock to Durrant along w/the Chevrolet name. Durrant eventually regained control of GM, which is why Chevrolet is a GM product today. Louis became very successful in car racing, but lost all his money in the depression and had to take a job on the GM assembly line, where he assembled Chevrolet’s until his death in 1941.
If I remember right, Ford hated drinking so I can see where he would have a problem with the Dodge boys. Of course Ford was no easy person to get along with and harassed his son endlessly for his drinking and poor life style. He thought he could change him by abusing him endlessly. When Edsel died of cancer, Henry finally said that maybe he was too hard on the guy. Ya think?
Of course we remember people for their accomplishments and the impact on history, not their short comings.
Heh, heh, the only Chev, Frontenac, or Monroe I ever owned was a Corvair and the only Ford I ever owned was a Lincoln.
