In 1966 I also had this to do on my first car, a '54 Dodge; change the oil in the oil-bath air filter, two drops of oil in the front and back oil caps on the generator, check/top off, the radiator and the Master cylinder, that was under the driver’s side floor mat… Top off the air in the tires and spare… and lest I forget the top off he spare gallon of gas in the trunk… My girlfriend’s father let me know plain and simply that if I ever ran out of gas with his daughter in the car, it would be real difficult to ever see his daughter again from 6-feet under… L L . . .
As much work and time as this took, I never resented it. Now, 60-years later, I don’t even bother to take the FOB out of my pocket to start the car… But my wife, still reminds me to check the gas, like her father would remind me… L L . . .
I may be wrong but I thought it was the lead in the gas that preserved valve seats. Zinc in the oil was to preserve the cam shaft from the flat tappets.
Actually, I thought the lead provided a “lubricate” for the value stems. I still put a lead additive in the gas of my '84 Harley Davidson Ironhead Sportster… And my baby is now 40-years old with over 80k on her, I will keep doing it even if it is really only a Placebo as in an old mechanics tale…
I know lots of folks driving old, pre-lead-free cars are not doing this without any issues… I also “pat” the tank before we go out and I say, “Bring me home safely…”
@bing I am only guessing that your reference is to my running out of gas in my posting above. If so, the only “low fuel light” my '54 Dodge had was the “oil pressure” and “generator light” that came on when the engine quit for lack of fuel… L o L . . .
In World War 1, radial airplane engines were splash lubricated with castor oil. Yes, made from castor beans. The oil can withstand nearly 600 degrees F without carbonizing and tends to cling to hot surfaces unlike the oils made from crude oil pumped from the ground. The exhaust fumes from the castor oil made a dash to the restroom normal for returning pilots but it did keep everyone “regular”.
Cars adopted this oil, especially for air-cooled racing engines. Porsche used it in their air cooled racing engines into the middle 1960s. The Castrol brand of oil was named for their use of castor oil for motor oil in the early 20th century.
Some two-stroke and 4 stroke air-cooled racing motorcycle engines still use castor oil based motor oil. It is available from a few suppliers.
Towards the end of WWI German aircraft experienced higher engine failure rates because they had to replace the castor oil with mineral oil, I seem to recall.
Yes, the lead was for the exhaust seats, the flame would overheat the exhaust seats the exhaust valves would sink in the seats, or you could have the machine shop install hardened exhaust seats and never think about lead again… It was more crucial when upgrading to a bigger profile cam and installing better valve springs with more seat pressure…
The original seats that had already been run with leaded gas for years has a build up that will probably keep from having any damage to the softer seats, but having the seats cut (valve job) will remove that build up…
Zinc in motor oil creates a protective coating on the camshaft between the cam lobes and the lifter seat, the bigger the cam profile and spring pressure the more important it is… Stock low performance 50yo engines can probably get away without running Zinc, small cam, low/weak spring pressure, low RPMs… Replace the cam with fresh springs, probably gonna kill the new cam once the break in (Zinc) wears off… Bigger cam with stronger cam, almost guaranteed to kill the cam lobes and lifters quick…
Over on a Ford Flathead site, a guy asked what has he should use in his rebuilt Flathead. Many responders said 91-93 octane, yet never gave a reason.
A few of us stated regular if fuel system rebuilt for ethanol gas, or non-ethanol.
Ford recommended 91 or higher octane for my early 70’s Ford truck in its owner’s manual. But I’ve only used “regular”, 85 (in Colorado) or 87 (in Calif) , never experienced any octane related engine issues afaik. I think the def’n of “octane” has changed since the early 70’s.
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