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Discussion Topic:
Oil suggestion
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Gene's40 |
07-12-2025 @ 10:14 AM
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Member
Posts: 20
Joined: Mar 2024
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Thanks for the suggestions !
Gene Talley
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carcrazy |
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06-20-2025 @ 1:37 PM
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Senior
Posts: 1975
Joined: Oct 2009
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Hi Gene, My choice would be to go with the 10/40 oil if the car will be driven in Texas during the summer.
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krdenny |
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06-20-2025 @ 9:56 AM
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Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Apr 2025
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Hello Carcrazy. I've been using VR1 in my 68 vette with no issues and would like to use it in my 34' Ford flathead as well due to the additives it has and convenience. The specs on the car call for anyting from 5wt to 50wt depending on what temperatures it will be driven in. I live in Texas and suppose I will be driving it in temperatures from 40-95 degrees. The VR1 only comes in multi-vis 10/30 or 10/40. Any preference between these two weights?
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Gene's40 |
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10-18-2024 @ 4:46 AM
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Member
Posts: 20
Joined: Mar 2024
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I bought the car earlier this year and the man I bought it from didn't know what internal components were used. It doesn't have an oil filter.
Gene Talley
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carcrazy |
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10-17-2024 @ 9:19 PM
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Senior
Posts: 1975
Joined: Oct 2009
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While it is true that Flathead Fords have lower valve spring pressures than pushrod engines, if your engine has flat tappets it is imperative to use oils that contain the zinc additive package which includes ZDDP, phosphorus, zinc and sulphur.
Most mainstream modern oils do not contain the required amounts of these additives to handle the needs of earlier flat tappet engines. You can determine if the oil you plan to use has the required amounts of anti-wear additives by looking at the API Service notification on the oil container. If the API rating is SL or lower, you can use it in the older engines as it has some of these anti-wear agents.
If the oil you are using has an API rating of SN or higher, the zinc additive package is missing. This is because the EPA determined that it can cause poisoning of catalytic converters limiting their ability to last 100,000 miles as federally mandated.
To get around this dilemma, you can either use a specialized racing or other special use oil (at considerable extra expense per quart) or use a readily available conventional motor oil and add the proper anti-wear additives to the oil.
My suggestion would be to use a good conventional high detergency motor oil like Pennzoil and add Red Line Engine Oil Break-In Additive. For your first oil fill on a newly rebuilt engine use the entire bottle (16 fluid ounces). For subsequent oil changes add 1/2 bottle (8 fluid ounces) with each oil change.
For my Flatheads which are driven in a mild climate, I like to run a straight SAE HD-30 weight oil plus the above mentioned additive. The reason for using a straight 30 weight oil is to cutdown on oil leaks and oil consumption.
As for the frequency of oil changes, it depends on whether or not you are using an oil filter and the duty cycle of your driving. If you are using an oil filter and you do lots of highway driving you should be OK changing your oil every 3,000 miles. If you have mostly city driving, a 2,000 mile oil change interval would be OK. If you do not have an oil filter, change the oil every 1,000 miles.
Hope this helps answer some of your questions about oil.
This message was edited by carcrazy on 10-17-24 @ 9:23 PM
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ford38v8 |
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10-17-2024 @ 7:38 PM
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Senior
Posts: 2881
Joined: Oct 2009
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Gene, that was a good recommendation for use in an early overhead Valve engine, but not needed in a Ford flathead due to low valve spring pressure. Any modern oil will do well in your engine, just change it more often than in a modern car.
Alan
This message was edited by ford38v8 on 10-17-24 @ 7:38 PM
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Gene's40 |
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10-17-2024 @ 6:55 PM
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Member
Posts: 20
Joined: Mar 2024
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I have the 85 HP flathead in my 40. I need to change the oil and Valvoline VR1 was recommended since it contains Zinc. Comments ?
Gene Talley
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