Oil,Water wetter,Anti-freeze,Trans gease.???

[Brent]

Well let's talk about something other than seat cushions for a while.[8D]

What fluids do you feed your baby. Do you use synthetic oil and what weight. Do you use a water wetter and antifreeze in your system or just one of the two? What trans oil do you use (manual or auto)? Any additives or friction modifiers?

Tis the season drain and check everything :(

What will you put back in????

Brent

[eliminator]

Good questions.
I personally like Red Line Synthetic Motor Oil, after 1100 miles of Valvoline 20-50W I changed to Redline 20-50:). My motor is the 427 side-oiler with a single carb and solid lifters. The Top Loader gets 75W Castrol or 75W Exxon, according to Butch Capps who is in the Transmission and Rear-end business, you should not use synthetics in the Toploaders or Jag rearends. Rearend gets the heavier 85-90W in Exxon or Castrol with Friction Modifier. I pre-mix the rear end Grease in one of those plastic Tide Jugs, about 3-4 qt's, then just use one of the hand pumps to transfer to the rear-end. The clutch get Wilwood High Temp fluid and I may go to it on the brakes too. Presently using Valvoline Synt. in the brakes.
One point on fluids, the brake & clutch fluid must be changed once a year, minimum, because of the high heat in the engine compartment.
The antifreeze is Prestone (Yellow) mixed 50/50 and has one bottle of Red Line water-wetter and on my FE I have a 180 thermostat. No heating problems with the twin pusher fans, but I don't chug around in heavy traffic either. I was told not to use the Extended Life antifreeze, but can't remember why.
All my fluids will be changed every year with the exception on the coolant that will go 2 years. That's my story and I am sticking to it.:D:D

Eliminator

[Mike Geddes]

OK...here's what I'm using.
Mobil Synthetic 0-30W.
Prestone Antifreeze mixed 25%.( I do not have cooling fans.)
I fill it up with Prestone at 50/50 before I store it for the winter.
Brake fluid...STP .
Rear end....90W Castrol.
Dexron ATF for the AOD box.
Works for me here in Canada.
Mike

Mike Geddes

[WBofTN]

I like Mobil synthetic too. Have you ever tried to pick up an oil filter
that has Mobil running down the sides - Its almost impossible - its that
slippery.

WB

'93 Unique 427/351W/4sp

[WBofTN]

How about spark plug recommendations:
I have a 351w bored and stroked to around 400ci. 292 cam, hydraulic
rollers, and trickflow alum heads.
WB

'93 Unique 427/351W/4sp

[dmiller]

i have used mobil 1 for a long time, but i don't think it would be good in a new engine, until the rings get seated in. i went about 6000 miles using dino oil on my honda car before going to mobil one.

[clayfoushee]

Dmiller, I've heard the same thing about breaking in with standard before going synthetic. My side-oiler was installed about 700 miles ago, and while I ultimately want to go synthetic, I was also wondering how long I should wait for the rings to seat. Other views appreciated.

Clay

Unique 9299, 427FE side oiler, top-loader (close), 3.31 rear

Annapolis, MD

[Brent]

I am breaking my motor in on 25-50 Penzoil and will switch to Mobil 1 after about 2000 miles.

Clay,
It depends on what type of ring you have(moly,cast,chrome?) how good the cross hatch is, and how your motor was clearenced, all that good stuff. A soft ring racing engine can seat very quickly (couple of hours)and a street ring could take 1000 to 1500 miles.

I use 80W Penzoil in the toploader.

50/50 Prestone yellow and filtered water. (our local water is as hard as a rock)

WB,
I use a cheap non resistor autolite plug. I have tried the expensive platinum plugs and have not seen any performance gains from them and MSD does not suggest them. The heat range would depend on your engine combination. The problem with pump gas is you cant read a plug very well because they always look like crap.



Brent

[Mike Geddes]

Do you really think there is a problem using Synthetic from the 'get go.'
Think about all the cars that are coming off the assembly lines with synthetic in them....Corvette's....all the higher end European models.
My Mercedes came with Synthetic....and they are not brand specific.
M.Benz endorses all the major sythetic brands with the exception of that 'Purple' stuff.
Why do some of you feel that reg. oil is better for the break in period.?
Mike

Mike Geddes

[clayfoushee]

Mike, I don't have any clue whether it's a real problem or not. I just hear it all the time.

Clay

Unique 9299, 427FE side oiler, top-loader (close), 3.31 rear

Annapolis, MD

[clayfoushee]

P.S. I meant to add there's a very knowledgeable mechanic in these parts named Pat Goss, who does a segment on Motorweek on PBS and a local weekly radio show on Sat. & Sun. The syn. vis. std. oil is one of his pet peeves. People constantly ask him this question, and it always causes him to "go nuts." He says "synthetic oil is superior in any car, any time....stop asking me that question.....it's a fact!"

I'm afraid to ask him, "but what about my 65 427, just rebuilt?", although I suspect he'd say the same thing.

Clay

Unique 9299, 427FE side oiler, top-loader (close), 3.31 rear

Annapolis, MD

[eliminator]

Clay,

Unique owner Butch Capps has a 427S/C that is 10 years old and has excess of 10,000 miles on it and alot of track time. It has an original Holman Moody 427 sideoiler that he bought 11 years ago. He went through the engine and changed the cam thats all, its a 12:1 engine that he burns 112 octane in. Like most 427 FE's it put together "loose", he has run Mobile 1 synthetic in it from the time the oil came out with zero problems. Proof is in the "pudding". My oil consumption on mine dropped off at about 800-900 miles so at 1100 miles I changed to synthetic, consumption has not changed and my engine is loose. The harder you run it the less oil it uses. Dog it around town and it will use some oil, that's a 427 FE for you. Hope that helps.

Eliminator

[dmiller]

mike, i know in airplane engines, the recommended break in oil is straight mineral oil, no additives, after about 100 hours, i thinik, you can go to a modern oil with additives and synthetic.

in motorcycles, the old "pros" say use dino oil for first couple oil changes, before synthetic.

i don't know, just repeating old sayings.

doug

[rdorman]

- Mobil 1 5-30
- Redline in box and rear
- wilwood 570 in clutch and brakes
- distilled water and water wetter in the summer adding about a gallon of prestone (the green stuff) in the winter. )0% antifreeze in the summer.
- K&N air, gas and oil filters.
- Grease, heck I don't remember!

Rick

[Mike Geddes]

Doug et Al
I'm staying with Synthetic all the way...new or old engine.
Side-bar.
Funny what you said about the air-plane engines using mineral oil.
My Grandad told me that durring the first World War in Europe, they used Castor oil ( the old laxative ) in the plane engines.Their wasn't a single pilot who came back with clean underwear after breating those castor oil fumes for 45 minutes in the air.

Mike Geddes

[dmiller]

mike, it might not have been the castor oil, maybe just the quality of their airmanship that caused the excretions. i know some of my landings have been scarry enough to let loose.

doug

[clayfoushee]

LOL...I agree it was probably either the airmanship or the airframe that caused the excretions. We still use castor in our RC aircraft engines, along with nitro.

Clay

Unique 9299, 427FE side oiler, top-loader (close), 3.31 rear

Annapolis, MD

[WBofTN]

Question for Eliminator or anyone else:
Just got back from the Autozone and Napa
1st: neither had 75w gear oil for the Top Loader
Does it really need to be strait weight oil??
2nd: Is "limited slip gear oil additive" the same thing as "Friction modifier"? Couldn't find friction modifier either.
WB

'93 Unique 427/351W/4sp

[eliminator]

The transmission grease needs to a single weight lube, I had a hard time finding 75wt but finally found it in Castrol and Exxon. If you can't find 75wt then 80 wt can be used. Limited slip gear additive is the same as friction modifier. I pre-mix mine before I put it in the rear-end, then pump both in at the same time. When I finally found the 75wt I bought 6 qt's for stock.

Eliminator

[WBofTN]

Thanks Eliminator

'93 Unique 427/351W/4sp

[spd4me]

wboftn
SAE recommends for a 396W Stroker with trick flow alum heads a Motorcraft AGSP-33C or Autolite 3926 or Champion RC-12YC or Accel 416. Spark plug gap for electronic dist. 44 and point type 35. Mine has the Motorcraft's.

[Poorboy]

Wboftn,
I just finished installing a freshly rebuilt toploader from Butch Capps and filled it with his supplied gear lube, which was 80w90 multi grade!!!!!

Poorboy

[WBofTN]

Spd4me: I replaced plugs last week - stuck with the Motorcraft (dont remeber the #). I have Trick Flow heads too.
Thanks for the info.
WB


Thanks Poorboy - 80w90 is easy to find.
WB

'93 Unique 427/351W/4sp