As long as we are talking oil, a very good treatise on oil is at:
http://web.hudsonet.com/~fedo/oil.html
And for those who are interested in Slick 50 and other PTFE ("Teflon")
oil-additives:
http://www.car-nection.com/classic/chevy/snake.txt
Folks:
Although we had an extended discussion not long age about the right oil
for our carburettors and the best oil filters, I can't remember a decent
discussion on the best oil; brand and viscosity. Most TR folks I know
use Castrol 20W-50 but years ago when Rick Cline was winning national
championships with Triumphs and I was one of the hanger-ons, we used
Kendall. Maybe it was a sponsorship thing? Anyway what got me thinking
about this was a '93 GMC van I bought recently. As soon as I got it I
changed the oil. As I had a couple of cases of 20W-50 around for the
TR, thats what I used. Later as I was reading the manual on the van I
found they recommended 5W-30 for the 5.7 litre engine. As my initial
gas milage was sorry, around 10 mpg with the car trailer hooked up and
13 without, I started looking for some improvement. Now before I go any
farther let me answer the obvious: Yes I knew the milage would be
terrible before I bought it, but not quite this bad. I changed the
oxygen sensor and did a little tuning which helped. I also changed to
the recommeded oil and guess what, milage went up to 15. At the current
93 cents a gallon that we have here I can live with that, especially
since I don't use it as the everyday car. But back to the real subject,
what is the best oil and viscosity for our cars? Castrol, Mobil 1,
Redline, Any Old Brand, 20W50, 10W-30, 5W-30?
Let the great debate begin.
Bob
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