Old Wive's Tales

Richard Lorenz said:
Air-balancing a carburetor when using an air filter is getting to be an old wives' tale. As long as the GAV gives normal responses, the air balance is not needed. The air balance will not take away the air flow resistance of any filter.
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BS; it only gets richer. It is the design of the beast or else it would not be so with modern iron.
 
@FL&WVMIKE you still cannot use detergent oil in an original engine unless it has been thoroughly cleaned or rebuilt. And some high end detergent oils are acidic and will ruin some old engine parts
 
Purdy Swoft said:
40 Deluxe said:
How about the myth that if pistons are installed with the ring gaps all in line the engine will not start due to lack of compression or it will burn copious amounts of oil, etc., etc. Not so!............ ....Some math: A piston's ring land diameter is approx. .030"-.060" smaller than the cylinder diameter so let's say we have .030" space between piston and cylinder wall above the ring gap and a .020" ring gap. That is an area of .0006" sq. in. exposed to compression pressure. Whatever compression gets through that tiny gap has to begin pressurizing the space between the top and 2nd ring before it will escape through the 2nd ring gap. This space is comparatively large and any compression pressure can easily find the 2nd ring gap no matter whwere it is. Likewise with the top rail of the oil ring, no matter where that gap is located. Rings do rotate in their grooves so who knows how often the gaps all line up in an engine's lifetime?![/QUOTE

If the ring gaps are aligned it wouldn't lose enough compression to keep it from cranking but it certainly wouldn't be a good thing.The rings fit tightly to the cylinder walls. A .020 ring gap is a .020 ring gap and the width of the piston ring land diameter doesn't change ring end gap. All of the new ring sets that I have ever seen or used stressed the fact to stagger the ring gaps. If the ring manufacturer didn't think that staggering the ring gaps made a difference they wouldn't recommend staggering them. I have no doubt that the rings will rotate in the grooves. Will lined up end gaps cause oil burning, I haven't tried it. I know that I wouldn't try it.
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Adding to that Purdy, If you stagger the rings when New, I think the chance of the rings ever lining up in a Motors life time?, you would have a better chance of shooting a water buffalo from behind, and not leaving a hole. When rings wear in the cylinder, the cylinder wears egg shaped, the rings also wear egg shaped, and that would not lend its self for rings to turn. As the rings wear, the gap also gets bigger. Staggering, I don't think is so much of loosing compression, as is the oil not being pulled off the cylinder walls, as the leaked oil would be deposited in the combustion chamber. Herm.
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My uncle was a diesel mechanic back in the 20's/30's. It was common practice for trucking companies to flush engines with carbon tetrachloride when changing from non detergent to detergent oils.
 
I can remember, service stations, flushing out engine blocks with kerosene, before re-filling, during oil-changes. They would actually start the engines and let them run for a minute or two.
MIKE :)
 
Crankshafts will go out of shape if laid on their side. Perhaps true if they are made out of peanut butter!
 
Adding even the smallest amount of high detergent oil to a Model A engine will cause sludge to break up and circulate through out its internal structure, resulting in piston ring leakage, advanced camshaft wear, oil pump failure, babbit damage, being falsely accused of participating in multiple incestuous relationships,receiving monthly undecipherable bank account charges, testing positive for heartworms, and a myriad of other catastrophic occurances that don't immediately come to mind. These horrific consequences may be legitimate concerns for nailhead Buick,stove bolt Chevy,vintage Citroen and/or the other brands that are enjoyed by members of the 'other world'. Not so with the Model A-not enough oil pressure to move the gook around very much (me thinks). Most of it has probably been 'glueing' itself to the bottom of the oil pan since time began or at least since the last time the oil was changed (possibly by the previous owner who became a member of Model A Heaven during the Eisenhower administration!?!?)). If the sludge is REALLY bad, your Model A engine has a good probability of being just about used up anyway (again, me thinks).
Thanks for your time,REA,Jr.(jmr)
Shadetree Rule #1 "If your dipstick's one quart low, And there's some place you MUST go, Ad 'ANY TYPE' oil this time-'ONCE'. It's better than 'NOTHING'-rhymes better with '*****'."
 
I had a 1962 Ford F600 with a 6 cyl. If you used HD, multiple grade oil in it, the oil would leak out past the seals. Use non-detergent, straight wgt oil and it would stay in the engine. Just my experience.
Terry
 
We were doing this in the 60s. Three qts of diesel or kero and one qt of fox/wolfs head oil. Start it up an let it idle for few minutes and let the sludge out. These were the V8 239, 272, 292, 312 Y blocks of the fifties.
Many owners then thought oil changes were a waste of money and let their engines get gunked up. Also, The Y blocks had a propensity to block up the oil galleries to the rocker arms. They sold "rocker arm kits" which were a simple bypass to get oil up to the rocker arms.
Terry




FL&WVMIKE said:
I can remember, service stations, flushing out engine blocks with kerosene, before re-filling, during oil-changes. They would actually start the engines and let them run for a minute or two.
MIKE :)
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Keith True said:
Ive worked on hundreds of old engines,I have never seen one that the detergent oil instantly scoured out the sludge when used.My grandfather subscribed to that theory.He felt detergent oil will give your engine an instant enema.He put two quarts of it in an old Falcon,a week later the engine came apart.I took it apart after to play with it,when I pulled the valve cover it acted like a jello mold.The sludge was perfectly formed to it,and you couldn't see one rocker arm,pushrod,or head bolt.Almost the same with the oil pan.I got the gasket free,then had to yank the pan off.It was hung up on the sludge around the oil pickup.The engine knocked,ran hot,left a blue haze behind it on the road,but it was that damn detergent oil that ruined the engine.He sold A's new,and to him Ford never made a good car after until they came out with the Falcon.He said the V8's wore out because the pistons laid on their sides and gravity got to them.Myself,I have used Rotella since about 1977 in almost everything.I've had a few motorcycles that I could not use it in.
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KEITH TRUE ................
The detergent oil will break down the sludge, but not "instantly". 10 to 1 that the detergent oil broke down the sludge, just enough to block an oil passage. Those old Falcoln engines had an oil passage that went down through the motor block, itself. My guess is that it got blocked and starved the engine of oil.
MIKE :)
 
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