Re: water/antifreeze

Posted by su8overdrive On 2013/1/2 16:54:01

Thank you, Dr. Cole. 140 weight might be a wee thick for us in the mild greater SF/Oakland Bay Area. Meanwhile, as said, everyone i know is running the usual Pennzoil/Kendall/other major brand GL 5-6 stuff, and i haven't heard any horror stories, including a coupla longtime mechanics who've been overhauling transmissions since the '50s. In fact, no one had the least concern 'til some alarmist bit in Skinned Knuckles from the same characters who bought into the fire in a crowded theater zinc motor oil nonsense.

As posted here months ago, the longtime Kendall tech i spoke with showed me that, for example, the Kendall GT1 10W/30 i use has the SAME zinc level as in the '70s, and we heard no such nonsense back then. The non-problem began when increased ZDDP levels started harming catalytic convertors, so the major oil companies dialed it back to '70s levels.

But all the downhome hotrod black helicopters contingent heard is "zinc being reduced." About that time, a couple vociferous codgers in the 1941 Cadillac Club of America, formerly the CCCA, reported problems with Cadillac's chintzy bronze timing gear in their 346 flathead V-8s, coincidentally after having just been rebuilt. So, as with silicone DOT-5 brake fluid, gasoline, it's always easier to blame the big, bad oil companies, etc. than take a look at the work recently performed.
BTW, the Kendall tech himself owns a well-tweaked '60s Camaro with a flat cam engine, and knows the fellow who developed the 15W/40 "Classic Car Motor Oil" marketed by the Indiana region of the CCCA. The Kendall tech freely admitted that Kendall sold an unnecessary oil with heightened zinc today simply as "....any company that wants to stay in business has to provide people with what they think they need or want."

Meanwhile, we're lucky in that those of us in the Bay Area served by "EBMUD (East Bay Municipal Utility District)" have, along with NYC receiving soft, clean water from the Adirondacks, two of the best, softest water supplies in the nation, our water coming down from Sierra snowmelt.

The downside is the Bay Area is overpopulated HELL, with neverending torrents of twits in SUVs racing to Starbucks and the mall, so if any of you are thinking of moving here, do yourselves a favor and stay put. The only time you can enjoy your Packard on the road is at the crack of dawn on a major holiday like Christmas, New Year's, Thankgsiving, or Stupor Bowl Sunday, i kid you not.

I think the key is soft water, regardless its source.

So, GL-5/6, much ado about nothing?

Happy New Year and Merry Ninth Day of Christmas.