57 Fairline 292 y block engine oil

[hiball3985]

Like everything there can be advantages and disadvantages, I don't live in a cold climate so I have never had to worry about cranking issues. Just as a note: you can't run synthetic at any NHRA event, the stuff is too hard to clean off the track 

[Tom S]

78 yrs old. Never used synthetic oil.  Never had an engine failure because of oil.

I'll be 74 in a month. After some skepticism but followed by much research was finally convinced to start synthetic oil about 35 or so years ago.
I'd think that since it also gets pretty cold there in Montana you would want to use it.
You don't say why you never used it.

[Tom S]

Tom, might your oil choice have something to do with the generally lower temperatures at your degree of latitude ?

Absolutely. Went to a car show where a guy had a can of conventional, sometimes called 'Dino oil', and a can of synthetic oil sitting in a pan of dry ice. There was a stir-stick in each can of oil.  The dino oil stirred like molasses while the synthetic stirred about like what you'd expect room temp oil to feel like. I believe that around the same time I'd read that all the big oil companies were using synthetic oil in their many fleet vehicles that they were using up on the 'North Slope' where they were doing a lot of oil drilling.  Gets real cold up there.
I was finally convinced despite all the silly misconceptions about these new synthetic oils that was going around.
It's not just for cold though. As I understand it synthetics do not break down nearly as fast as conventional oil due to high engine  temps

Up here if you don't have a block heater in your engine you are screwing up.  You want your oil to get pumping asap at startup. I've read how something like 25% (?) of engine wear happens at cold startup.  Cold startup does not mean just at cold outside temps.  Could be 50, 60, 70, whatever degrees F.

Twisted/broke the oil pump drive shaft of a Y block once when starting up at minus 20 or more so once. Cold thick oil!
Knew right off that I had no oil pressure & shut it down. Lucky that those Y blocks had an external oil pump 'cause it made for an easy fix.
 

[Tom S]

... Just as a note: you can't run synthetic at any NHRA event, the stuff is too hard to clean off the track 

I assume that you're just joking. IE, Red line, Penzoil, and Valvoline make full synthetic oils specifically for NHRA drag racers.

[hiball3985]

I assume that you're just joking. IE, Red line, Penzoil, and Valvoline make full synthetic oils specifically for NHRA drag racers.

Tom, I was told this a few years ago by a guy who works on the Safety Safari, maybe they have a new method to clean up now? I'm not into drag racing so I don't keep up on whats happening.

[59meteor]

I don`t recall ever being officially told at a NHRA National Event, or LODRS Divisional points meet about not being allowed to use synthetic oil in my race cars, but I do know that a few years ago, our local track (Mission Raceway in BC Canada), they prefered if you did not run synthetic oil, and requested if you did, to make a note on your Tech inspection card.  I do know that the synthetic is much more difficult to clean up from the racing surface , compared to conventional oil. However, I do not recall the track officials even asking about what type of oil is being used anymore. However, for similar clean up concerns, they do require any car other than a newer, all stock vehicle, to use plain water in the cooling system, as antifreeze is much slipperier than water, and also more difficult to remove from the racing surface. Years ago, I had the pleasure(?) of sliding around at 130 MPH in my own coolant, after breaking the crankshaft and block on one of my FE engines, not a lot of fun.

[RICH MUISE]

OK, Tom, you convinced me. Went down for oil & filter. Decided to go with the Mobil1. Never had synthetic in my cars before, except for my wife's Honda CRV. At least no more dinosaurs will have to die for my '57 and that's a good thing. WALMARTS IS 15 DOLLARS CHEAPER FOR THE 5 QUART CONTAINER THAN o'rEILLY'S shoot, I hate this new keyboard..........glad my wife picked up a new Logistics illuminated one today to replace the one we had that took on a life of it's own.

[hiball3985]

OK, Tom, you convinced me. Went down for oil & filter. Decided to go with the Mobil1. Never had synthetic in my cars before, except for my wife's Honda CRV. At least no more dinosaurs will have to die for my '57 and that's a good thing. WALMARTS IS 15 DOLLARS CHEAPER FOR THE 5 QUART CONTAINER THAN o'rEILLY'S shoot, I hate this new keyboard..........glad my wife picked up a new Logistics illuminated one today to replace the one we had that took on a life of it's own.

This is what I meant in an earlier post when I said most people don't even know what synthetic oil is. It's made from the same crude oil that oils have always been made from, same amount of dinosaurs required 

[fdlrc]

Tom, you mention that you had a oil pump break due to oil being thick from the cold. That reminds me of a story my dad told me when he was a kid while helping his dad deliver ice in Minneapolis in the 30s. Grandpa had a AA Ford truck and if the temps were expected to drop below zero, they would drain the oil at night and keep it in the house.

Side note; the steering box was broke and they could only make right turns, I guess that made for creative route driving.

[RICH MUISE]

"It's made from the same crude oil that oils have always been made from, same amount of dinosaurs required"
Ha...........something else I didn't know that I didn't know.

[hiball3985]

"It's made from the same crude oil that oils have always been made from, same amount of dinosaurs required"
Ha...........something else I didn't know that I didn't know.

Disclaimer: I have nothing against synthetic, it's a good oil for newer cars.
I just wish they had come up with a different description/name. When Mobil first claimed they had synthetic the law suites started but the courts ruled that there were several definitions of the word synthetic and one of them covered it and Mobil could use it. Of course that opened the door for all the other manufactures also. Synthetic is just a more highly refined version of oil. Just like brake fluid has always been from the very beginning and now you see them adding the word Synthetic on the cans LOL, just more advertising BS.
I haven't looked at Synthetic oil in quite some time but at one point they were required to add to the labeling, usually in some fine print, that it also contained carrier oil, that just plain old oil LOL.
I forget what percentage of each is in a bottle.

[Tom S]

This is what I meant in an earlier post when I said most people don't even know what synthetic oil is. It's made from the same crude oil that oils have always been made from, same amount of dinosaurs required 

The trick is that they only use the slicker, more adaptive to change, tougher & longer lasting dinosaurs.   Now days the ones that haven't yet  been converted have feathers!

It's funny that at one time some people thought that oil came from decayed dinosaur bodies instead of what now seems to be commonly accepted. Last I checked it was decayed plant material.  For sure I don't really know how oil is made underground but I still like to call it 'Dino oil' anyway. 

 

[Tom S]

OK, Tom, you convinced me. Went down for oil & filter. Decided to go with the Mobil1. Never had synthetic in my cars before ....

Rich, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that synthetic oil originally came with synthetic, or was recommended for, your modern Lincoln engine.  I may be way wrong on that though & too lazy to try to look it up now. 
I haven't kept up with most 'new' car stuff for quite a while.

[Tom S]

... Grandpa had a AA Ford truck and if the temps were expected to drop below zero, they would drain the oil at night and keep it in the house.

Yup, they did that a lot here in the 1930s, & even the 1940s & 50s.  Often not just keep it in the house but my grandfather did heat it up on the stove in the morning too.  Farther north in the interior of Alaska, like in Fairbanks, it is common to get winter temps of minus 50 below or more even in the daytime.
Some people would run their cars off & on all night even in much later years. You could count on all your tires having a big flat spot on the bottom until you drove quite a ways.  It still gets very cold up there & elsewhere in the state but doesn't seem to get such cold for such long periods of time these days.
I'm talkin' minus 70 some degrees. Not unusual to have a 100 degree difference in the temps across Alaska in the winter.
     

[hiball3985]

I jokingly still call it Dino, can you imagine how many dead dinosaurs it would take to produce billions of barrels of oil each year  I find it funny that they still use barrels as the measurement..