<VV> GM "engineer" syn oil comments

[Tony Underwood]

At 09:12 hours 07/03/2005, henry kaczmarek wrote:
>I wouldn't say it's a cult.  Amsoil is pretty good stuff.  I used the Syn 
>gear oil in the EUM transaxle. I wouldn't bother to pay what the oil costs 
>for a Corvair though. Castrol 30HD is just fine.
>
>And I believe Bob Helt is correct, you can only buy Amsoil from a dealer. 
>Most of the dealers keep no inventory in their homes, they just process 
>orders for you and the stuff is shipped from the company.


There *is* one guy here in town who keeps a stockpile in his basement, big 
heap of stuff all cataloged on shelves.   He also supplies a few FLAPS here 
in town with Amsoil stuff, including a NAPA store and an Omni Imports 
store.    It's where I went in search of Amsoil crankcase flush.


Cult?   I dunno.   Nobody around here treats the stuff any different than 
any other oil product.   It's regarded as good stuff, people respect it, 
but cult status?    Naah.


Sometimes people just get a little excited about their favorites.


Me?   I've not used synthetic oil in a Vair.   Motorcycle, yes.   Had good 
luck.   In a Vair, no.   Or, not yet.   I could not help  but notice along 
the way over the last 25 years or so, for as long as I've had Vairs, that 
the vast majority of the high mileage examples had gone the distance on 
distilled dinosaur extract.   My '60 4-door's engine did almost 200,000 
miles without ever having been apart and it still used very little oil and 
it did it all on standard engine oil and sometimes it was likely run low on 
oil or went a LONG distance between changes if the rest of the car's 
over-all appearance was any indication.   When it did finally quit, it did 
it because of a failed valve seat that broke and chewed up a piston and 
cylinder... not because of any lack of oil quality.

I have no problems running dino oil with no fear.   Sure, synthetics can be 
better for the engine but are they *required*...?   I don't think so.   I'm 
of the opinion that such oil in a Vair may be overkill for most of the 
engines currently out there, which do NOT get run to death or go long 
distances between changes or overheated to the point that they sizzle spit 
of the top shroud.   Now of course if I had a big supply of the correct 
type synthetic I'd run it and be happy.   But then again, I use good dino 
stuff and it serves me well.

Anyone can feel free to run whatever oil makes them happy.   No cult 
necessary.




tony..