<VV> Re: Oil use

[Rad Davis]

Robert,

Well, you can run SAE 20W, but I'm not sure why you'd want to.  If you look 
at the owner's manual for your '66, you'll see that even then GM 
recommended multigrade oils.  Oil technology has improved a lot since then, 
and I don't know why anyone would choose to run a single viscosity oil in a 
Corvair today.  Modern multi-viscosity oils pump into a cold engine faster, 
carry dirt away better, and allow faster warmups than single viscosity oils do.

A grade that covers the design viscosity range, is cheap and readily 
available is 10W30.  You can also run 10W40 with success.  I've also used 
15W40 and 15W50 synthetics, but found that the cold oil pressure was a 
little high as temperatures got close to freezing.  I live in Pennsylvania 
and generally run 10W30 in my Corvairs.  I can't say for sure how well they 
work compared to single grades - I've only got 105,000 miles on the engine 
in my van now, and have never run anything but multigrade oil in it.

Just because Corvairs are old doesn't mean that they can't benefit from 
improvements in technologies since 1969 like better O ring rubber or better 
engine oils.

- Rad Davis

At 08:32 PM 4/16/2006 -0600, Robert Paul wrote:
>Hi one and all, when I was a kid and had my first Vair (66 4dr.), on 
>summer I would run 20SAE oil.  Can I safely run 20 or 30 weight for summer 
>driving? (110 engine)
>Thanks for the tips.
>Robert Paul
>66 Monza Conv.
>  _______________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________
Rad Davis:                                        rad.davis at comcast.net
Corvairs--65, 66 Corsa coupes, '65 'brier Deluxe   http://www.corvair.org/
Keeper of the Forward Control Corvair Primer: 
http://www.mindspring.com/~corvair/fc1.html
"We did Nebraska in seven minutes today. I think that's probably the best 
way to do Nebraska."                            --Brian Shul, _Sled Driver_