<VV> hot motor oil

[FrankCB at aol.com]

No doubt that normal usage Corvairs don't really NEED to use a synthetic  
motor oil, as long as conditions don't occur that cause the oil to  OVERHEAT. 
 But having driven Corvairs home with no operating fan (the  rubber seal 
between the inner and outer pulley sections "decided" to become  
non-functional) and another time with only 1 of the 2 carbs operating, I'm  sure glad 
that I had synthetic oil to take the much higher engine temps on those  occasio
ns.  Without 20 quarts of water/antifreeze to absorb excess heat,  
air-cooled Corvair engines can very rapidly overheat the engine oil even in  
non-racing conditions.  So consider the use of synthetic oils as a life  insurance 
policy on your engine.  You may never need it, but it's  reassuring to know 
that it's there just in case!
 
Frank Burkhard
Boonton, NJ   
 
 
In a message dated 1/6/2012 7:33:11 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
tony.underwood at cox.net writes:

...which  still brings us back to the fact that there are still 
Corvairs running  around with original engines that never saw 
synthetic oil and the youngest  of them is more than 4 decades 
old.  They did it with dino oil that,  when the Corvair was still a 
young car, had nowhere near the qualities of  today's budget priced 
engine oils from K-Mart, much less top shelf dino  oils.   Add to this 
fact that Corvairs are a bit rougher on  engine oils than water cooled 
cars of the day ever were.


As  long as the oil's film prevents metal-metal contact, it's doing 
its job  whether it's Mobile-1 or left-over Wesson oil, like that 
stunt the Marines  pulled in the Pacific with a C-47 that got shot up 
and force-landed on a  remote outpost island, one engine's oil tank 
(radial engines are dry-sump)  perforated, no engine oil available, 
just cooking oil from the Marine mess  hall so that's what went into 
the C-47's oil tank after repairs and they  flew it from some remote 
Pacific isle to the  Philippines.


tony..