Corvette maintenance questions

[The.JC.L46.BN]

Hi all,

Like the title says, I’m new, but have sought some answers from online search results.

Thought I’d try my hand at asking flat-out…

Dad’s 69 Vette is getting some maintenance, some rebuild/refresh/renew … and I have more upcoming work.

The car is a manual transmission, manual brake, manual steer [late 69], with:

• Rebuilt relay rod (center/drag link) with Valvoline red chassis/bearing
• New ball joints
• New tie rods
• New idler
• New hubs & Timken bearings
• All getting Valvoline red chassis/bearing

So I’ve got that covered.

The clutch cross-shaft [Z-bar] calls for graphite grease. (I’ve heard chassis/bearing will be fine, but… the manual says graphite… so…)


I’m leaning towards StaLube Moly-Graph, and would like some insight. …especially if I have to use the majority of a grease tube to fill the shaft.

The manual steer box needs a rebuild at some point, and heard that the Moly-Graph would work in that, too [Saginaw box].

I’ve been a big fan of Valvoline greases & oils, and use them almost exclusively. Like my Adidas Classic sneakers, and Wolverine work boots - I have a brand that I trust, but new insight would be helpful.

Thank you in advance!

John

 

[JackWildfeuer]

I would use Moly EP grease you have on hand. Something with really good cold weather specifications. Graphite Grease is fine as well but kind of dated and specialized like Red Rubber Grease. To be honest even something as plane Jane as Mobil 1 Synthetic General Purpose Grease would be fine.

 

[The.JC.L46.BN]

I would use Moly EP grease you have on hand. Something with really good cold weather specifications. Graphite Grease is fine as well but kind of dated and specialized like Red Rubber Grease. To be honest even something as plane Jane as Mobil 1 Synthetic General Purpose Grease would be fine.

The general consensus among the Vette guys is bearing / chassis grease is fine. Red Valvoline / Lucas Red-n-tacky / etc…

Even the tech support for the [manual] steering box sent a link to generic store-brand grease; wouldn’t confirm Sta-Lube Moly for a Saginaw [Borgeson?] rebuild.

I think past experience with Sta-Lube and Valvoline is worth the “peace of mind” ; just wanted a lil external validation I suppose.

Also… a post on the corvetteforum got me curious about a cross-shaft filler rod. The idea being: it’s a 3/4”x8” hollow shaft (between seals); equal to 3.534cuin (1.958 fluid oz / 57.91mL). I’d rather not have to fill a hollow shaft with that much grease. Especially when the service point is a zerk.

I made a filler-rod of POM plastic, but need to refine it for grease delivery to the ball-studs on both ends.
I can include link if requested.

 

[JackWildfeuer]

Graphite was all the rage. Then at some point in the 1980's in US Army Circles Moly EP grease displaced it and anything the government uses enters into general purpose in the civilian world real quickly as well. The plane old semi-opaque yellow-ish wheel bearing grease was the norm for ever and ever with lithium grease and graphite grease being the premium for a long long time. In gear boxes and ac unites graphite was the norm until moly displaced it.

My first Pine Wood Derby car in Cub Scouts was lubed with graphite powder. It was popular to use on lock cylinders


I want to say that around the time Moly EP grease took over Break Free CLP was also comming online around 1980 or 1982. That said I am going by memory. Dad and I would dumpster dive the motor pool dumpsters. We would use a child cheater to scrap what they through away into smaller containers. We would poke a nail hole into the Break Free Drum's and drain what was left in them into smaller bottles. For almost 2 decades we used Moly EP grease and Break Free CLP for free and it was not theft since we where only recovering what was thrown into the trash. That was back when high temp Moly EP grease and Break Free where super hard to get on the civilian market.

I like to keep Mobil-1 GP Synthetic EP grease on hand and I keep Red Line CV-2 grease on hand. I think I have 1 tube left of Sunoco Moly EP grease left from like 12 tubes I bought for $1.00 a tube when my local Sunoco gas station went out of business back in the early 1990's. Just good general purpose greases to keep on hand. That said I am not at all brand loyal when it comes to grease.

The last time I bought Mobil-1 Synthetic Grease in the can the red type Summitt Racing was $4 a can when other wanted $12 a can so I ordered 3 cans for the price of 1 from other's.

Since I am not a farmer and not working in heavy industry, minning, salvage or like I normaly pick up grease localy when I need it in tube form for the grease gun. I no longer need to keep case+ levels of grease in my stash. For most of us grease is not a thing that needs to be exotic to get the job done. At one point I used to have prob. 20 different greases from 10 different manufactures. I was always having to look at compatability charts and specifications.

Grease can get as complicated as you decide to make it real quickly! Far more complicated than gear lube and motor oil!