A few weeks ago, I had the engine out of my MG and while it was out decided to change the pan gasket. I'm not sure if the engine had even been out of the car.
In any case, the guy I bought the car from owned it for 5 years, and he'd always done annual(fall) changes with Castrol GTX. I drive it a bit more than he did, so I generally do bi-annual changes-one at the 3K interval, and one right before I put it away for a few weeks in January/February. I use VR-1. 3K is the manufacturer interval, and although I don't like it on newer cars it makes sense to me on old tech engines like this.
I've posted pictures of the top end before-the only issue is a small amount of varnish on the rockers.
When I pulled the pan, there was a small amount of solid "crud" in it that was non-magnetic and crumbled in my fingers like carbon. Aside from that, I thought things looked pretty darn good.
I am getting some blow-by, so may do piston rings in the next few years(they can be done on this engine with the block in place). The still has 65 psi cold idle oil pressure, 60 psi hot at speed, and 45 at hot idle. Although the rings show some of the wear on the engine, the oil pressure shows that it's overall a healthy engine. The compression is also a bit low in absolute terms for this engine(140 psi vs. the expected ~160) it's at least consistent.
In any case, the guy I bought the car from owned it for 5 years, and he'd always done annual(fall) changes with Castrol GTX. I drive it a bit more than he did, so I generally do bi-annual changes-one at the 3K interval, and one right before I put it away for a few weeks in January/February. I use VR-1. 3K is the manufacturer interval, and although I don't like it on newer cars it makes sense to me on old tech engines like this.
I've posted pictures of the top end before-the only issue is a small amount of varnish on the rockers.
When I pulled the pan, there was a small amount of solid "crud" in it that was non-magnetic and crumbled in my fingers like carbon. Aside from that, I thought things looked pretty darn good.
I am getting some blow-by, so may do piston rings in the next few years(they can be done on this engine with the block in place). The still has 65 psi cold idle oil pressure, 60 psi hot at speed, and 45 at hot idle. Although the rings show some of the wear on the engine, the oil pressure shows that it's overall a healthy engine. The compression is also a bit low in absolute terms for this engine(140 psi vs. the expected ~160) it's at least consistent.