Shell Spirax

[marco246]

Recently bought an old Alfa Romeo (a 71 with 184K miles) and am about to do a complete service on the car. Alfisti I respect recommend using Shell Spirax 80W-90 HD for the transmission and Spirax 80W-90 LS for the limited slip differential. I'd be interested in your opinions on the quality of these gear oils and their suitability to the application. Also, while the HD is available here, the LS is not. I'll probably need to substitute another brand. Any recommendations on dino gear oils? By the way, all fluids in the car are dino and I'll probably keep it that way. The transmission and rear end leak a bit, and it will be a while before I get in there and replace the seals.

Cheers, Mark

 

[Jim Allen]

Boy, the thought of a '71 Alfa brings back some memories. Of the car... and a red haired female Alfisti with race level driving skill. Too late I learned she loved the car more than me and I was but a live-in mechanic (with some good fringe benefits, I admit)! What a car, though.

By all reports Spirex is Ok but nothing special compared to the other brands out there. Are you sure about 80-90 in the gearbox? I remember (and it's an old memory, so it ain't gospel!) of using 50wt in the gearbox. Go with the manual, though. The Chevron dino gear oils are very good and readily available. Valvoline and Sta-Lube get a pretty bad rap usually. There are a lot of very good syns and even a few boutique dino gear oils, but they are top dollar and not suitable for a leaker. I don't believe the Alfa has any particular drivetrain oil needs over and above the industry norm. You can buy a Limited Slip additive seperately and add it to any gear oil. If it were me, I'd go with Chevron.

 

[marco246]

Jim,

Yeah, there's something about Alfas which attracts red-heads; I have a few fond memories myself. This is my sixth (Alfa). Last owned a Milano 12 years ago.

We usually have fairly limited lube choices on this island, but Chevron is here in a big way. I'll see what they've got.

Regarding using 50-weight in the transmission, that used to be done by geezers trying to cope with the notorious 2nd gear synchro crunch. (Have done it myself). My take is that now people just pour in Redline 75W-90 or something similarly synthetic and get on with life.

There are just a couple of things on this old car which DON'T "need work"--the transmission and the Spica injection pump. No doubt they've both been rebuilt. Otherwise--well, I do love a project.

Thank you for your comments and advice.

Cheers, Mark

 

[edhackett]

Mark,

I can highly recommend Chevron Delo Gear Lube ESI 80W-90 in Alfas. I first found this when I was restoring my 1959 Giulietta, which called for a GL1 gear lube for the transmisson.

The borate based EP additives in this oil get along well with the Alfa syncronizers and it works just fine in the in the LSD of the later cars without any additives.

Ed

 

[marco246]

Ed,

Thanks for the advice. I'll look for the Delo gear oil. I'll probably be putting Delo 400 15w40 into the crankcase, so the car may be lubed entirely by good ole Chevron. Funny how the diesel-grade oils work so well on these old cars.

Cheers, Mark