Personally, I just do as you say and clean up what you can reach and send it and just do some short interval changes. Unless sludge is blocking flow, it doesn't hurt anything unless chunks break loose, get sucked up and get past the filter. I would just use cheap synthetic and change it at < 100 hours or sooner as the oil gets black... And a new filter at each change.
Will seafoam save me?
- Thread starter chorty
- Start date
I would consider an oci with Kreen. I've used it. Then the hpl cleaner.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
A friend of mine is a mechanic and was working on an old 60’s something and the timing cover and all those parts were coated in a thick burnt on oily crud. He had already replaced the gas tank and it had 8-10 year old gas in it, so he soaked all those parts overnight in the old gas and everything came off like it was nothing.
Crazy thoughts here, but I think if I had a project like this I’d do the same with the removable parts, and then maybe drain the oil and fill the engine with 5+ gallons of gas to soak overnight. Then drain it all, fill with new oil and do another oil change after a few hours of use.
Crazy thoughts here, but I think if I had a project like this I’d do the same with the removable parts, and then maybe drain the oil and fill the engine with 5+ gallons of gas to soak overnight. Then drain it all, fill with new oil and do another oil change after a few hours of use.
Cool thread. Totally get not lifting the engine to pull the pan. Myself, I could not resist power washing the heck out of that thing to include sticking one of those turbo nozzles up the oil drain hole. Got to at least pull the valve covers.
Recon this is a revenue stream tool for you? I would spring for new timing gears, square away the PCV system and thermostat for sure.
Good luck. PLEASE keep us posted.
Recon this is a revenue stream tool for you? I would spring for new timing gears, square away the PCV system and thermostat for sure.
Good luck. PLEASE keep us posted.
PCV vents out a tube, not hooked up. Need power, 1969 was the last year before they dropped CR, I made sure them piston's got fresh air only.
. No thermostat, but it always still ran hot unless it sat idling for a long time. But This machine didn't sit idle often or coast downhill. It worked and worked hard.
I'm afraid i'm going to bust more bolts getting into the thermostat housing, as it's had a thermostat delete, so cardboard across radiator if needed. Since it's getting a belt fan delete, it should run hotter and electric fan bump as needed. Plenty of times in august i'd make the exhaust manifolds glow red excavating material for basements/houses/stump removal/wrestling junk cars/etc/etc
Cleaning it up won’t repair it.
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I hope the OP reads and understands this.
You got it all figured out.
Where did i say, mention, expect, or suggest seafoam will repair it?
I think everyone is getting confused of me insisting seafoam will repair the chain because i conveniently used a picture of the timing chain to show the oil crud, I didn't want to walk out a mile to where it sits. Maybe I should change it to a valve cover or an oil pan like most of the other posts on this site?
If you look closely, you'll see the timing mark is at the 12 oclock on both cam and crank, and since this is my first mopar tear down, i was 2nd guessing the timing. The photo i used was actually to double check the timing marks and asked for clarity on another mopar site, and sadly i shouldn't of use the same photo on this forum. Too much confusion.
Given the age, use, and vintage of your engine - I would replace the timing set even if it was squeaky clean. I’ve seen several mid 60’s V-8s jump a tooth, a new set doesn’t cost much and you already have the cover pulled.
Back to your cleaning.
Solvent cleans too quickly, risking chunks that don’t get ground up - they just block flow and destroy the engine.
ATF doesn’t clean. I will repeat that, because people believe weird things, ATF doesn’t clean. ATF is oil, with fewer detergents than modern engine oil. It does not clean.
So, what works?
An engine flush like Liqui moly.
An oil with esters that has solvency to slowly dissolve the sludge.
Pick one, or do both.
But don’t go the ATF or solvent route. One is ineffective, one is risky.
Why do people believe that ATF cleans? Because, prior to about 1960 engine oils did not have detergents. Sludge built up in engines. But ATF back then was made from Whale oil - Spermaceti - and it had esters.
So, non-detergent oil had no ability to suspend dirt, but ATF greatly changed the solvency of what was circulating in an engine, and it would, actually clean up some of the sludge left behind by non-detergent oils or left behind by early detergent oils.
But we stopped hunting whales for their oil a long time ago, and that’s when ATF ceased to be an effective cleaner.
Back to your cleaning.
Solvent cleans too quickly, risking chunks that don’t get ground up - they just block flow and destroy the engine.
ATF doesn’t clean. I will repeat that, because people believe weird things, ATF doesn’t clean. ATF is oil, with fewer detergents than modern engine oil. It does not clean.
So, what works?
An engine flush like Liqui moly.
An oil with esters that has solvency to slowly dissolve the sludge.
Pick one, or do both.
But don’t go the ATF or solvent route. One is ineffective, one is risky.
Why do people believe that ATF cleans? Because, prior to about 1960 engine oils did not have detergents. Sludge built up in engines. But ATF back then was made from Whale oil - Spermaceti - and it had esters.
So, non-detergent oil had no ability to suspend dirt, but ATF greatly changed the solvency of what was circulating in an engine, and it would, actually clean up some of the sludge left behind by non-detergent oils or left behind by early detergent oils.
But we stopped hunting whales for their oil a long time ago, and that’s when ATF ceased to be an effective cleaner.
it's going on it's 3rd timing set. 2nd set was installed back in 1980. You can tell because it's not a nylon gear. That was a mopar OEM thing.
We're going double roller and fresh cogs from edelbrock. Only got 43 years out of the 2nd set. Must be made in china.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
You proved you have one of the bullet proof La Series engines that made a name for themselves over the years. Hard to give advice to someone like you who has kept that engine alive and doing what it was made to do. RUN! No matter what service they are put into.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Exactly: Thanks for explaining it very well for those who may still believe it to work in this day and age. That ATF use for engine cleaning was yet still a misunderstood kind of automobile quick fix legend going around heavily into as late as the 1970s & 1980s. Likely still thought to work by many to this day. It is one of those that has served its time and proves itself hard for some to forget about.
You know a gasser has had a miserable life when the vacuum advance is disconnected.
After the swap This poor thing never idled at the intersections with car load of groceries or had 'light highway cruising" loads.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Why was v/a ever disconnected? So did that cause it leave a trail of rotten egg or unburned fuel smell behind everywhere it went. I must have misunderstood as I took it that you used your 318cui in your heavy equipment and not on a road. Oh well. Also thought v/a had very little to do with idle function. P.S. a great Mopar fan, never an owner of one. Lots of car buddies owned them. I see yours has been well used for work and not hobbies. I'll stop so maybe someone can offer you some advice you asked for instead of me trying to reminise.
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most engines like spark advance when idling/less doggy for quick throttle response.
. under serious throttle there's no vacuum being built, just whatever reserve there is in the can, and i have no can. the brakes run off the hydraulic pump pressure.
no smell. just plug the hole in the intake. otherwise you'll have a serious vacuum leak. v/a pulls after the carb and is supposed to have the shortest hose run. then you need to play with that timing, the points opening/closing (yes, that takes...time...) and distributor rotor adjustment.
Something these newer EFI/COP/ECM/ECU/TCM/TCU/CANBUS kids will never experience. All they do is plug in the scanner and it tells them which wire to follow and which part might be bad.
Some kid in grandmas's basement writes the firmware for the them street racing EEPROM's that take home the big purse!
. under serious throttle there's no vacuum being built, just whatever reserve there is in the can, and i have no can. the brakes run off the hydraulic pump pressure.
no smell. just plug the hole in the intake. otherwise you'll have a serious vacuum leak. v/a pulls after the carb and is supposed to have the shortest hose run. then you need to play with that timing, the points opening/closing (yes, that takes...time...) and distributor rotor adjustment.
Something these newer EFI/COP/ECM/ECU/TCM/TCU/CANBUS kids will never experience. All they do is plug in the scanner and it tells them which wire to follow and which part might be bad.
Some kid in grandmas's basement writes the firmware for the them street racing EEPROM's that take home the big purse!
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SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
I had a vacuum leak run me crazy with one of those late 70s "smog era engines" until I recalled one of the old tricks a guy had showed me many years ago. I found the darn thing near instantly once I put it in use.
I would guess you know and probably have used the same. The old WD40 trick to find vacuum leaks.
LoL. So TRUE. Kids! Now a days if I get in trouble with some computer or phone functions I am certain some 10 year old smarty will have to rescue me!
