1933 Buick series 90

[Vic G]

Hi Everybody,  I'm working on 1933 Buick series 90. I was reading post from other questions on this site. They were talking about the oil filter  (or lack of) on a 1936 the the same apply to the 1933.

Shouls I feave the thing alone and just change the oil.  It calls for 20w nondetergent  and I was given 30w. non d.  I know weight is baced on temperature  so the 30 w should be ok am I right?

[midman]

Vic,

I would replace the filter. Bob’s Automobilia sells a spin on conversion housing that looks like the original filter. 30 weight oil should be fine.

Chuck

[buick32]

The manual calls for 50W in the summer and40W in winter, but if yourengine has been rebuilt to modern tolerances, you can use more modern oils.  I use 15W-40 diesel oil because of its use of ZDDP.  The filter you show is for '31 models.  Beginning in '32 both inlet and outlet are on the top.   On the discharge side toward the head your tubing is too large, causing too much oil to the head and robbing the rest.  Size is important.

I'm the guy making the authentic-appearing filters with modern replaceable spin-on elements.  Your engine will love the improvement in filtration.  The old filters were just a bunch of cotton waste with a built-in bypass valve for when they plugged up.

Mac Blair

[Spinneyhill]

NEVER use "non-detergent" oil in an engine unless you want to overhaul it soon. Everything you think you know about why you should use it is probably not true.

 

You would be best to use a 5W-30 or a 10W-30. Most wear occurs when cold. The 5W- and 10W means the oil behaves as if it were in that lower SAE viscosity band on cold startup. You can read a bit more about viscosity (and zinc, as buick32 mentions), in Richard Widman's paper about it: http://www.widman.biz/Corvair/English/Links/Oil.html

 

Oil without modern additives (a.k.a. non-detergent) will leave muck all through the engine. Everywhere. Inside the crankshaft oil ways, in the main oil gallery, on the timing gear, lining the valve chamber, gumming up the ring grooves and so on. It will also turn to sludge quite quickly as it breaks down - that is why they called for frequent oil changes to get the oil out while would still run out. Thicker oil will require a higher oil pressure to be pumped around, but the flow will be less. Oil sludge is also a poor lubricant.

 

If you have been using non-additive oil, or don't know the history of the car, take the sump off and clean it out. Make sure the oil pickup is clean - it might be clogged with muck if non-additive oil has been used.

 

The muck is mainly combustion products - superfine carbon, mainly, plus broken oil molecules etc..

 

A multi-grade oil will do only minor cleaning inside the engine and won't destroy the bearings. If any metal is in the system, it is too late anyway. Such an oil will discolour fairly quickly as it takes those combustion products into solution or suspension and keeps them there. The idea is they all come out at oil change time and aren't left inside the engine to restrict the oil flow. Being superfine (clay size) they won't do any damage.

 

BTW, what is 30w oil? Do you mean SAE 30? Please use the correct terminology so we all talk about the same thing.

 

 

Edited November 21, 2018 by Spinneyhill (see edit history)

[CTCV]

Very helpful information Spinneyhill. While on the topic of oils. I read about oils that are bad for yellow metals. It mentioned GL1 vs other GL oils. Can you elaborate? I will be firing up my 1932 344cid hopefully in the next month after sitting 40 years. Rebuilt of course.  Can you recommend engine oil and transmission oil for my application. 

[Spinneyhill]

Metals containing copper are attacked by some extra pressure (EP) additives. Many of our old gear boxes (and some differentials) contain bronze bushes, e.g. inside the layshaft or cluster gear. Later '30s boxes with synchromesh might contain baulking (synchronising) rings.

 

GL1 has no EP additives I think. GL5 has the most. GL4 has half as many. Either you can be a Luddite and use GL1 or use a GL4 but make sure the Copper Strip Corrosion Test ASTM D130 result is 1a (or 1b at a pinch). There is a similar test for the corrosiveness of grease to copper, ASTM D4048. You can find out more about this at https://www.widman.biz/uploads/Transaxle_oil.pdf

 

Bobistheoilguy.com probably also has some discussion on this too.

 

You will probably hear of people using "600W" and steam cylinder oil. Folly in my opinion. Steam cylinder oil is meant for different conditions. Ford called up "600W" for the Model A and something called that is available at dealers. I believe it is in the range of SAE 250 gear oils and probably has no EP additives. "600W" is probably a marketing label rather than anything connected very closely with viscosity, although it could relate to ISO 600 to 680 oil (which standard didn't exist then). http://modelafordclub.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/Just-what-is-600W-Oil1.pdf

 

For your car, what did the manufacturer call up for the oils?  I would expect that by 1932 they will be using SAE viscosity ratings for the engine oil and maybe for the transmission.