Motor Oil Additives

[Orion 762]

Question on antiwear (and other) additives to engine oil that "magically recondition" the internals. Do these work to restore lost compression, or are they a waste of time/effort?

I've got a '71 Chevy Cheyenne, original 350 engine, 650 holley, edelbrock intake, headers, and straight pipes. This truck has about 110,000 original miles on the engine, was a regular working truck for many years, then "sat in a carport" for a long time since the original owner had many other newer trucks to work with. The holley, headers, etc. were installed new about 1999.

The engine leaks a bit of oil near the rear intake manifold, but otherwise it burns no oil (except a little at startup). The engine also has a good bit of sludge/varnish buildup, evidenced when we replaced the valve covers . . and the PO ran it awhile without a PCV valve.)

My son (who's 16 and drives this truck most) wants to try a "science fair project" with these additives to see if they really work to improve the compression and power of the old engine. We're considering AMSOIL products with ZDDP (an antiwear additive). I understand that without the catalytic converters to worry about, a large range of heavy-duty products might work.

Any other hints on "products to try" or "ones to avoid".

I'm thinking there might be a product we can "add" to the existing oil, let it "work a bit", then drain out and refill with fresh oil. Don't like the idea of leaving "strange additives" in there regularly.

Please advise with ideas . . . Thanks.

Orion 762