Holy Crap ?

[54blackhornet]

Pulled the factory intake on my 71 350 today to install a Edelbrock Performer intake and a HEI. Know I know why the choke never worked properly. 125K on original engine, other then the carbon buildup the inside looked clean as a whistle. Truck was serviced at selling dealer all it's life until it closed in 08.

[engineer_gregh]

Wow, that's nasty looking. I remember years ago seeing the inside of small blocks that the owner ran Quaker State had quite a bit of build up. I'm sure I'll get some Quaker State fan responses on this post:-)

[67 cst swb]

Originally Posted by engineer_gregh

Wow, that's nasty looking. I remember years ago seeing the inside of small blocks that the owner ran Quaker State had quite a bit of build up. I'm sure I'll get some Quaker State fan responses on this post:-)

Funny! Must be a regional thing.
Where I am from, we always heard Pennzoil was the culprit of engines that looked like that.

[simplepeddler]

Dad made me clean a gazillian that looked like that.........

[Boog]

It's not the brand of oil or filter that causes an engine to sludge up as much as it is a poor service regimen.
Over the years I have used both QState and Pzoil in my vehicles and never experienced sludge build up. I don't do anything special. I do change the oil on time and use a new AC filter at every oil change and keep the engines in tune. I get lots of miles out of them. Couldn't be happier.

[hugger6933]

Boog, hate to disagree but this was a thing in the say mid to late 70's It was a paraffin crude and the Northeast based QS and Pennzoil happened to run those types. the other type was a It escapes me at the moment but I was just around 9 nine years old at that time. I do remember the guy came to our shop selling Schaffer oil and had a little bearing load tester type test set up to show how under other conditions other brands of oil would over heat and their wouldn't. It must have been a smoke and mirror type show. Dad bought several 55 gal drums of it and put it in every tractor combine bobtruck pickup car motorcycle lawnmower and anything that had a oil cap. A couple months later the Pontiac started to run bad so he took it in for a checkup, [oil was changed on everything every 2000 miles cause we lived on a dirt road]and the sludge filled the lifter valley and the valve cover areas were packed. He came home and walked through the tractor shed with a wrench draining oil out of everything in the shed it was lay by time]. I remember those oil drums sitting for many years after that over in the corner, we went allowed to touch them. Not even to use that stuff to start a fire with.
It could have been a quality control thing cause I know QS is good oil I know of trucks that have run 400k on it but at that particular point in time they did have that one problem. It also put a blemish on their reputation that took them a while to over come, witch they have done nicely. Jim

[special-K]

That's funny, my first thought was "must have run Quaker State" then the first response says the same. That crap is/was parafin based and it's a fact that stuff is/was bad juju. Penzoil is good oil. I call myth on that. I used it for years till my dad talked me into trying Castrol in a truck I bought that used oil real bad and the Castrol cured it. It's got caster oil in it

[jjzepplin]

That part of the intake is the exhaust crossover and it gets real hot. The rest looks real clean. The heat would probably cook any oil. Lucky man!

[Boog]

Yes Jim. I am aware of the differences in oil bases. I am 61 so I've got a lot of miles behind me. Now I can't speak for anyone's experiences but my own. I used Qstate through the 70s and 80s before switching to Pzoil in the 90s until present. I have had several of my engines open over the years and never had a buildup in any of them. I have been inside a few nasty ones belonging to others however.
I once bought a 75 ford with a fresh paint job and a weak engine. No oil pressure. Upon opening it up the lifter valley was smooth covered over. The lifters could not be seen due to the amount of buildup. Good compression but low oil pressure. I thoroughly cleaned it and put a new crank and bearings in it. Got oil pressure back. Made a good old car again. I don't know what brand oil the guy had run in it but I was sure he didn't change it regularly. There are actually some folks out there who drain the oil and add more but rarely change the filter. I've heard of others who cheap out and only replace the filter and only add oil as needed. Rediculous isn't it?
Funny thing about that old ford guy. He thought he was getting the best of me on the deal. Once I fixed the engine and polished the car up and drove it around he got pissed at me. Would look the other way. I made a few bucks on it.

[snipescastle2]

yeah, that oil coked and baked like concrete, spent many hours chiseling that crap.....
Ben

[68shortwide]

It looks like my highschool welding class' practice pieces

[Longhorn 70]

54 Blackhornet, that is yucky looking but have seen worse... That will clean up nicely.

I had the pleasure of working on an old Chevy that when the valve cover was pulled, it had wax 2" deep around every valve spring. I don't know how they even got oil in it. Under the intake was worse.

Originally Posted by engineer_gregh

Wow, that's nasty looking. I remember years ago seeing the inside of small blocks that the owner ran Quaker State had quite a bit of build up. I'm sure I'll get some Quaker State fan responses on this post:-)

Originally Posted by 67 cst swb

Funny! Must be a regional thing.
Where I am from, we always heard Pennzoil was the culprit of engines that looked like that.

I have seen both Penzoil and Quaker do that.... I alwas ran Delo 100 or Rotella and never saw it with either. I know there are other items that contribute to buildup like that. Maybe I was just lucky.

[54blackhornet]

Carbon build up on exhaust crossover under intake, heads and rest of engine where real clean. No idea what oil was used by service dealer ?

[Davidf]

Although that is some nasty looking buildup, I don't see how that would affect choke performance. The crossover heats the top and bottom of the manifold. The choke is on the top unaffected from the buildup on the bottom.

Now, to understand where I am coming from, I started my driving career with a 71 RS Camaro about 35 years ago. Back then, I rebuilt a couple of Chevy small blocks. I remember the same crude on all the engines I worked on. Always remove that plate for cleaning when manifold is off. So, what I said above is strictly very old memory.

Anyway, good luck with your new setup.

[treveiger]

I've always thought of oil as the blood of the motor. I use to run valvoline but now I only use amsoil and never regret it. Once a year oil changes and no sludge build up. I liked valvoline but always dealt with sludge.

[dpike97701]

Originally Posted by treveiger

i've always thought of oil as the blood of the motor. I use to run valvoline but now i only use amsoil and never regret it. Once a year oil changes and no sludge build up. I liked valvoline but always dealt with sludge.

x2

[mmiddle]

After seeing a few engines in the late 70's early 80's sludged up real bad.. one when I pulled the VC it had a perfect mold of the inside. All engines I have seen sludged were running Pzoil or QS. I run Valvoline all-season or Royal Purple for gas and Rotella T for my Duramax. Valvoline and Casteroil are West Texas crude.

However, the OP picture is fairly typical of a high mileage engine with exhaust crossover and missing heat shield. Regardless of the oil used.

Mark

[Fitz]

Originally Posted by mmiddle

After seeing a few engines in the late 70's early 80's sludged up real bad.. one when I pulled the VC it had a perfect mold of the inside. All engines I have seen sludged were running Pzoil or QS. I run Valvoline all-season or Royal Purple for gas and Rotella T for my Duramax. Valvoline and Casteroil are West Texas crude.

However, the OP picture is fairly typical of a high mileage engine with exhaust crossover and missing heat shield. Regardless of the oil used.

Mark

There are two types of crude oils, Napthene based crudes and parafin based crudes. A crude oil containing paraffin wax but very few asphaltic materials is a 'parafin base crude'. This type of oil is suitable for motor lubricating oil and kerosene. Crude oil containing asphaltic materials but very little or no paraffin wax is a 'napthene base crude'. This type of oil is suitable for making gasoline, lubricating oil and asphalt. It is also called asphalt-base crude.

All motor oils are byproducts of refining either or both crudes and are chemically and molecularly indistinguishable. There simply is no difference between the refined product as both are identical hydrocarbon chains. It is the additives that differ, and it is the additives that alter the lubricity, temperature tolerance and formation of varnishes under load.

Some oils are notorious for the formation of varnish BUT that is a result of 'stuff' the brand manufacturer added, not a fault of the refined product! If you get any oil hot enough for a long enough time it will boil off all of the volatiles and leave behind hard, almost pure carbon.