[Firedup6975]

So do you guys use fuel boosters in your gas? And what oil is everyone using. I always use premium gas in my bird, and every other month use a booster.

[Chief of the 60's]

When I use any mechanic in a bottle its only Lucas products. The only fuel additive I use is Lucas fuel treatment. I run C-12 so I never use an octane booster. Oil is usually Mobil 1

[MUSLCAH]

Originally Posted by Chief of the 60's

When I use any mechanic in a bottle its only Lucas products. The only fuel additive I use is Lucas fuel treatment. I run C-12 so I never use an octane booster. Oil is usually Mobil 1

+1 on the Lucas.....I buy it by the gallon...run it in everything I own....new and old. Can squeak an extra 1.5-2.0 mpg on a trip.Plus it lubes up that fuel pump in the tank.....and keep injectors clean.

[Gary H]

Just a note on octane fuel additives. Many of the popular fuel additives will turn your spark plugs a rusty orange color. When you pull them the first thing your think is that you're getting water in the combustion chambers. Doesn't seem to hurt anything other than scare you to death the first time you see it.

[Scott65]

I've always been a little leary of additives. I'm sure there are some good ones, but I've always avoided them in my high performance stuff. I may have to change my tune now with fuel injectors. I use Dieselkleen in my diesel fuel, but sparingly. Probably 3 or 4 times a year. I've been using Rotella in everything for a while, but have used and like Mobil 1.

[1965gp]

I use VR-1 in all of my older cars and Mobil 1 in anything newer.

I had heard great things about seafom.... it worked too good. I used it in our 79 TA and the car ran like crap for months. I can only assume it did a good job of breaking up any corrosion in the tank. New carb got trash in it constantly. Filter got clogged up within miles. I eventually had to replace the tank, sending unit and lines.

The car ran great for years before this and no problems after replacing the tank/lines so pretty sure that’s what it was

[ponchjoe]

[QUOTE=1965gp;5925648]I use VR-1 in all of my older cars and Mobil 1 in anything newer.


X2 but do use Lucas oil products too

[ornjcr8]

X3 for Brad Penn

[eaglesan13]

I use Joe Gibbs hot rod oil in my 1971 455HO. I used his break-in oil for the first 500 miles after the rebuild. For fuel, I'm just using Chevron supreme gas with no additives.

[GTOWAGON]

brad penn green oil in all my old cars

[tom s]

Flat tapped cam engine I use 10-30 dyno oil with a 1/2 bottle of GM EOS.Tom

[Formula jg]

X2 Brad Penn 10W-40.

[SRR]

Never was a big snake oil guy, but Lucas fuel treatment has proved to actually work. I had put a bottle in a 5 gallon container of gas and forgot about it for 3 months. When I found it I figured I had 5 gallons of paint thinner. Nope! The gas still smelled good and hadn't discolored. I do use full syn. in my DD's and VR1 in my older engines.

[Fullsize455]

All things "mechanic in a bottle" are snake oil. No exceptions. Use the lowest octane fuel that your car requires, use good oil and a good filter. That's it.

The marketing of fuels as "regular" and "premium" was absolutely genius, as they have the majority of the public totally fooled into thinking higher octane fuel is somehow better for their car. It isn't. Use the lowest octane fuel that your car requires. Period. No boosters, no additives, no nothing. Unless you enjoy spending money for the sake of spending money, in which case why not donate it to charity instead? Then it might actually do some good.

[68 461 Bird]

Originally Posted by Fullsize455

All things "mechanic in a bottle" are snake oil. No exceptions. Use the lowest octane fuel that your car requires, use good oil and a good filter. That's it.

The marketing of fuels as "regular" and "premium" was absolutely genius, as they have the majority of the public totally fooled into thinking higher octane fuel is somehow better for their car. It isn't. Use the lowest octane fuel that your car requires. Period. No boosters, no additives, no nothing. Unless you enjoy spending money for the sake of spending money, in which case why not donate it to charity instead? Then it might actually do some good.

I have heard this several times before and I am in agreement, but a lot of people seem to agree that the "lead substitute" is necessary if you are running an old engine that hasn't been upgraded with the hardened valve seats. What are your thoughts on this?

[Firedup6975]

Wow! I had no idea just how many different fluids are out there, makes sense though, so many engine combos out there too.

[Fullsize455]

Originally Posted by 68 461 Bird

I have heard this several times before and I am in agreement, but a lot of people seem to agree that the "lead substitute" is necessary if you are running an old engine that hasn't been upgraded with the hardened valve seats. What are your thoughts on this?

My experience is that it is totally unnecessary. I've run numerous non-hardened seat engines for many miles on modern fuels with no additives, and have disassembled many more, and have seen no conslusive evidence that there is anything to worry about on a street engine. I think it may be more of an issue on race engines, maybe on higher compression engines or engines that are regularly driven hard, but on my street engines with lots of miles I haven't seen it be an issue. Again, my '71 455 with 241k, never used any additives, and all but one of my valve seats looked pretty decent still. The one exhaust seat that was bad was on a cylinder that was running a little low on compression due to tired rings, and that cylinder was burning a good bit of oil. I suspect that contributed to the exhaust seat pitting, as the others all looked good.

I've taken apart a bunch of virgin, untouched engines that showed no sign of excessive valve seat wear either, despite running tens of thousands of miles on modern fuels. I think it's much ado about nothing, to be honest. I've seen too many engines run too many miles and have too little wear to think there's anything to it.

[68 461 Bird]

Originally Posted by Fullsize455

My experience is that it is totally unnecessary. I've run numerous non-hardened seat engines for many miles on modern fuels with no additives, and have disassembled many more, and have seen no conslusive evidence that there is anything to worry about on a street engine. I think it may be more of an issue on race engines, maybe on higher compression engines or engines that are regularly driven hard, but on my street engines with lots of miles I haven't seen it be an issue. Again, my '71 455 with 241k, never used any additives, and all but one of my valve seats looked pretty decent still. The one exhaust seat that was bad was on a cylinder that was running a little low on compression due to tired rings, and that cylinder was burning a good bit of oil. I suspect that contributed to the exhaust seat pitting, as the others all looked good.

I've taken apart a bunch of virgin, untouched engines that showed no sign of excessive valve seat wear either, despite running tens of thousands of miles on modern fuels. I think it's much ado about nothing, to be honest. I've seen too many engines run too many miles and have too little wear to think there's anything to it.

I appreciate you sharing your experience on this as well. It seemed like I was wasting my money but no one was ever able to tell me they tore their engine down and saw anything from using it or not, especially with the amount of miles you have run. Thanks for the advice!!

[4zpeed]

Castrol GTX full synthetic, no additives.



Frank

[Firedup6975]

Castro’s GTX is the oil we use, and the gas additive I use is STP octane booster. The 400 motor seems to like it, never had any unusual color change to my plugs.