Couple of Newbie Questions

There's as many choices for oil as there are stars in the sky. You may as well have asked, "Boxers or briefs?".

The gamut is long with the oil choices. There are as many opinions as there are oils to choose from. However, the majority of SOCers would likely, probably, maybe, suggest Brad Penn 10-30 but I'm in California where it doesn't get too cold.

@Robert M posted:

There's as many choices for oil as there are stars in the sky. You may as well have asked, "Boxers or briefs?".

The gamut is long with the oil choices. There are as many opinions as there are oils to choose from. However, the majority of SOCers would likely, probably, maybe, suggest Brad Penn 10-30 but I'm in California where it doesn't get too cold.

Don't be silly.

Boxers ....

How about a thong with some zinc additive?  Seriously, though, this has been thoroughly discussed here. There search function should give you about 4 hours of deep reading. 

pass the popcorn

Marshall:  Carb adjustment (flow) tools: I've found that the flat saucer version with the tube sticking up doesn't work well with our carbs.  Instead, get what we all call a "snail", like this:

https://www.cbperformance.com/product-p/6537.htm

You remove the air cleaner and stick the rubber snout down into one carb throat at a time to measure the flow on each, then make adjustments to even them all out.  You'll have to measure the throat size in your carbs in order to select the proper one.

There is a tutorial on this site somewhere which walks you through the sync process.

Go commando and don’t use oil. 😈

Seriously, this topic is one known to start religious wars.  I second the notion that you use the search function.  Get yourself a beer, a snack, put your feet up, and get comfortable.  You’ll be there a while.

Or just go find some Brad Penn 10W-40.  That's what a lot of us use and it's fine.

When you do the oil change you should address the oil filter, too.  Look under the back end of the car for a spin-on filter.  It could be any color but they are typically white, orange, blue or black and are roughly the size of a 4-cup measuring cup.  If you have one, get another just like it at any NAPA or Autozone, etc.  Mine is a spin-on and I use Napa Gold 1515 filters from a local NAPA auto parts store.

If you do not have a spin-on filter, then the engine has a simple screen filter inside at the bottom of the sump (crankcase).  That's a bigger deal to change, requiring two sump paper gaskets like this:

https://www.cbperformance.com/product-p/1793.htm

The copper washers are important as they seal around the case studs against the sump plate which looks like this on the very bottom of the engine case:

https://www.cbperformance.com/...rdware-p/mstoscp.htm

Oil changes on these cars typically take an hour or so to do, depending on the filter needed.  If you decide to have a mechanic do yours, then he/she will need the oil filter and/or sump plate gaskets (although NAPA parts stores sell them locally, too).

@Marshall posted:

Greetings All,

I have a Speedster replica.  Need to change the oil.  What is the recommended weight and brand?  I understand that it should contain zinc?  Engine is a type 1 1641cc VW motor.

Want to buy one of those carb balancing meters.  There is one that looks like a hockey puck and another that has a flat disk with a glass tube that sticks up.  They are generally the same cost.  Is one recommended over the other?  My my dual carbs are EMPI 34 ICTs.  Do I need some type of plastic cone to make that flat disk unit work?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Marshall

 

 

Since the oil Q has been answered, I’ll address the sync tool:

I think most guys will tell you the “snail” Type works better and it probably does.  Someday I’ll probably end up buying one. 
But until then, I’ll use my Unisyn. 

BTW, if you buy one, don’t waste your time with the newer Chinese ones. There are tons of the original Made in USA (pre-Edlebrock?) Unisyns on eBay. The originals have black or no graduations on the Venturi tube, the Chinese ones have red marks.* 

I have both and the Chinese one doesn’t work for crap for some reason. 

*ETA: I just checked eBay to verify and it looks like they’re selling Chinese ones without graduation lines now. It’s hard to miss the big CHINA on there, though. The originals just say Pat Pend, Uni-Sun and Mod-A. 

I think you're the lone wolf here Dave. I think you're the only one who recommends a Uni-syn. 

Marshall, get a snail synchrometer that fits your carbs. What carbs do you have on your 1641? 4 throats or 2 total on the car?

I have 34 ICT carbs on my engine. Get the snail type and also you will need a adapter of sorts to fit it onto the carb. Go to Lowes or home depot in the plumbing area and look for a furnco coupler . Its a rubber sleeve with clamps on it. I forget what size I used. I makes a perfect adapter for the 34ICT carb.  I will post a picture later

Yeah, Tab. I've got a short piece of 2" ID rubber hose. You could probably use a cutoff piece from a radiator hose.

Thanks for all the advice.  Gordon, thanks for the link to CB performance.  I need to do some further investigation on what's below those filters to size my meter.  But thanks dlearl496 -- it's the "snail" for me.

Follow-on re oil.  I'm in Washington DC.  Should I upgrade that PennGrade 10W30 to 10W40, if available?  Notice that there are no dealers who carry this.  Does everyone ship it in?  And, once I've started using partial synthetic, it is it OK to use non-synthetic?

Marshall

Valvoline VR1 Racing oil has high zinc content and is readily available and inexpensive.

$8.12/qt at Walmart.

Yeah - Go for the Valvoline in your area.  Walmart often carries VR-1.  If not, NAPA can get it.

In VA, either 10W-30 or 10W-40 will do.  10W-40 is probably better for the Summer months.

@DannyP posted:

I think you're the lone wolf here Dave. I think you're the only one who recommends a Uni-syn. 

Marshall, get a snail synchrometer that fits your carbs. What carbs do you have on your 1641? 4 throats or 2 total on the car?

Oh, don't get me wrong.  I don't recommend it. I've just always had it so that's what I use. I believe it that most people prefer the snails. The unisyn seemed to work better on twin SU's than it does on the Spyder's Dell's. But it works. At least the originals do. (I bought a Chinese one when I couldn't find my old one. Then, as soon as I arrived, guess what? )

@WOLFGANG posted:

...and inexpensive.

$8.12/qt at Walmart.

That's about what I pay for a gallon of Shell Rotella T1.

Zinc = 1200ppm. 

My late brother used to build high performance snowmobile racing engines and he had a Unisyn for setting up the carbs (mostly big Mikunis, but a bunch of others as well).  Since most of those were side-draft on an angle because the engines were tilted slightly, you could swing the Unisyn tube around for any throat attitude but you still had to sit there and hold it on and/or fiddle with it to get a reading (he had added strips of really narrow tape at intervals on the tube as reference points).  I was visiting once with my  Speedster so I grabbed my snail meter from the car and let him play with it.  He found that, even on an angle he could push it in and it would either stay in place or could be held simply with a rubber band while he made linkage/carb adjustments.

"Where'd you get this?  It's great!" he said.  I told him I could get another so just keep it and use it.  I gave him both sized rubber snubbers to go with it, too.  He picked up the Unisyn and tossed it in the trash right then and there and while it was sailing through the air towards the trash barrel I heard: 

"God!  That thing was a Pain in the A$$  !!!!

oil thread

We already answered the oil question.

We've moved on to the Unisys v. snail carb meter in Marshall's second paragraph:

Marshall wrote: "Want to buy one of those carb balancing meters.  There is one that looks like a hockey puck and another that has a flat disk with a glass tube that sticks up.  They are generally the same cost.  Is one recommended over the other?  My my dual carbs are EMPI 34 ICTs.  Do I need some type of plastic cone to make that flat disk unit work?"

Sorry if I was flip with my first answer on oil.  Anyway, back when I used to tune bikes all the time I had one of these.  It's really easy to use and see what you're doing.  Most bike carbs had a threaded vacuum port you could attach these to, not sure if the carbs you guys are using have that, but I loved using these.

Pro-SyncPro-Carb-Tuner

A motion pro sync tool might work. I dropped my old one during a move and lost some if the Mercury out of it, and you can't buy Mercury any more. 

When I was contemplating buying one of the newer non-Mercury ones, I opted for a 4 gauge manometer instead which turned out to be useless because the vacuum takeoff on my Dellortos doesn't provide enough suction for the gauges to work properly.