Slick 60's

An engine with that much use on it may turn into a smoker if you put good heads on it. Done that three times in the last 10 years. The increased manifold vacuum sucks the oil up past the worn rings. I'd do a ring and bearing job while you have it apart. 352's are hard enough castings that the cylinders don't wear very fast, a good hone job and the rings will seat without a rebore job in most cases.

I wouldn't declare that the lead substitute increased the compression pressure. You performed another compression check after changing oil and a year of use, both of which can have an effect on a neglected engine. Unless you performed a check immediately before using lead substitute and another after the lead substitute where the use of lead substitute is the only change, you cannot attribute the increase to the lead substitute with any certainty.

When I first got my truck, I would used lead substitute at most fill ups. On those fill ups that I did not, I cannot say that I noticed any affect on performance or mileage.

Limestone66 wrote:Now let me ask you this, Why do you hafta run this lead additive in your wifes 390? Because it fails to perform with regular straight unleaded fuel. Performance wont be as good without it. IMO

Well Lets put it this way. I wasn't a ford guy until I started messing with her truck. I always had classic chevys. I still have a couple as a matter of fact. I never really knew anything about the old ford motors. My wifes dad restored the 66 in the early 70's and he told me when I got the truck running that the heads didn't have hardened seats. Therefore we have always run lead substitute in it. I did this because I have put heads on several vehicles that didn't have hardened seats that sunk the valves due to not having the leaded fuel to help lubricate and cool the valve seats. We have on occaision run the truck without the lead substitute and it didn't seem to run any different to me but I will have to admit I didn't do any compression or leak down testing.

As always, your input on this is valuable but not without controversy. I would rest better knowing this old and terribly neglected 352 was completely rebuilt. But i will hafta wait on this until our finances are better. I will go with the old addage, {If it aint broke, dont fix it.} route, at least for the time being. Piston crowns are good with no visible damage, upper cylinders are also good. With new heads on an already ailing motor, if my old 352 is in fact ailing, then it will turn into a smoker. Increased vacuem pressure will in fact pull oil past the oil control rings, increasing oil consumption. But if this motor had already been rebuilt, just the short block mind you, without anything done to the heads, which by the way is quite evident just by looking at the heads after they were pulled off, then the old 352 should do well with its new heads. I have my suspicions on this. I have reason to beleive that this motor had been rebuilt at some point. I had already discovered numerous NAPA auto parts receipts that were paper clipped together and stuffed inside the glovebox. New wheel bearings had been installed as well as another radiator that has the cooling lines for an automatic. Within all these receipts, the PO had jotted down the mileage and put {New Motor} beside it. Now this opens up a lot of questions as i simply just dont know. I beleive the motor had been rebuilt at some point and hopefully not too long ago. There is no lower end noise at all, ie, main bearings, rod bearings, cam bearings, other then a chug from two dead cylinders. I will hafta wait and see. The controversy with the lead substitute will prolly not show much of an increase in performance with a motor that already runs good, but it will inside of an ailing motor. Because it did with mine. The readings speak for themselves when i ran the compression checks spaced a month apart, before and after using the lead substitute. The gauge i used, is a Lyle quick release that i bought brand new, so i have no reason to doubt it's accuracy.

Gee, wonder if the Marvel oil or the synthetic might have had an effect?
BTW with the Lisle gauge you can run a basic leakdown test; just don't stand in front of the dipstick!
Paul

Toyz wrote:Gee, wonder if the Marvel oil or the synthetic might have had an effect?
BTW with the Lisle gauge you can run a basic leakdown test; just don't stand in front of the dipstick!
Paul

Are you 'prodding at me, ol boy? LOL Hey, i'm old school. Caint hep it. But dont ever underestimate 'Marvel'. It has properties that will astound you and has been known to fix {at least temporary} ailing motors. As for synthetic oil? Hell, i run this in my Deluxe HD {Screamin Eagle 20w50} Run 70 grade Kendall in my little hotrod, Motorcraft in my slick. I have no complaints runnin synthetic oil. My son foundout the hard way when we ran a leakdown on his 89 F-250 with an ailing 351W, shot oil past the compression rings in one of his cylinders and all over him. Havent done any of that on the old 352, and prolly wont hafto if the heads are done right.

Limestone66 wrote: I have reason to beleive that this motor had been rebuilt at some point. I had already discovered numerous NAPA auto parts receipts that were paper clipped together and stuffed inside the glovebox. New wheel bearings had been installed as well as another radiator that has the cooling lines for an automatic. Within all these receipts, the PO had jotted down the mileage and put {New Motor} beside it. Now this opens up a lot of questions as i simply just dont know. I beleive the motor had been rebuilt at some point and hopefully not too long ago.

I hear what you're saying, but I'd have to say, to some folks a {New Motor} can be referring to just a DIFFERENT MOTOR.... and that doesn't mean any part of it was rebuilt..... the short block may NOT have received ANY work....just saying....

BarnieTrk

could also be possible it was a short block and old heads that "did not look bad" at the time were slapped on.

Thanks guys for the input. Gonna try and run it just like it is with the new parts installed in my heads and hope for the better. If not to be and turns into a smoker? Then i'll pull it and completely go through it, minus the heads. The last time i did this {Yahoo} was on my 65 Fairlane. Not a slick, but rather a cool little streetrod i had back in a day.

Sounds like a plan!
Once you've got it back together and 50 miles on it, please do another compression test and report your results back here.

Keep us posted on your progress!

BarnieTrk

BarnieTrk wrote:Sounds like a plan!
Once you've got it back together and 50 miles on it, please do another compression test and report your results back here.

Keep us posted on your progress!

BarnieTrk

Oh i will. Count on it. Gonna leave this post open just for the updates, so get ready.

Looks like we have a spammer

Hey spammer

I thought this was a secure site, but then again it is 'Truck Talk' and open to everybody, including 'spammers'.

Considering the cloak and dagger email stuff I had to do to join its amazing they got through. this is the funniest emoticon I've ever seen.

oldtruckfanatic573 wrote:Considering the cloak and dagger email stuff I had to do to join its amazing they got through. this is the funniest emoticon I've ever seen.

Yeah it was hard for me too

Limestone66 wrote:

oldtruckfanatic573 wrote:Considering the cloak and dagger email stuff I had to do to join its amazing they got through. this is the funniest emoticon I've ever seen.

Yeah it was hard for me too

But is was worth it

Mike

I don't remember any cloak and dagger or difficulty joining, but I've been here for several years. Maybe my joining pre-dated the C&D?

Join?????
Paul

Gritsngumbo wrote:I don't remember any cloak and dagger or difficulty joining, but I've been here for several years. Maybe my joining pre-dated the C&D?

no cloak and dagger or even approval in the very early days on the original sites.
however that was before the proliferation of spammers and scammers.

nowadays the bigger you get the more they try to infiltrate.

we only get a very minimal amount of invaders here and they are caught and disposed of rather quickly.

My comment wasn't an insult I think it was a great idea. I'm just saying it wasnt easy to figure out how and who to email my I'm not a spammer message to.