VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 lead additive for 216

ok...what the heck is marvel mystery oil??? :confused: :confused:

1948chevyman

It's a mystery oil that's a marvel! Glyn or Mr Mack.....do you want to take this one and answer the question? :eek:

Marvel Mystery Oil is....humm Well it is a Marvel that is a Mysterious Blend of some of this and some of that and.... Hummm, Well It is sold at finer auto parts stores and is in a oblong red and black can and it says Marvel Mystery Oil on the label, and Ahhhh, Well it is red in color and smells unlike any oil you ever smelled, and even when you fog your engine (pour a small amount down) (or up the carb) or (sideways into the carb) which ever kinda carb you have the white smoke generated smells devine, and so it must do some good, And that is just some of what I know about it! NEXT QUESTION?

Go Here! and know!http://www.autosupermart.com/cgi-bin/auto/brands/marvel.html?mv_pc=ovmarvel

or here.http://www.autosupermart.com/auto/images/marvel/marveloilsmall_t.gif

[b]And for you ex-Marines go to :
www.autosupermart.com
then on the Manufactors list on the left go down the list to marvel oil and CLICK

Since I was asked I will add another $0.25 cents worth, I am told that if you have a sick stove bolt six, idling rough rods and mains knocking,muffler bearing screeching and you poor a little MMO down the throat of the carb at fast idle all these ailments will go away, it is something like an Antibiotic made for cars. Now I do not know if this is true because all my Chevrolets have been in top shape and have never suffered from the above described ailments and that is why I could not tell if the MMO injector on my 38 was working or not.

Wouldn't Coors do the same thing??? :eek: :eek:

JYD, it depends which throat you pour the Coors down, I say save the Coors for AFTER you pour the MMO down or up the throat of the carb, and partake of a good and cold Colorado Koolaid, while you puff your chest up and contemplating what a good job you did on Elvira! (and the Chevy)

Hum....maybe you're right! I never thought of it that way!

Don't know about the curative powers of COORS as related to mechanical things, but I do know from the experience of putting about a case of SICKS Brewery stuff down the radiator of my friends 42 F*** that it does not work well as a coolant (for cars that is).

Have you tried "Rattle Snake" Beer? I've heard that it works great as a coolant for just about anything...that is..if you can get past the smell of it! :eek: :eek:

Hi Pat. Back to your original question, unless your engine is running on the lean side of normal, you shouldn't have any problems. If the valves start to seat in from using unleaded, you will find the valve clearances reduce and the engine won't idle as well.

I had a slight very leak in the rear seal of the intake manifold and noticed the exhaust sound at idle wasn't as crisp as it had been. The clearances on the valves of the rear cylinders was reduced and checking the spark plugs showed that the rear ones were a very light brown as opposed to tan on the front ones. Changing the manifold gasket solved the problem.

If you do decide to use a lead substitute make sure you don't add too much or the intake valve stems will become coated and the valves will bind. This will show up when you go to start the a cold engine. You will get lots of metallic noise from pushrods bending and hitting the side cover, and the engine may not start.

I found this out because I was getting ready for a long trip pulling a 13 foot travel trailer and tried using double dose of the lead substitute, as per the directions on the bottle.

Congratulations to this thread for returning to the serious side.

Hum....some of us like to have fun in life, while I guess other folks take life more seriously.

At any rate, another thing to watch out for, as far as lead additive is concerned, is that in some cases the lead additive has been known to disfigure the modern replacement Viton tip on the carburetor float needle (for those of you that use this type of replacement needle in your carburetors), preventing the needle to seal correctly against the seat, thus causing serious flooding. This problem can be eliminated by changing out the Viton needle with the OEM metal needle and seat assembly. :eek:

I have a 1946 pickup with a 216 and unleaded with no additive works just fine. My dad has been a mechanic since 1956 and here is a tip for storing a vehicle over a long period of time. If you want to keep the cylinders from drying out you take out the spark plugs and spray some automatic transmission fluid in the holes. It will lube the cylinder walls and burn out quicker than other oils. Another good idea is to put Stay-Bil in the gas tank. This will keep your gasoline from turning to varnish and stop you from breaking out the old steam cleaner.

Hey MudbugnLouisiana! Thanks for the tip!

No problem bud, glad to make suggestions.

I could be wrong, but I'm thinking all 350 Chevies came with hardened valve seats. My brother had a 1965 Checker (still has)with a 327 at the time of the change over, and the cab company he worked for redid the heads for him. It's still going strong.

Contrarywise, I was driving a Ford PU with 400 inches and headed out across country to the east with it. We still had leaded gas in Colorado, but out about east Kansas they stopped selling it. I figured they had Unleaded +, so that must have an additive to replace it.... WRONG! By the time I reached South Carolina I had four valves sucked up into the heads and had to buy heads at a wrecking yard to get back home. Luckily there was a newer full sized sedan with the right engine for a direct swap.

Chevrolets and GM cars all had induction hardened valve seats starting in 1971. This is when GM firstrecommended unleaded gas.
True, I have seen some Ford engines that had the valves pound down the seats.
I have driven my "old Chevrolets" many of thousands of high speed miles and never had a valve problem.
You will know that there is a problem if the exhaust valves "self-tighten" - which will cause a miss at idle.
I wouldn't know what to add to prevent valve seat recession a most of the additives are not really lead as lead is a poison and if the additive does contain lead the poison symbol would be on the container.

The car with the 400,000 miles with the 350 engine that I was referring to in my posting is a 1969 Impala and it didn't have hardened valve seats.

Junkyard dog, oil, additives and what ever aside, I know Elvira.
Really, n BS. Can't tell you why or how. But I can say she is fun, smart, interesting and, ahh, well, just as you see her on TV.

Enjoy,
Michael41