Anybody remember pickling oil and silica gel plugs?

I knew a retired Wright engineer who used a mixture of pickling oil and white lead as an assembly lube. He had a license signed by Orville Wright.

FWIW, I've known some oldtimers who did strange things successfully that made professionally-trained engineers grow pale, but they worked.

Around 1975, one old guy bought a '36 Ford that had been field stored since the '50s. He aired the tires & made ready to tow it home, but thought he'd try starting it first. He installed a battery, got the starting fluid out, cranked it up, it fired, & soon was running. He drove it home on whatever was in the tank, maybe 15 or 20 years old.

OTOH, I had a portable generator I put away for 2 years without pickling it. I had to strip the carburetor, clean it & replace the gas before it would run.

In 1972, I bought an old boat with 60 gal. tanks, port & starboard. The seller, who had owned the boat five years, told me he'd never used the starboard tank, nor had the guy he bought it from. A couple years later, I decided I needed both tanks. I found the starboard tank full, but the fuel outlet was plugged. I blew it out from the outlet, which dislodged a bunch of crud in the bottom of the tank. But what do you do with 50 gallons, + or minus, of old gas in a boat moored on the water.

The engine wouldn't run on what was in that tank, but when I fed it from both tanks it ran fine. I ran it that way until both tanks were down, & from then on, used both tanks. The original crud plug that kept the starboard tank from feeding, never returned.

Rusty/Bill NY,

In our quest to remove some of the mystery out of MMO, I ran across this on the VW/Judson supercharger site.....

"Q. Is there an alternative to Marvel Mystery Oil as it is hard to find in this part of the world?

A. Yes, in fact you'll find on Judson's own fitting instructions they don't actually name Marvel Oil as the recommended lubricant. Marvel Oil is an upper cylinder lubricant that has been chlorinated...meaning that the oil has "creep and penetration". If you use a replacement for Marvel you must ensure it has the "creep and penetration" characteristics specific to an upper cylinder lubricant. This is necessary to lubricate the end bearings in the supercharger, the vanes, cylinder walls and valve stems.. You'll find that some single grade 10W motor oils will fit the bill. You can buy them at motorcycle dealers and if you live in the U.K. Morris Oils make a 10W that is said to be identical to Marvel Oil in all but colour, ask for "Morris ring-free XHD 10W". If in doubt stick to Marvel, it's worth paying the extra to protect your Judson and your flat four engine. You'll find Karmann Konnection in the U.K. hold a ready supply and the U.S. virtually everywhere."
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Is Morris available in the US?

quote:

Originally posted by Lee:
Marvel Oil is an upper cylinder lubricant that has been chlorinated...meaning that the oil has "creep and penetration". If you use a replacement for Marvel you must ensure it has the "creep and penetration" characteristics specific to an upper cylinder lubricant.

I'm a little weak in chemistry, but I wonder if they are talking about what used to be called polarized oil. I believe Prolong and a few others use at least the claim to be polarized. I have found polarized oil to be good for guns.

Rusty?

Judson, huh? I had one. It had a history of allowing several different POs to blow up their VW engines as they went very fast. The word back then was to do a complete engine beef up before bolting it on. I put it on a Porsche engine that I had installed in a BMW motorcycle. I could never get the proper rear gearing for it, as the factory was very selective as to who got the special sidecar racing gears, so my top speed was limited, but the Judson allowed me to get up to that top speed faster than ever before. I tried to get Lions to have a 1/8 mile drag event just for me. I believe I might have given Clem Johnson and Barn Job a run. (Trolling with obscure biker historical references) Today with Superbikes, a 60 mph wheelie is not unusual, but in the 60's, it was quite a trick.

Chlorinated? Some metal-working oils are chlorinated, but I never ran across any mainline lubricant that's got chlorine in any additive compound.

"Polarized" is probably referring to oils which carry a "-" chemical valence (Teflon has this characteristic). Since metals have a "+" valence, there's a mild chemical attraction between the lubricator and lubricatee...Never heard it called "polarized"; we always used the term "affinity".

Metallic ash detergent/dispersents also carry a "-" valence, which makes them useful for neutralizing acid ("+"), as do ashless dispersents (which work differently).

But I never heard of penetrating qualities enhanced to any degree by additives; it's primarily a function of viscosity and secondarily by solvent action (the latter is really a characteristic separate from "penetrability").

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
.

"Polarized" is probably referring to oils which carry a "-" chemical valence (Teflon has this characteristic). Since metals have a "+" valence, there's a mild chemical attraction between the lubricator and lubricatee...Never heard it called "polarized"; we always used the term "affinity".

Here is one example:

"Outers Gun Oil is polarized to bond naturally with metal to form a lasting barrier to corrosion."

My one (difficult) semester of college chemistry does not allow me to understand much, but it is a pretty good product.

Well, I guess the marketeers have to give it a name of some kind...