B-Man Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 So what flavor and brand of spark plugs is the current favorite amongst the SB350 crew here on the forum? I'm trying to wind down my winter efforts and get ready for driving weather here in New England. Figured I would do the old school tune up since I have yet to to attend to this items since I bought this Monte Carlo a couple of years ago now. Plugs, plug wires, oil, filter(s), etc. These old 3D25 Champions look to be original, haha!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Man Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 And any thoughts on what oil to run these days? I've always just assumed 10W40 for old GM engines. But maybe there are some more recent schools of thought? I will run a WIX filter no doubt - sort of gotten sold on them after all the YouTubers I follow tend to swear by them for whatever reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leghome Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 I just switched over to NGK UR4 from R45TS AC Delco's the NGK seem to run better for my application 350 bored 20 over roller cam and rockers. The NGK give me a more clearance on my headers also as they are shorter about the tip where the wire snaps on. I was fouling the AC in about 300 miles and got over 600 before the NGK's fouled. Hopefully that problem is now fixed as I replaced my heads but have not got it totally reassembled. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cny first gen 71 Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 Champion are definitely not original but they sure have been in there a while. I use autolite mine, been using them for years in gm cars. As far as oil something with high zinc if you have a flat tappet cam I use lucas hot rod oil they have 10w30 or 10w40 it seems to work well in mine. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragCat Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 2 hours ago, cny first gen 71 said: Champion are definitely not original but they sure have been in there a while. I use autolite mine, been using them for years in gm cars. As far as oil something with high zinc if you have a flat tappet cam I use lucas hot rod oil they have 10w30 or 10w40 it seems to work well in mine. Absolutely run a zinc , I use valvoline on the blue oval. Champion spark pugs on the blue oval as well, I also run av-gas since it's not a daily driver. The Monte is a crate motor so thats all specific . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Man Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 Ok, so the parts store had some $10 each fancy Autolite [correction: AC Delco] but no NGK. So I went with the [AC Delco]. Thanks guys I did also buy the zinc additive. And went with 10W30. Thanks for the input. Appreciate it!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cny first gen 71 Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 1 hour ago, B-Man said: Ok, so the parts store had some $10 each fancy Autolite but no NGK. So I went with the Autolite. Thanks guys I did also buy the zinc additive. And went with 10W30. Thanks for the input. Appreciate it!! Which ones did you go with? I just use the regular ones I have a fouling problem on 1 cylinder but am thinking about platum once I get that straightened out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Man Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 @cny first gen 71, correction here. I got the AC Delco Double Platinum 19308035 41-803 They are definitely a bit spendy. And I have no idea if I will realize the quality. But it sure has been a while since this engine has had some new spark plugs. So I don't mind the $40 delta from the el-cheapos On the oil I ALMOST made a seriously dumb move! I left the oil plug out last night to let the engine drain fully. I ALMOST dumped the oil in without putting the plug back in. I had the funnel in and was starting to poor before something in the back of my mind set off an alarm. Sheesh! Went with 10W30 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Peters Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 1 hour ago, B-Man said: @cny first gen 71 On the oil I ALMOST made a seriously dumb move! I left the oil plug out last night to let the engine drain fully. I ALMOST dumped the oil in without putting the plug back in. I had the funnel in and was starting to poor before something in the back of my mind set off an alarm. Sheesh! Went with 10W30 I bet you would not have been the first person to do that.. What, who, me. NAH, not me. rob 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cny first gen 71 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 I have seen that done I have never done it. Although I did do an oil change one time and forgot to put oil filter on, yea that made a mess when I started it up. But out of thousands of oil changes a couple screw up are not to bad. I do pride myself on never forgetting to tighten up any lug nuts after doing thousands of them too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Man Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 First start after a long winter, fresh oil, and new plugs, then the Holley decides to start puking fuel EVERYWHERE! Man, let no good deed go unpunished. Almost had to build another new garage. I do have 2 fire extinguishers nearby, but man that was a lot of fuel. I've got an Edelbrock 1406 ready and waiting to go on anyway. I bought it from another awesome forum member here last year, along with an intake (already have the same one installed but bought that anyway). I've got to chase down a fresh gasket and then deal with the linkage but should be a quick swap. I already have the Holley off and the Edelbrock ready to go. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Man Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 I ordered up an Edelbrock 3899 gasket off Amazon. Arriving Friday. Should be back in action this weekend The Holley is now a door stop - perfect! Edelbrock 3899 Square-Bore Carburetor Replacement Base Gasket https://a.co/d/b1JcUe1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBMan Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 Regarding engine oil, I contacted Mobil 1 because I prefer synthetic oils over conventional oils and I wanted to be sure whatever oil I used has sufficient zinc. Zinc is critical for flat tappet camshaft engines. Below is the response directly from Mobil 1. By the way, I use the 5W-40 European Car Formula. I also use a Wix 51060 oil filter which has the anti-drainback valve. ----------- Thank you for writing to us. One of our criteria is usually to focus on oils with 1000 parts per million of zinc or better, to take good care of a flat tappet camshaft. We've got several oils that fit this profile. One great option is our Mobil 1 FS 0W-40 “European Car Formula.” This has a zinc content of 1000ppm, and will recoat your bearings a bit faster than a 5W-40 or 10W-40 can at engine start up. We also have the same product in a 5W-40. https://www.mobil.com/en/lubricants/for-personal-vehicles/our-products/products/mobil-1-fs-0w-40/ https://www.mobil.com/en/lubricants/for-personal-vehicles/our-products/products/mobil-1-fs-5w-40/ If the engine is running a bit hotter, and can benefit from a 50, we have Mobil 1 15W-50, with a zinc content of 1320ppm. https://www.mobil.com/en/lubricants/for-personal-vehicles/our-products/products/mobil-1-15w-50/ Finally, we have Mobil 1 FS X2 5W-50 with a zinc content of 1000ppm. This oil can be hard to find on the shelf, though. https://www.mobil.com/en/lubricants/for-personal-vehicles/our-products/products/mobil-1-fs-x2-5w-50/ 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Man Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 @TheBMan , that's cool that you contacted Mobil and got some good info and suggestions back from them! Admittedly, I just bought the O'Reilly brand 10W30, plus an off-the-shelf zinc additive. I suppose one can put more thought into their purchase like you have "I use the 5W-40 European Car Formula. I also use a Wix 51060 oil filter which has the anti-drainback valve" Something to keep in mind for next time. And also a good topic for a Sunday morning YouTube rabbit hole I suppose! Thanks for your input here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leghome Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 1 hour ago, B-Man said: @TheBMan , that's cool that you contacted Mobil and got some good info and suggestions back from them! Admittedly, I just bought the O'Reilly brand 10W30, plus an off-the-shelf zinc additive. I suppose one can put more thought into their purchase like you have "I use the 5W-40 European Car Formula. I also use a Wix 51060 oil filter which has the anti-drainback valve" Something to keep in mind for next time. And also a good topic for a Sunday morning YouTube rabbit hole I suppose! Thanks for your input here I think NAPA's part number for their Gold Filter is 1060 and NAPA gold filter are/were made by Wix 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Man Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 On 3/19/2024 at 12:19 PM, B-Man said: I ordered up an Edelbrock 3899 gasket off Amazon. Arriving Friday. Should be back in action this weekend The Holley is now a door stop - perfect! Edelbrock 3899 Square-Bore Carburetor Replacement Base Gasket https://a.co/d/b1JcUe1 Update ... I installed the Edelbrock 1406 with the Edelbrock gasket I bought off Amazon. No issues there. I still have some work ahead of me getting the throttle and kick down cables squared away but nothing too egregious. But I started it up last night and the engine was running and idling perfectly!!!! Fresh plugs, fresh fuel filter, fresh oil/filter (with zinc) and non-Holley carb were exactly what that engine was looking for Oh, and the needles were removed, inspected (fine) and reinstalled, then 1 1/2 turns out each. I haven't rechecked vacuum and timing yet, but will shortly. I did happen to watch some Edelbrock 1406 videos on YouTube while in my man cave. And I'm glad I did. There are some very particular things to look for on any carb relative to initial setup. So it's worth the time watching some videos. As a result of one video I noticed that they bypass slots on the primaries were exposed when the throttle plates were closed (see excerpt of the above photo, below). In the video the guy talked about this being a problem with too much fuel when idling - all the carb needs exposed are the idle passages. So I backed off the idle screw all the way and got it to where those bypass slots are just barely starting to peak out from under the throttle plates. And again, the engine ran really smooth and the idle was perfect. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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