re: about switching to synthetic<>oil pan upgrade question

["Ken Keith" <keith@specialdevices.com>]

"Mr. Daniel P. Grady" <dgrady@mail2.nai.net>
> 
> Other than price, I've only experienced on problem with running synthetic in
> an older engine. Over the winter I ran Mobil-1 10w-30 in my 87 5kq with
> about 115k on the motor when winter started. I estimate I've put about 6k on
> the car since(odometer quit) and over the weekend changed the oil. When
> adding the new oil, conventional 10w-40, I noticed a change in the carbon
> deposits on the cam in the spaces between the lobes and bearings.  The
> deposits have loosened up and seem to be falling off and into the oil
> supply. This has me a little worried. I'm thinking I will never use synth
> again or use it all the time to get all the stuff out of the motor. Right
> now I fear I am just creating new deposits to float around the engine the
> next time synth lossens them up.  I see lots of filter changes in my future.
> Just another warning I guess.

Yes, I think most people agree that synthetic oil is very detergent, and 
will "clean" out your motor of deposits, which can be a good an a bad 
thing.

I wonder if it might be better to slowly introduce synthetic to an older 
car a little bit at a time, maybe a half a quart to the rest conventional. 
That way, the cleaning factor wont be everything all at once, but the 
deposits might have a chance to be removed slowly.

I don't know if this would work, but it's just something I was thinking.  
In my experiences with synthetic, I've always just filled it up and 
"shocked" the darn thing.  My old Coupe GT became pretty leaky, including 
but not limited to the valve cover gasket.

My current Coupe seeps a bit, but I'm going to go through all the seals 
and gaskets, hopefully, and replace them all.  I'll probably start with 
the oil pan gasket.

QUESTION:  Luis Marques' 4kcstq Conversion Page mentions a 20valve oil pan 
having baffles in it, or otherwise being an upgrade to a 10 valve motor.  
Is this true?  Has anyone done this?  How is it different?

Thanks,

Ken
I personally like synthetic over conventional, most of the time.
"You can engineer the specs you want into a synthetic oil, but you can't 
necessarily refine it into a conventional."