The book might have been state of the art in 1954, but that was over 50 years ago when the overhead valve Ford V-8 was the new kid on the block, the Chevy 265 hadn't been marketed yet, and reliable hydraulic lifters in the Chevy 235 and the Buick straight 8 were just a pipe dream. Motor oil capable of working with hydraulic lifters was just getting developed, also.
My father was closely involved with a few GM field engineers in working the bugs out of the Oldsmobile overhead valve V-8, (Introduced in 1949) and one of the problems they dealt with was noisy valve lifters. They used to use his shop in Nashville as an after-hours experimental shop when they were in the southeast. RPM "10-30 Special" oil was one of the first multi-viscosity oils available, and it helped quiet down Olds lifters very well. Kendall also made some special-formula oils to deal with the noisy lifter problem.
Dad was also involved in making the Rochester 4-barrel carburetor work right. Some of the modifications he and the GM guys came up with in 1953 were standard on the Rochester 4GC carburetor in 54.
Jerry
