In the early years I stuck with Syntron X, then went to a fully synth Valvoline, then onto the full synth Castrol Edge. Now, as per the sticker, I'm running the Millers semi but it's tricky to get down here so I might switch back to the Edge.
Servicing.....yeah well... when I can afford it or can be bothered!! When I do get my hands dirty I tend to replace things which may not need replacing then but will save me a job later. A week a go I just went out to top up the fluids for a day out, and noticing that water pipe from the inlet manifold to the bottom hose t-piece was showing signs of cracking I decided to put a new hose on. Then whilst that was out of the way I realised I could get to the engine steady bar so new bushes were fitted, but of course you can't really one side without doing the other can you?. Four sweary hours later it was beer time. My main problem is that I don't have anywhere level to jack it up, so anything that requires "wheels up" comes with added dangers!!
Timing...About 8 months ago I fitted a new distrbutor and I'm sure the garage put it at about 8 or 9 degrees. The difference between old & new was quite something. Previously tick-over bounced all over the place anywhere between 400 - 1200 and I was getting about 35mpg. As soon as the new one was in tick-over was steady within 50rpm and I'm getting 40-42 mpg on the same daily work run. Quite a surprise
for the record I use a 97 octane super U/L from Sainsburys currently £141.9