break in oil and changes

[yellow rose]

On my last hot rod build I ran 820x15 bias ply slicks, a 60's vintage Cragar blower intake, a Clay Smith cam and Triple Nickel '55 354 heads so yeah I would run what guys did 50 years ago!!!!

I'm just kinda smiling at the guys that are so caught up in the latest and greatest oils and additives when they are rebuilding a slant 6 or stockish 318 with a stock cam and valve springs.

Once I get my local Farm and Barn 'racing oil' tested I'll publish the results. I would bet that $3.00 per quart oil has most of the zddp that the boutique oils have. Don't get me wrong.... I don't have a problem with any of the Penn Grade, Lucas, CenPeCo, Shaeffer, etc oils... just a bit too high dollar for me if I can get the same performance for less.

Might just use some old school non-detergent with EOS added....

Your assumption is more zinc is better. It isn't. If you actually test oil, you'd learn that. Valvoline ZR-1 is loaded with zinc and it's a power loser.

 

[512Stroker]

I have been building engines on/off for the past 39 years, I worked in the Engineering Lab at Waukesha Engine where we did alot of oil testing, Shell and Mobil oils always came out on top. On my recent 340 roller build I used Valvoline VR1 Racing oil 10W-30 it comes ZDDP enriched. Engine was broke in on a dyno and now has its first 100 miles on the road all appears OK. Please note that the oil and filter were changed after the dyno run.
I refreshed it with the same oil and now plan on changing it after 500 miles. This is a street car producing 442 corrected HP I like the added protection that the ZDDP provides for the long haul.
If this were a racing application I would do some thing different.
I cant see how you could go wrong with a good quality natural API oil with ZDDP.

 

[yellow rose]

I have been building engines on/off for the past 39 years, I worked in the Engineering Lab at Waukesha Engine where we did alot of oil testing, Shell and Mobil oils always came out on top. On my recent 340 roller build I used Valvoline VR1 Racing oil 10W-30 it comes ZDDP enriched. Engine was broke in on a dyno and now has its first 100 miles on the road all appears OK. Please note that the oil and filter were changed after the dyno run.
I refreshed it with the same oil and now plan on changing it after 500 miles. This is a street car producing 442 corrected HP I like the added protection that the ZDDP provides for the long hall.
If this were a racing application I would do some thing different.
I cant see how you could go wrong with a good quality natural API oil with ZDDP.

Like I've said...excess zinc is almost as bad as too little. I'd have to think hard about it but my memory is that VR-1 was the most HP eating oil I tested. Could be that a Pennzoil was as bad or close.

Synthetic (I should say group IV and V synthetic) base stocks will do everything a standard mineral oil and much more. Group III synthetic base stocks are not really synthetic, but somehow a bunch of dumbass goofballs in long black robes decided that group III base stock are synthetic. That's why Gus running alcohol based fuels can switch to a group III base oil and not have issues. You run alcohol on group IV and V base stocks and you can have issues.

Just as important as base stock and zinc percentages is the detergent and dispersant packages, the EP package (as I write that I may be fudging calling it EP for engine oil but I'm not feeling good at the moment) and even the viscosity index Improvers are important.

That makes an engine oil, engine oil. Buying an oil based on its ppm of ZDDP is limiting at best. Doesn't mean you stuff will expire in Hollywood fashion. Just means you are probably leaving a bit on the table.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I run what I want to run. Never had any oil related failures. That's about good enough for me.

 

[mopowers]

Like I've said...excess zinc is almost as bad as too little. I'd have to think hard about it but my memory is that VR-1 was the most HP eating oil I tested. Could be that a Pennzoil was as bad or close.

Synthetic (I should say group IV and V synthetic) base stocks will do everything a standard mineral oil and much more. Group III synthetic base stocks are not really synthetic, but somehow a bunch of dumbass goofballs in long black robes decided that group III base stock are synthetic. That's why Gus running alcohol based fuels can switch to a group III base oil and not have issues. You run alcohol on group IV and V base stocks and you can have issues.

Just as important as base stock and zinc percentages is the detergent and dispersant packages, the EP package (as I write that I may be fudging calling it EP for engine oil but I'm not feeling good at the moment) and even the viscosity index Improvers are important.

That makes an engine oil, engine oil. Buying an oil based on its ppm of ZDDP is limiting at best. Doesn't mean you stuff will expire in Hollywood fashion. Just means you are probably leaving a bit on the table.

What was the best oil you tested? I've heard really good things about Torco synthetic. Do synthetics require and zinc additives?

 

[yellow rose]

What was the best oil you tested? I've heard really good things about Torco synthetic. Do synthetics require and zinc additives?

I've tested the 5w30, 5w40 and 5w50 full synthetics. The closest oil to Torco with those tests was an oil I can't even think of the name of any more. These oils are for N/A gas engines. I will look tomorrow when I go by the shop.

For the alcohol engines I found nothing that compared to Torco. There may be some oils out there now that may get close or even beat it, but I haven't seen them. I never use a 100% synthetic oil with alcohol based fuels, because as I understand it, alcohol is used in synthesizing the oil, and alcohol will actually take apart an engine oil. I've seen it with my own two eyes. A guy I'd never met was using some synthetic and was getting a single run out of his oil. Then that had to dump it. The rings and bores always looked like garbage. So I went over to watch him drop his oil and you would see long, stringy things coming out of the pan. And sometimes little balls.

I called Torco and they said that is the Viscosity Index Improvers separating from the base stock. That happens when you use a full synthetic with alcohol based fuels.

Torco makes oils just for alcohol based fuels. IIRC it is their T4R oils and they are a blend of synthetic and mineral oils and they don't come apart with fuel saturation of the oil.

I've looked into, but never tested the LAT oils. I have been on the phone with them and I suspect they make a class oil.

Other oils I've tested were some Lucas products. For the money it's a good oil. I've also tested the Joe Gibbs oil in several grades and they are every bit as good as the Lucas stuff is.

I'm not impressed with the racing oil VP put out in the late 90's and early 2000's. Their extreme pressure package was a bit of a gimmick and I didn't care for that.

Royal purple was down on power a bit. After a season with it, the rings and bores looked like crap so I gave up on that test.

My dad sold Amsoil for years. He started in 1979. So I got free oil for my cars. Their gear lube is pretty damn good. The engine oils for production cars is perfectly fine. When you power levels get up to about 1.9-2.1 per CID or higher (depends on finish machine work and how well the oiling system is designed the Amsoil is a bit down on power. Use Amsoil if you want to save a little money and you aren't making 2 HP/CID.