Previous owner used royal purple 5w-30 and a k&n filter. What would everyone recommend? Does rotella and a wix filter work well for this motor?
Joe Gibbs/Driven racing oil because it has high ZDDP which our engines need and a Wix or Napa Gold (they're the same filters) filter.
Valvoline VR1 but I have old original motors that I'm still using Castrol GTX in. Thay are fully broken...to say the least...and have stock (read: weak) valve springs
In the past, people used Rotella because the zinc went away in passenger car oils. Rotella is diesel oil. The additive package is different for diesel engines. Not necessary to use that today, plenty of other options. Joe Gibbs, Brad Penn, Valvoline VR-1, Amsoil Z Rod. Take your pick.
Thanks. My book is coming later this week i hope. How many qts do i need for the 455? And what would be your favorite goto oil?
What do you mean depending on the clearances? I just got the car 3 weeks ago and the previous owner is running 5w30 royal purple
Didn't he give you the build spec's of the engine? You really need to know what they are to positivitily know what oil weight to use. You have an oil pressure gauge? A real one and not some janky crap? You now need to know your pressures are cold start, cold run and hot run. Post those and we'll figure is out. A temperature gauge is also a necessity .
Rule of thumb, use the thinnest oil that gives you satisfactory oil pressures. For the BBB, that is 11-12 psi/1000 RPM. That is hot oil pressure. To get the oil hot requires 20 minutes at highway speeds. And yes, you need a REAL oil pressure gauge to evaluate oil pressure. http://v8buick.com/index.php?threads/gauges.197307/
Thanks, Larry. Good to know. I was concerned mine was a little low (15 psi at 900rpm) when warm. I use Mobil 1 10w30 full synthetic (1850 ppm zinc supposedly) on a stock engine with a few miles on her. I did see a show (Motor Week)where a chemist said as low as 800 ppm of zinc was OK (after break in, of course) on flat tappet engines. I also use K&N filters, which I don't see mentioned much in V8 Buick.
I like the K&N having the 1 inch nut to help getting it off if difficult, I bought a case year ago and used them for a bit. Seemed fine to me. I use the Napa/Wix because I work at a Napa and get them for a very discounted price.
I called the shop that did the engine rebuild. He stated that he would pull the paperwork and send it to me on what he did with the previous owner. (We will see if he follows through with that) He said that the oil he would use would be the 10w-30 or 10w40, as the clearances would be good for that. He also stated that I would want to add a zinc additive with my oil change. So I guess i am asking all of you awesome gurus what oil i should run and what additive, if any i should use.
Larry put a pretty good list on post #6 of oils with proper additives in them already. If you want to use on the shelf oils with an additive, there are many ones to choose from. I have been using Napa (Valvoline) brand oil (10W40) with 1/3 bottle of Lucas break-in additive. I am probably going to switch to an oil like Larry listed with the proper additive package in it.
I think i am going to go with the Valvoline VR-1 for the next oil change with a wix filter. I will go pick up 5 qts. This should take care of me and also have enough Zinc in it to us correct, or should I still do an additive as well.?
Why is zinc needed on broke in motors with miles and miles on them? I’ve used Mobil 1 for over 40 years and have always been impressed with how clean it stays, even in my new cars after the first change, since day one I use it and never had an oil related failure.
Oil that has SAE s/m and s/n not only have no zinc, they have additives that will remove any zinc from the engine. I believe that they were released in 2011 or 2012. Before that, there was enough zinc left in an engine so it didn't matter if they reduced the zinc content in the oil.
