Oil type for stock 350

Hey guys just curious what you're using on your stock 350s. I've been doing a mix of 2 qts Mobile One 15w-50 and Mobile One High Mileage 5w-30 After reviewing the mix of detergents and zinc and I figured this might be a good combo.

I've been thinking of switching to Valvoline VR1 but not sure which weight to use with that one 10w-30 or 20w-50?

My car is a daily driver, regularly driven.

Thanks

 

sorry, meant 2 quarts of each on the 15w-50 and 5w-30

 

I'm running valvoline VR1 20w-50 and a bottle of rislone zinc additive. One of the biggest things you have to watch for with modern oils in older cars is the zinc amount due to them being flat tappet lifters you need the insurance against wiping out your cam. VR1 is pretty good stuff but it is still lower on the zinc than I would like, where the rislone zinc additive is a cheap insurance to throw in to boost the zinc ppm amount. Another thing to remember is that oil companies do not have to tell you if they change their additive package, just because you've ran X brand oil for so long and have good results with it does not mean it is suitable for your car in it's current formula as they could have and likely did change it to comply with the newer ratings coming out.

If you like info and want to read til your eyes bleed then head over to bobistheoilguy and skim the forums, there is a lot of VOA and UOA on various oils there.

Ryan

 

Ryan thanks for the reply. Is there a such thing as having too much zinc additive? Just curious of that would mess up the cam or lifters.

 

The 20-50 is too heavy unless you live in Texas, then I would still question that. 10-30 is all you need in the engine. The VR1 racing oil is good it has the zinc in it but I would try to stick with 10-30.. The other oil is too hard on the oil pump then you have to pump that thick heavy oil thru the engine. If you want to stick with that heavy oil then you better sit in the car when cold for about 10 minutes letting it warm up before driving it. Do not go over 1500 rpm with the heavy oil till warmed up.

I have a 7 qt oil pan and I use 4 qts of 10-30 Mobile 1 and 2 qts of 15-50 Mobile 1. It is ok to mix just use more 10-30 than the heavy oil.

The oil pressure in the stock motor with 10-30 oil in it when completely warm will go down to about 10 lbs at idle. Don't worry about that, and as long as you have 10 lbs for each 1000 rpm you will be fine on the stock engine.

Look at it this way, if your blood pressure is too high that means your trying to pump that thick blood thru your bloodstream, not good for your heart.

 

Thanks for the info. I live in AZ so its summer 8 or 9 months out of the year for us with light winters where I'm at. Rarely do we get down to 29 degrees on a morning when I'm going to hop in the car and go. I always give the engine 5 minutes to warm up every day I drive it regardless of time of year though. I was just doing the 20w-50 for the amount of zinc Mobil 1 puts in it but I can cut down and do the Risl0ne rather than the Marvin's Mystery Oil that I usually put half a quart in each oil change.

 

I use Castrol GTX 10w40 + 1 bottle of Eastwood's Zddp.

 

VR1 10w30 is all you need. The temp difference from AZ to MI is nothing to an engine.

 

always love the oil issue. before the current Honda bearing setup, I used plain old carquest or napa 10-30 oil. the engine would normally turn 7500 rpm with the s/p intake and 6500 with the supercharger. NEVER an issue and did not use any additives. so tell me what I'm doing wrong........
with the Honda bearing and 4-71 blower setup, I'm using plain, not racing, amsoil 10-30 oil, no additives. same oil I use in all my vehicles. NO issues. again, what am I doing wrong.

 

Yes I would suppose there probably is such a thing as too much zinc and in all reality you probably only need to add half a bottle of the rislone to VR1 or a full bottle for regular SN oils. Per rislone tech page at a 7% dosage your zinc level should be around 1700-1800 ppm which is about perfect.

Yes I do agree that 20-50 is on the high side, yes I let it reach operating temp before driving. This is the oil I added once I got the car not knowing of the condition of the engine, after looking it over more I am more inclined to run a lighter oil and like will do so. I am not one to favor the "heavier is better for older engines" argument as my last SBC 350 went 340k miles with 10-30 but that was an engine I knew well (died due to crack cylinder heads) so it was more a precautionary move on an old engine in unknown condition.

Well it's not really an opinion about the zinc additive as it is well known that it's a necessary for flat or especially solid lifters. Ask any cam company. I have also personally seen cams wiped out from guys getting rebuilt engines into their hot rod and running only modern oil, then wonder why it starts running horribly and loses power.

Some guys get lucky, maybe it's your driving style, maybe you've got extremely hard cam and lifters, maybe some witch doctor blessed your engine and now your immune to have any common issues, who knows. What I do know is that I error on the side of caution.

I am not the end all, know it all when it comes to any subject, in fact no one is but I have done a lot of reading as well as learning from both mine and others mistakes.

Thanks,
Ryan

 

What about the Rislone?

 

Rislone not needed with the VR1.

 

Here's what I do use in my car the since last 2 years

 

Thanks for the tips. I will probably go with VR1 10w30. I'm just looking for something I can get locally. Even though I only do 2 oil changes a year on average, I just want something I can find at my local Walmart or O'Reilly. I'm pretty sure my local O'Reilly sells the VR1. My local Walmart carries the 15w50 and high mileage 5w30 in Mobil 1 so that's what I've been doing for the past 2 oil changes but I figure it was time to look into other options for a decently balanced oil with zinc.

 

Sounds like you have a good handle on what your motor needs, and how to ensure it gets it. I used to use Mobil1 15W-50, but it's become harder to find for a good price. I just use 10W-30 Mobil1 with 8 oz. of RedLine ZDDP, and everything is fine.