What oil to use?

the wagon has a .500 lift cam, runs 20w50 Valvoline and a quart of Rislone additive...driven daily for 2 years and no issues. I think maint. is key...lots of work mobbin around in an 81' chassis with 70' motor every day...but i guess you have to like that stuff. If i can't start up somethin that has a nice beat you can dance to i'm just not interested.

 

on a side note if using E-85 stay away from brad penn and possibly any dino oil as your oil will jell up..link to pic below

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7046/6775668184_13aafe71e8_b.jpg
back on topic of oil and zinc/ph
heres brad pens levels
http://penngrade1.com/Zinc.aspx

 

I've been using Rotella diesel oil.
401 getting a new cam right now so I 'll wait for the cam guys recommendation.
if he ok's it ill be back to Rotella with the occasional gulp of Marvel mystery oil.

 

if you're buying a new cam, buy a packet of Z-paste, any vendor that sells the zddp bottles will have it

http://www.kirbanperformance.com/pr...he+Ultimate+Cam+Assembly+Lubricant+#7240.html

 

Can I say something here. I'm 66 years old, and own my shop for 35 years now. Before that I was a mechanic at a GM dealer. Been at this for 47 years. I've raced Chevy, Pontiacs, and Buicks. I have used One brand of oil for the past 35 years. It works and I can prove it. I got One man with a one ton Chevy. truck with a 454 that went 496,000 miles before the timing chain went out. At 410,000 it started to sound like it had a little piston slap. I took the valve cover off for the first time and wanted to look at a lifter. I pulled one I could get to and had to take it outside in the sun light to see any wear. I sell one kind oil and use 40w in the summer and 30w in the winter. Remember I'm in KY. and it doesn't get as cold as the northen states do. In older made engines that have more piston to wall clearance than the cars of today this is what I use and It works good. Shell Rotello-T truck oil. It's super clean but the Gov. has taken the zink out of it too. Two years ago. So I add Red Line zink additive to the oil now. I run some class 8 road tractors out of here too. Line haul trucks with the big bore engines run 1.1 to 1.2 million miles before overhaul. And Shell Rotello-T oil is in them also. Some newer truck we do ues 15-40 because of tight piston clearance and after 400,000 we go back to the 30w or 40w straight weight oils. So men do what you want, but This works for me and my customers. By the way I have just started putting a 63 Buick together for myself. 2 door HT Rock a Billy car, like back in my day. I'm using a 431 Nailhead 2X4 motor that I did a year or two ago. and 3:23 pois. and I'm changing it over to a straight shift too. 4 speed. I had one in the mid-70. It was a 3 speed when I got it, and I put a 4 speed in it. The 3 speed did run better, but I liked the 4 back then. You can see this engine run on you tube---425 buick nailhead test stand by steven gooch. I'm in my part of the garage with my toys. Thank you for your time. Kenneth Robinson. Vinage Iron Car Club. Look it up on the net. it's fun to watch.

 

Does anyone know where to get ZDDP In Canada. I didn't know about this but started investigating this weekend after I noticed the valve train in my 455 seemed a little more rattly then I remember before. But before the last oil change I had been using Rottela T and switch to Castrol Syntec for this change because I have been using that in my daily driver and noticed about 60 mile per tank increase in fuel economy.

Thanks Rob

 

A friend of mine returned from the annual SEMA show where he did his yearly check with the Mobil 1 folks to make sure they haven't changed their formulas. The Mobil 1 Synthetic 15w-50 has more than the 1000 parts per million of the zinc and phosphate flat tappet engines require. No additives needed. The really nice thing about it is that Wally World sells it in 5 quart jugs for less than $25. Add a good Wix filter (NAPA Gold) and you won't have any worries.

Ed

PS - I understand that Shell's Rotella has changed their formulas in the past couple of years. That used to be my recommendation.

http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Files/Mobil_1_Product_Guide.pdf

Look for "flat tappet" recommendations.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mobil-1-15W-50-5-Quart/20713647

 

That's great thanks so much Ed. Is 15w50 not a bit heavy? And how many PPM is recommended?

I also found this on a Corvette site

Just a few days ago, I emailed STP to see if the blue and red additives still had enough ZDDP in them to bring modern oils back up to the level of ZDDP of the older oils. This was the response.

March 11, 2011

Reference Number: 5351879

Dear Mr. Long,

Thank you for contacting us about your STP Oil Treatment. We always appreciate hearing from our consumers.



Yes, it is still going to bring the levels of ZDDP comparable to the older oils. The red bottle has been discontinued. Many classic car owners with flat tappet cam motors use our product for this reason.

Again, thank you for contacting us.


Sincerely,

Patti Copper

Consumer Response Representative

Consumer Services

 

I think that 1,000 ppm is what is called sufficient. You'll see that the 15w-50 exceeds that number in both zinc and phosphorus. The folks I know who are running this oil haven't said anything about it being to heavy. Synthetics aren't quite the same as the oils we're used to.

Ed

 

I went and looked for that oil at both the Wal-marts I went to its not available. Maybe its not sold in Canada I'm Going to have to go and do some asking at the local engine builder and see what he is using.

 

Couldn't find the Mobil 1 15-50. But my engine builder told me Rotella T 15-40 still has about 1200 ppm of zinc as far as he knows. He also gave me a good explanation of how and why this matters. Older engines like pre 1960 typically don't have strong enough valve springs or high enough lifts to do damage without zinc and newer ones have roller lifters. He prefers to break in cams with weaker springs then they should have when the lift is over .500 and put the proper ones in once the break in period is over now to get around this problem. He has two Chrysler engines in there now with damaged cam shafts he suspects because of no zinc. But as insurance told me add about 250ml of break in oil when I change the oil and things should be fine. If we had fewer product regulations here in Canada things would be so much easier.

Thanks For all your help Guess I'm going to do as he suggest and go Rotella T and 250ml of comp cam break in oil.

Rob

 

Suggest you go to NAPA and ask for Brad Penn oil. You won't need additives.

http://www.penngrade1.com/

 

ZDDP is not sold in Canada, at least not anywhere that I'm aware of. I've had to get mine from a buddy who orders it up online from the US. There isn't one motor oil available here in Alberta that makes up for the loss of ZDDP. Recently there's talk of them loading even more calcium into oil that will make it too slippery for ZDDP to adhere, - or something like that. -It's built-in obsolescence taken to it's ultimate conclusion, and there will be no complaints from anyone except the very small and diminishing old-car lobby; in other words bad for us all.

I haven't used ZDDP in the 46 Buick yet, it doesn't have the spring pressure issues that a Nail does and that cam is so full of shale it might actually do it some good to get worn a bit. (kidding) -It's just that it seems that ZDDP is irrelevant or useless in worn-down high-mile and tempered old engines. Once I rebuild the 248 I'll start using ZDDP in it as well.

 

If the same is true of Mobil 1 10W30, that's what I would run.

 

According to the chart, both the Mobil 1 High Mileage 10w-30 and 10W-40 have 1,000 ppm of zinc and 1100 ppm of phosphate. That should be adequate.

Ed

 

Thanks!