I ran Rotella in the 472 in my OT Caddy for several years with zero issues before VR1 was a thing. Of course it typically operated at diesel engine rpms. That said I run VR1 in the 408 in my OT Camaro now.
I wrote that in post #55. “To the original poster, I don't see the need to run oil with additional zinc in a Ford V8, the valve spring pressures are so low that it is not a huge concern unless you have those heavy Isky style dual springs. I have Lincoln Zephyr springs with Johnson lifters and a 400jr. cam in mine and just use a standard 30W oil. It has been that way for almost 2 decades.” When we put it back together 30wt Lucas oil was used. Seems to run fine. My point in posting about diesel was the high detergent amount may not be a good thing, especially in a older engine. I had seen posts that suggested it was a good idea and those have been made again in this thread. Perhaps I was was just not lucky.
proartguy, I'll back you up. Had the same thing happen to me about ten years ago. Blew up a 302 by using 15w40 Rotella. I believe it was less than 50 miles from the oil change. Pretty sure it flattened the cam. I had been running VR1 in it up until that point. For whatever reason, the supply of VR1 dried up, and I couldn't get anymore from anywhere. Ran Rotella. Flattened the cam. Had to sell the truck.
Personally I would run Valvoline VR1 racing or Castrol collector car or classic car or whatever it's called. The one thing you want to make sure is you get an oil with a relatively high zinc content The diesel oil they removed the zinc out of it in 2008 or 10 and the myths still goes on in the collector car community that it's a better oil for classic cars which may have been the case 15 or 20 years ago but not today. You can buy an additive for modern oils That supposedly puts the ZDDP into the oil for your classic car I have it on my Amazon shopping cart I haven't bought it yet but I'm pretty damn cheap and it seems like a better alternative than buying $10 a quart oil but it's not like I own an engine that doesn't smoke It's just going to burn it out as fast as I can pour it in anyways but I digress.
[QUOTE=" it seems like a better alternative than buying $10 a quart oil View attachment 6376291 [/QUOTE] Just paid $29 for a 5 quart jug of VR1 last Saturday at the autozone.
Absolutely non sense I've run Rotella in flatheads for years from stock, modified hell even in my nitro one...
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Valvolin...opzhIT4R8okG6hpKSUGKvoiuxhuWndiEaAoheEALw_wcB $26 for 5 quarts.
The Jalopy Journal
