1. Royal Purple 15 40 and/or XPR oil... http://royalpurple.com/xpr-racing-oil.html a reply about my question to them. Josh, The RP 15W40 part # 01154 is excellent for flat tappet cams as it is formulated for gasoline and diesel engines (which still have flat tappets). An alternative would be the RP 10W40 part # 01140 as it is also a diesel engine oil. For the ultimate in protection, the RP XPR 10W40 part # 01041 would be another option. All of the RP oils still have a robust antiwear package - we have not reduced any of the antiwear levels in any of our products. All of our motor oils also contain our Synerlec advanced additive technology which increases the ability of our products to resist metal to metal 3 to 4 times better than other oils, whether conventional or synthetic oil. David 2. Pennzoil GT 50 apparently comes packed with about 2000ppm zinc and phosphorus http://www.pennzoil.com.au/products/motor_oil/pz_products_retail_gtr.asp some guys on a corvette forum were bragging about it. 3. Mobil 1 15w 50 http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Oils/Mobil_1_15W-50_.aspx from what I have read some love it some think its ****... sorta like the valvoline VR1 oil... 4. just a question about the vr1 oil.. the only multi grade oil I find is 20w 50... that seems kinda high for life here in arkansas... I could be wrong... Im no oil expert.. just grew up on 10w 30 the others I find are 50 and 60 weight oil. probably ok for full on racing but im thinking for driving around town... not so much??? same probably for the pennzoil. let me know what you know. thanks.
NAPA can get you 10W30 Valvoline racing oil... My local NAPA does not stock it on the shelf but it is available in their warehouse...
ok. here is what I was told bout the 20 50.. truth or BS i dunno.. guy at the counter said 2050 would be too thick for a newly rebuilt motor and tolerances being tight the motor might run hot with the thicker oil.
On the 20-50 designation. I understand that it's basically saying that it's a 20 wt oil that protects like a 50wt. Back in the day it was common to fire up a new engine with 10 wt, then go to 20 wt for the break-in. And run 30 wt afterward. Eventually most found that starting a newly built engine in warm climate areas - SoCal - was ok with 30 wt. Imo, multi-viscosity oils were shunned by more than a few when the multi's were a new thing. For good reason in my area. Nowadays, it looks like a good way to go. I run 20-50 Pennzoil in the warm months - which here in Arizona are most of them - and switch to 10-40 for colder weather into the low teens. I do drive the roadster in the very low temps, but not all that far. Better to wait for above freezing....
LOTS of real world information in the two links at the top of this page. Scott Wheaton has been financing the lab testing and comparison to mfg data for about 2 years to come up with the data to compare with advertised claims. There is also some good information on spring pressures, etc. for cam breakin. http://www.chevelles.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=13 And, one comment of the RP oil mentioned above. It should not be used to break in an engine build. It "may" be fine for use after 500 miles or so but even RP sells a "break in" version of their product that will allow the rings to 'seat'.
a reply from valvoline on vr 1 oil. This is the real story behind the myths. With ever increasing limits on emissions, automobile manufacturers have tightened emission control systems on newer vehicles. This is one of several factors considered when the American Petroleum Ins***ute (API) sets standards for engine oil. The current API standard is SM? which replaced the previous SL? cl***ification. Because phosphorus can poison a vehicles emission system, the level of zinc is lower for current engine oil. Because of this, many hands-on car enthusiasts and engine experts believe the lower levels of zinc in SM? engine oil is causing excessive wear in older style push-rod and flat tappet engines. This is despite the fact that all new engine oil cl***ifications are intended to be backward compatible, which in turn has resulted in the widely accepted belief that modern engine oil is not adequate to protect older engines. Valvoline uses an advanced zinc/phosphorus additive that keeps higher levels of phosphorus in the engine oil where it protects the engine, instead of poisoning the catalytic converter. Valvoline is the only brand offering this unique additive across its entire line of p***enger car engine oils, including SynPower which is the only synthetic offering this additive. The only exclusion to this would be if you are operating a high performance or aggressive cam application, where high Zinc levels may be required. Because of these requirements, there are high-zinc engine oils available to meet this need, such as our Valvoline VR1 Racing Oil. The VR1 Racing Oil establishes a 75% higher zinc content than SM engine oil with a balanced additive package designed to work in both racing and street-legal applications. This product will protect older style push-rod and flat tappet engines and carries an oil change interval recommendation of 3 month/3,000 miles. It is important to note, however, that the entire additive package still needs to be balanced for best performance. For example, engine oil with a high zinc level but low detergent may not perform over a drain interval of 3,000 miles or longer. sounds good... havent heard of anyone flattening a cam with it yet... I may go this route.. simply because its cost effective and available anywhere I go... the 15 50 mobil 1 oil would be available as well... but its rather expensive. Im sure royal purple oil is expensive as well. and ive heard it leaks.. and I dont need anymore help with leaks at the moment.. my oil pan gasket which is new... leaks.
VR-1 is the only oil I have used for quite a while. It's good to finally get a decent report supporting what I've only been told. Thanks for posting
no prob. glad to hear it your having good luck with it... this whole oil thing has been bugging me for a month now.. Ive got to get the old oil out (rotella 15 40) I dont know if its been 500 miles.. but Ive been running around town and area since feb. its time to change it. Im told that the VR1 contains more of the good stuff than rotella does now a days. Dont know if thats true..
Rotella had to phase out it's high zinc oil, last year (as per Gov't regs). I've been using VR-1 for the last five years in my flat tappet cars (which is all of them). No problems and it's way cheaper and more available than anything else (around here, anyway)... Some of my friends were not so lucky - they lost some nice engines before we figured out what was going on. I know there's been at least two threads about this - have you done a search?
o yeah. been surfin the web, here, and everywhere else... but the vr 1 just seems to come out on top. Gonna put that in before I run it again.. the last batch of rotella I used wasnt the good stuff... but no problems.. the motor seems to run strong and hard.. If I end up replacing the cam. . . Im going to have to put a roller in it.
I've been doing a lot of reading on this recently, too. I'm wondering if anyone has used motorcycle oil in their cars. They are still API rated SG and should contain all the zinc as well as the detergents needed. Also I think they are generally rated for higher RPMs so should be fine under normal autmotive conditions.
im told its still really good oil.. it just doesnt have the same amount of zinc it used to... but it exceeds and meets the old requirements. Ive had no problems that I can tell. From what I read alot of people still use it and swear by it.. esp the corvette guys.
Ive run 20-50 all year for many years and never had any oil pressure problems, summer or winter (and it gets cold here). No need to change oil viscosity for different seasons if you use a multi-viscosity oil. Regular Castrol 20-50 has all the ZDDP you will ever need for a street engine. No need for the high buck oils.
I wouldn't run Pennzoil in a lawnmower!!!! I've pulled the the valve covers on cars that have been regularly changed w/Pennzoil and it is a scary sight!
OK.. well put in some valvoline vr1 20 50 today drove it around.... oil pressure was same as the rotella 15 40 .... however my engine got hotter quicker and sitting still with my fan blowing high... the engine seemed to creep up to about 200 210. with rotella it almost struggled to get 185 my thermostat turns the fans on at 190 ... so it hardly had to turn on.. driving down the road 170 to 180 was normal. with the vr1 it was about 190... would this be a difference in the weight of the oil??
I like Rotella, It's in all my cars, haven't had a problem with it yet. We've got a couple customers who only use VR 1 and have had good results too. BTW I was watching Horse Power on Spike the other weekend and they were pushing Royal Purple, but I think that's just because they are one of their sponsers...They also were using some special blend oil from Mondello in a 455 Olds, not sure what the hell it was though.
Well I thought rotella was ok too.. but the word was it wasnt as good as it once was... dont know if it is or isnt... but seems the engine ran cooler on it. or it could just be a fluke.. Someone told me to check my oil level... I dont have a proper dipstick.. Ive got an aftermarket one... it reads at the full line.. but its only got 4.5 quarts in a 302. he said that if the engine is over full it can run hot. something about foaming.
Never seen anything but clean in my engines. Regular changes help. I think that the so-called Pennzoil problem comes from cars driven slow, seldom and on short trips. A longer time span between changes adds to the problem. More than likely any oil will do the same under similar conditions. I run Pennzoil in my lawnmower as well....
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