what oil to use in hi po sbc?

ok,i know what oil filter to use now
what oil???
brand and weight ??
hi po sbc

 

tell us a bit more about your SBC and how you plan on using it

 

BraD PENN 20/50 race

 

I Like shell rotella T synthetic 5/40 and Wix, Bosch, or Mobil 1 filters

 

If it's a fresh rebuild with new cam & lifters,
D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y

Use Brad Penn! It will save your cam!

 

I always use Valvoline Racing 20/50.

 

Is it a flat tap engine or roller engine . That is the main thing to know .
Then what use are you using it for . Will it be a daily driver or sit and only be driven every now and then .

Retro Jim

 

i think that high dollar oils are a scam. if you buy the cheap stuff and change it three times as often, i believe that you will be better off. that's what i've been doing with my harley that i bought new in 04 and i've got 47K on it. it's stock with the exception of pipes, air cleaner and rejet and at 45K miles, i beat a guy riding a harley with an S&S 117ci. i change my cheapie Wallyworld oil at around 1,200 miles.

 

i wouldnt use that in my lawnmower! have you ever seen what pennzoil does to a motor?

 

It's not Pennzoil. Brad Penn is high performance oil made in Bradford, PA and is regarded as some of the best oil money can buy.

 

look at that, i learned something new today! gotta love the hamb! Ive never heard of it.

 

If I'm not mistaken Brad Penn bought the old Kendall oil fields and refineries.

 

yea they did, im reading it on their web page!

 

Yeah, Brad Penn refines their crude oil in the old Kendall refinery in Bradford, but it's not the same oil Kendall made.

 

Hot Rod Bob on here sells the stuff, he could tell you more.

 

Kendall ZR-1 is supposed to have lots of ZDDP in it, that's the most important thing if you're running a flat tappet cam.

I recommend it, and a bottle of cam shield for safe measure, but if its a roller cam, pick whatever flavor satisfies you.

Not fun to wipe cam lobes in a fresh motor, and most of the new oil isn't the same anymore.

 

valvoline racing

 

I like Rotella T 5/w40 also...

 

Royal Purple is the best synthetic racing oil on the market, period. We have dyno'd it back to back to back..... The best.

Schaeffer's has the best synthetic blend on the market, period. Same deal on the dyno, no problems ever.

The biggest difference is the price.

http://royalpurple.com/

http://www.schaefferoil.com/markets_racing.html

Hope this helps.

Kevin

 

Brad Penn 20-50, period.

I have solid lifter race motors that turn 7800-8000 all night long, have 2 seasons on the cam and lifters and we run 150# spring pressures on the seat. Zero cam failures with Brad Penn. It's not Pennzoil, it's more like the old green Kendall and still has all the stuff you need for an old style motor.

Those that think diesel oil is the deal, with the new diesel emissions rules, they lowered the zinc in that oil again this year. Unless it's an "off road" or "special" oil, it won' t support life on flat tappet lifters. An alternative is adding something with ZDDP in it but that's a **** shoot compared the the right engineered oil. This subject has been talked to death, do a search.

SPark

 

20W50 is overkill for a street motor. It's overkill most of the time for a gas drag motor. Certainly it's "safe" but it also = lost h.p.

how "hi-po" is your engine REALLY?

 

Whats a hi po chevy

 

Maybe in CO, but not in TX.

 

hard to beat wix filters and mobil synthetic 10w40......used in every thing from my normal daily driver to late model stcok car......forget about anything heavier than 10w 4 too.....to thick for a sbc....just wasting power.....

 

You need an oil that definately has zinc in it don't use any of the oils that have an API rating on the bottle and as far as viscosity goes that mainly depends on what kind of bearing clearances your running in your engine

 

Ha Ha, thats funny right there,
but it says in your profile you have a 55 chevy with 396 pro charger??

seriously,,
I've used castrol GTX for all my motors,
always pump oil thru the motor via dist shaft before 1st startup,
after cam breakin I change oil and filter.. I look inside the old filter too(cut it open)
run it for about 300-500 hundred miles, change oil and filter again,

 

You need to know your bearing clearances before trying to stuff that 20-50 syrup through tight clearnace bearing tolorances or you will wear your engine out in no time.
If it were me, I'd start with the thinnest oil and see what your oil pressure is at. If its in an acceptible range, then stay with it as the thicker the oil, the more HP it takes to push it through all the bearings and through the pump. I run 5-30 in my truck and 10-30 in all my 60s Pontiacs. I have a stock 400 doing 11s in the 1/4 with non ported head and pump gas and have been thrashing on it for 20 years.
Also depending where you live and how hot or cold it gets when you drive.

 

You are correct on that Brad Penn is made at the old Kendall plant. Now Know as Arg refinery. About 5 min. from my house ! great oil,we use it in all our city plow trucks and they take a beating,take off a cover and very little sluge at all. priced right also.

 

regarding the weight, you need to consider the bearing clearances. If you build an early sbc to early specs, think about the oe oil weight. The pump and clearances were designed around that. Late sbc motors were tighter and had better oil systems, designed around better oils, so the weight was quite different. A new LS1 uses 5w30, probably as far from the SAE 40 of the 1950's as you can get.

So what generation did you build this engine to? 1960 or 2005?

 

It's not just about having more zinc in the oil, it's also about the new govt. detergent levels. The new high detergent oils will wipe out your cam and lifters on a flat tappet setup in just a day of normal driving!
If you've got flat tappet engines you need to avoid any oils that have a SN rating on the back. SM is fine, but SN is high detergent and bad stuff.