What oil to run?

What oil weight would you guys run in a pretty much stock 327 sbc?

 

Rotella T still has a decent amount of zinc in it and comes in 10W40. How to tell if it has enough zinc? Go on line for the product you want and look up the MSDS info. By law all of the contents have to be listed.

 

I run Castrol 10/40. There is a letter designation on the bottle that you look for but I don't remember what it is. if you go on their site you can find which one has the highest zinc content.

Disclaimer: This works for me but it may not work for you.

 

I run 10w30 in my SBC's. I switch to 5w30 for the ones that run in winter (thinner oil, easier starting).

 

I switch to 5W30 in the winter also. Part of that is because I came up running summer and winter oil I thnk. Old habits die hard.

 

x2 For Castrol

 

only 30 weight Castrol-R

is it still 1962?

 

5 quarts of Valvoline 10W-40 with a bottle of Edelbrock # 1074 zinc additive

 

Castrol 10w40. In real hot weather I agree Castrol 30hd, but 10w40 will be fine.




I marvel at how many mention Rotella T for a gasoline engine. My neighbor used it for about 3 months till his engine imploded. Upon inspection his builder asked him what kinda oil he was runnin. Never run Rotella in a gas engine. Its kinda like usin 10w40 for 2 stroke oil.

 

I have always liked Rotella T in the multi viscosity grades because of the zinc content, but still dump in a bottle of Comp Cams zinc additive if the engine has a flat tappet cam, like yours probably has. It adds some money to the price of an oil change, but I hate pulling out ruined cams.

Don

 

I ran Rotella in my flathead and had no problems. In fact it ran awesome.

 

No it just gets colder than a well diggers patoot here in the einter and hotter than the hubs of hell in the summer. Well maybe not as hot as Arizona.

 

Put zddp or oil in search, tons of threads.

 

Rotella is not what it once was, you need to check the rating on it, it had a bunch of zddp taken out of it.

 

I just ran Gibbs BR-30 in my '35 while breaking it in and I might actually try their HR (Hot Rod) Performance oils that seem to have a really good amount of ZDDP.

http://joegibbsdriven.com/products/hotrod/hr2.html

 

kendall 50 weight in the flatty.

 

I've been using Valvoline 10W40 with a blue bottle of STP Oil Treatment which STP claims has ZDDP and other anti-wear agents. No issues with the '69 SBC Stepside I've driven hard, for the past seven years.

 

X2 for the Rotella T but I also put in a zinc additive to be sure.

 

Valvoline 20W-50 or Kendall 20W-50 for me

 

I was looking for an affordable oil to run in my racecar. It is a solid lifter motor so I needed an oil with high zinc and phos levels. I tried running Brad Penn 20W-50 but it was too thick and the oil pressure was 80 at idle. So I went with Valvoline VR1 10W-30. It is the highest zinc and phos levels I have found for an off the shelf oil. I add 3 oz. of Lucas Oil Zinc additive (per 6 quart pan) and that puts me up over the 2000 ppm level. I just checked the bearings last week after a season, and you can't even tell the motor has been ran. I was very impressed with how little wear there was after a season. For a street engine without a Cat converter, the VR1 would be my choice without question.

 

There are some good oils out there with all the ZDDP you need for your flat tap engine to last a very long time .
When I build a flat tap engine for a customer , I always give them a list of the oils to use . The oils I recommend are , Comp cams , Joe Gibbs , Amsoil , Brad Penn and the original Mobil 1 . Those are my top 5 oils to use that have more than enough ZDDP in them ! Rotella can be used but I read an article that says the ZDDP isn't high enough but that is their test so I can't say one way or the other on that . I do know lots of people that use Rotella and I haven't heard of any problems yet . I DON'T recommend using Diesel oils and the very thin synthetic oils either .
Personally , I use Amsoil w/ZDDP in my beefed up Ford 302 with 10 to 1 compression and a flat tap cam . I also use a K&M or WIX Racing oil filters too . Why spend more money for the best oil and then use a cheap Fram , STP , Puralotor or any of those other cheap oil filters that you can buy at the local parts store ? Those filters don't filter worth a **** ! Pure junk !
I think that Comp Cams oil is the cheapest at around $5.50 a qt , but you need to order that brand unless someone knows of a place that carries it . Brad Penn is another very popular brand too .
Now you can use regular oils as long as you add a bottle of ZDDP to it but by the time you pay for that , about $10 a bottle , you just as well by the name brand oils that cost more .
I am sure there are some other very good oils out there that will serve you well but those are the easiest ones to find or buy .
Just my opinion !

Retro Jim

 

Just use a 10-40w oil w/zddp and that will work fine .
50 w is very thick !
Just my opinion .

Retro Jim

 

If you go to NAPA's site, search for oils and additives like STP and the like, each product has an MSDS sheet that spells out the percentage of zinc or ZDDP. That's how I chose Rotella for these older antique engines we screw with. Yes, you can get all kinds of synths, zinc additives, snake oils and probably some magic beans too. If you simply want an oil that meets the old specs, look em up and choose. That's my only point. I love Amsoil. Hard to beat if you know what you're doing, but oil has more brand loyalty than damn near anything else. Asking which oil to use is a loaded question, like when your woman says "Do I look fat in this?".

 

I use Valvoline VR-1 Racing Oil. Zinc content 1400 PPM and Phosphorous content 1300 PPM. With those levels I wouldn't use any additional additives. Too much Zinc can cause problems as will too little.

 

Agreed! I checked into this!
J