Preferred oil

[Thumper 10]

There has been alot of discussion lately in my local club about the available oil for classic engines. I understand that the zinc has been drasticallly reduced lately even in the deisel oil. I am presently using Joe Gibbs racing oil to break in my stroked 408 but will change to another brand after a few hundred more miles. The racing oil does not have detergent so prolonged use is not advised. I was going to use Castrol or Royal Purple. My question is "What is your preferred oil for high performance classic engines"?

[d.reese 13]

Catrol or Valvolene. 10W 40

[james the flame 11]

castrol gtx 10w30 in east texas

[Cruzzar 22]

If you are running a roller cam there appears to be less problems with your choice of oils. If you are running a flat tappet cam then you should probably look for something that has some zink that is at the previous levels especially if you have a lot of lift and valve spring pressure. You can get ZDDP which is an zink additive. It comes in 6 oz. bottles. One bottle per oil change. Information on the internet under ZDDP.

[6T9Mach1 12]

For a performance engine (or any engine for that matter) synthetic oil is the way to go. It outperforms conventional hands down. I like Mobile 1 as it is cheaper than amsoil or redline. Just add a bottle of Comp Cams camshaft additive and you are good to go on ZDDP levels.

[Thumper 10]

Thank you for your suggestions. Most of the Hi-Po people here seem to be going with an additive to boost the required zinc and keep the detergent. This will help any good oil be better.

[StangGuy 10]

This is what I'll be using. Plenty of zinc/phosphorus for the Cleveland.http://www.roushoil.com/

[coz 108]

If you are running a roller cam there appears to be less problems with your choice of oils. If you are running a flat tappet cam then you should probably look for something that has some zink that is at the previous levels especially if you have a lot of lift and valve spring pressure. You can get ZDDP which is an zink additive. It comes in 6 oz. bottles. One bottle per oil change. Information on the internet under ZDDP.

 

This is it in a nut shell. If you are running flat tappet then find an oil with zinc or an additive with ZDDP. If you are running a roller rocker then find an oil that matches your grade requirement and go with that. When my engine was completed, it was suggested I run regular dino 10w40 oil for one oil change and then choose whatever oil I thought was best. I chose to bump up to Mobil One 10w40 in the winter and 15w50 in the summer.

[302coupe 10]

Although i havent tried out many oils ,ive had good results with rotella t 10w-30.No zinc additive since rotella t has lots of zinc.Not sure if it was on this site that i saw it but someone had this oil lab tested and and it showed that it had a high amount of zinc.Just remember that fully synthetic is thinner than other types and so if you have a small leak ,you might get more oil leaking with synthetic.

[coz 108]

But 302Coupe - that's the problem. These once zinc rich oils like Amsol and Rotella no longer have those high contents of zinc. The "choice of oil" threads you see in every car forum is about as crazy and opinionated as the current US political scene. I would recommend you read the labels of the oils you are interested in to determine the zinc content. The easy route it use the ZDDP additive and call it a day. That's the only way IMO that you can ensure a high zinc content. That or go roller rocker....

[Pakrat 1,043]

The "choice of oil" threads you see in every car forum is about as crazy and opinionated as the current US political scene.

 

But..........that's Gods will.:whistling:

[Thumper 10]

I agree with Coz. The last information I have is that Rotella T has greatly dimenished the zinc content to satisfy the newer deisel engine requirements.

[6T9Mach1 12]

i agree with coz. The last information i have is that rotella t has greatly dimenished the zinc content to satisfy the newer deisel engine requirements.

 

+1.

[bnickel 10,004]

i've been using 20w-50 castrol in mine, even during cam break in, and haven't had any issues with it. that said the next engine i build will have a roller cam mostly for the added lift and ramp velocity vs a flat tappet cam but partly because the low zinc levels which i'm sure will only get lower as time goes on.

[Mufflerbearing 0]

I run 20W-50 Penzoil with STP oil treatment. Never had a problem, and I run my car extremely hard.