Hello group, sure you all have opinions on this.
Oil for our classics.
I have now done probably done about 700 miles on the new engine running with 30 w non detergent oil. After the last run noticed the oil was looking very dirty. I spoke to Joe Siam about what he is using and it coincided with what I have heard from a number of sources, for the road/ track car it seems Valvoline 20/50 w VR1 is the one to get. He is using the VR1 straight 50W in the full race engines.
Oh boy, wish that oil filter was easier to get too, guess its time to do it!
Interested to hear your thoughts,
cheers
I use "Classic Car Motor Oil" in all my B-Series and XPAG engines. It was designed as a collaboration between the Classic Car Club of America and DA Lubricants. DA has been making high quality oils and other lubricants for a long time. I was using their Super Speed Sport line until it was changed last year to something that no longer met the needs of my cars. The beauty of CCMO is that it has everything older technology engines need, but nothing they don't. This means the oil is allowed to perform at its best without unneeded compounds affecting the abilities of other components to do their job. Despite the 10W-40 viscosity and semi-synthetic blend, I saw a 5 PSI gain in oil pressure across the board in my '67 the first day I started using it.
I buy it direct from the web site. I used to buy the DA SSS oil directly from DA also, but I get this stuff from the site linked above. Not that I expect it would help, but you're welcome to come check out a bottle. Actually, I need to order some soon anyway so if you need it now, you can take from my stock and I'll just order extra to replace it.
Mark,
I run Valvoline VR-1 20/50 in the MG and the Jag. It is one of the few oils left that has zinc-phosphates in it, that lubricate the sliding cam/lifter interface. Most all commercially available oils no longer have zinc-phosohates because it kills catalytic converters. David at APT fast told me to use a zinc-phosphate oil as a minimum when breaking in the cam I purchased from him, and recommended using it all of the time, because of the big cam I'm running in the MG.
Of the zinc-phosphate oils, I use the VR-1 because I can get it at most auto parts stores, including my local Pep Boys.
CCMO has 1600ppm ZDDP so it's definitely safe in this department. I do use Mobil 1 in my MGC, and whatever junk I can find in 20W-50 in the Model T. The rest of the cars get CCMO.
That's good to know on the CCMO oil for the pre-'75 cars. I swear by Mobil 1 for any late model car. I've been using it since 1984, usually with 10-15k mile change intervals. The bottles used to say up to 25k change intervals! I've never had an issue, even when we ran out of gas on a road rally in Death Valley while running triple digits for over an hour (trying to make up time for a wrong turn) and heat soaked the turbo in an '84 Buick Grand National (the '84 turbos had oil cooled bearings).
I imagine any oil made these days is light years ahead of what was available in 1925.
Have you guys checked out Chevron Delo 400, or Shell's Rotella? While trucks have roller lifters, and shouldn't need any extra zink additives, the oil they run on seems to be superior to what you get for cars. Maybe that's part of the reason they go for 20,000 miles (or more) between oil changes, and last some 1,000,000 miles between rebuilds?
Look up the specs on Chevron's website and you'll see what I mean.
Chevron recently came out with (I believe) 10W30, but the mainstay 15W40 is great stuff - in my opinion - and especially so the non-LE stuff. Get CI-4, not CJ-4, if you can find it.
Also, getting a box (six 1-gallon jugs) at Costco is comparatively cheap.
Either way, be aware that oil - even gear lube - has about a two year shelf life before the additives fall out of suspense. Yep, surprised me, too. Sure glad I have an oil burner (diesel Blazer) where I could put my out-of-date-oil to good use. In the fuel tank, that is.
In baseball, running into someone is apparently a "collision".
But doing the same thing in a car somehow makes it an "accident".
Although it took longer for them to be targeted, diesel oils have also been subjected to reduced levels of ZDDP. The other problem with diesel oil is that it is very high in detergents. Put into an older engine, this can knock loose all kinds of debris that you don't want circulating through your engine. These detergents are completely unnecessary for a gasoline engine, and in fact will reduce the base lubricant's ability to perform its job. The best bet, really, is to use the best type of oil for a given engine. There should be nothing in that oil that isn't necessary, and each compound should be the optimal amount and no more. Unfortunately it's very difficult to determine the perfect oil for a specific engine, and by the time you could possibly figure it out, the formulations change. So, just pick the best oil you can and fly with it!
Wow! Haven't really heard of DA since I left Indy in the early 70's. I figured they were still around, but just had no contact. Every Indy 500 team used to send daily oil samples to DA for analysis. DA had the technology to advise race teams what was happening internally in the engines. Around the same time when a couple of oil companies started offering lifetime engine warranties, Valvoline and Quaker State particularily, the fine print of those warranties revealed that for coverage a failure needed to be due to breakdown of the oil, and DA Lubricant Labs (as was known at the time) was the stipulated source for testing.
When I saw the new NFL stadium and convention center in Indianapolis was to be named the Lucus Oil Stadium I though perhaps there was a link back to DA. Turns out not to be the case.
I'm currently using VR1 but armed with this information I may switch. Thanks for the lead.
Frank
MGBJockey
'69 MGB Roadster in Jag Sapphire Blue
