Starting off with the right engine oil.

paul2748 said:
Wrong any oil 40 weight or higher ( straight 40, 10-40, 20-50) has more than enough zinc. Never use an oil marked "for gasoline engines only" Rotella R 15-40 is also good. For breakin, use an addiitive. The GM EOS is good.
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Check again, the amount of Zink has been cut including the diesel oils even Rotella. There is a very good article on why at the EGGE website. Zink attacks the life of catalytic converters.
 
don's 37 said:
I have heard so many people saying that they use 20W-50 motor oil in their Flatheads on this forum. I will be hopefully driving my '37 Ford in about a month and I have straight 30W in it right now. Is this okay to use breaking in the first 500 miles or should I start off with the 20W-50? Seems a little heavy to me. I live in NY and will be just driving the car in the spring and summer. Thanks!
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drive the car year around
 
I have been using Valvoline Racing 20w-50 for some time after switching from Castrol when they dropped the zinc. Any of the racing oils have the ZDDP additive in them. Just read the back of the labels. They will state that they contain the additive.
Almost all of the diesel oils will be dropping zinc in their formulas as it will not allow for the regen and cat type systems to work as EPA dictated. The suggestion of the Penn oil is a good one as the green type oils are good choices. Or you can just add Hypertechs additive if you want to stick with your own brand of oil.
 
aaron griffey said:
When breaking in a rebuilt I go to Walmart and get the Acell oil.
It only comes in 10-40 and sometimes 30 non detergent.
The 10-40 is SF rated. That means it has zink like the old oils had.
After break in I use the same stuff, why not? It's $2.25 a Qt.
G.M. says he has used Castrol 20-50 for 30 years. Yup, Fine. But 30 years ago Castrop 20-50 had plenty of zink. It still did 4 years ago but not any more.
It is now rated SF. Look on the back of the can. Or bottle.
Sam for Rotell R. It is an SM oil. now No gottum much zink.
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Again incorrect - the 20-50 of today has plenty of zddp, probably as twice as much as oils back in the day. Scientific analyses have proven this. Even though it had a SM rating, it has all the old zddp.
 
aaron griffey said:
Yes Frank, it has only been two years since they stopped putting zinc in Rotella. Look at the bottle.... SM.
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WRONG WRONG WRONG. You guys need to get your facts straight before posting stuff like this. They reduced the zinc two years ago, now around 1200 ppm. Was much higher. Now has at least twice as much zinc as oil back in 1957.
 
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Rebuilt my 8ba started with Rotella 15-40 rings did not seat fouled the plugs even after 200 miles. Went to straight 30, no difference. Read about John Deere breakin oil used it and it worked. It is a 10-30 grade has additives for wear can be used for 100 hrs. i think . worked the engine real hard on some hills also helped. Rotella T s zinc is now around 900 or a little less, Castrol GTX 20-50 is supposed to be in the 1220 range found this on another site couple nights ago. In the end i think the J D breakin oil worked the best (100 hr. is about 1000 miles)
 
laryh said:
Check again, the amount of Zink has been cut including the diesel oils even Rotella. There is a very good article on why at the EGGE website. Zink attacks the life of catalytic converters.
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I use scientific analysis and various tests by well know engine builders to back up my statements. Yes, Rotella reduced the ZDDP (and its not zink) two tears ago, but its still way more than oils of the past. Last time I checked Castrol 20-50, it had about 1300 PPM of ZDDP.
 
Wow, guy's. Looks like a lot of input. I went to my little Wal-mart in my home town and they have the Super Tech brand in W30 ND with a rating of SJ. Is this okay to use? All the codes SF, SM SL, SJ, CF, etc. are confusing me! If SM has no zinc and SL does, why do they have both codes on the label?
 
I'v done a lot of googling of Super Tech oil and it apears that different parts of the country get different oil. Most of their oil comes from Warren Oil Distributors which supplies Penzoil and Quaker State and some comes from Valvoline. I read a very detailed report by an a guy that works for a major oil company and he said they use a good base stock and an off the shelf additive package which is very good. He also said that Castro dosen't refine oil but is just a marketing Company which does the same thing as Super Tech. I can't find the article I read but will keep looking. I use Super Tech and will continue as long as it meets Manufactures specs. I once drove a VW beetle 180000 mi and used whatever oil was on sale and the engine was as good as the day I bought the car. I think we get a little to anel about oil in our flatheads.Todays oil is much better than anything these engines ever saw back in the day. JMHO.
Don
 
All the stuff thats talked about can be found in either brad penn oil or joe gibbs oil.Both websites are very informative about this whole process.
 
don's 37 said:
.... If SM has no zinc and SL does, why do they have both codes on the label?
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The market they aim to serve is "normal" everyday cars, we old car folks are a small ripple on that pond. Those folks have no knowledge of or interest in this zinc discussion but if they read the owners manual for the proper recommendation in their 10 year old car, let's say SJ, they might be confused if the stuff on the shelf was only SM.

For some background you might enjoy this: http://www.unitedoil.com.au/apiclass.htm
 
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Jeff, google Lincolns "online tech tips" and scroll down to general engine and hit oil.This is a very informative article on oil and covers Super Tech in pretty good detail. I use it and I'm a little anal about my engines.
Don
 
Don, thanks very informative. I actually would never known about Walmart SuperTech oil or paid attention to it if you had not sent me this same info on my engine startup about three years ago.
 
Coupe, the amount of zink in oil even after the reduction for cat converters is around 900ppm, more than any flathead with less than 75lbs of valve spring pressure needs. Most of us are way over cautious with our engines. I expect mine to last the rest of my life without a overhaul and I plan on dying at 100 shot by a jealous husband.
Don
 
Wow, a lot of tension over this, I would not argue right or wrong here. I will tell of my experiences, I always used Valvoline 20 50 in a 302 Ford I had, I broke it in with it and everything, one winter I went out and fired it up, it was about 25 degrees outside, I snapped the oil pump pickup, I was told that it snapped due to the oil, OK maybe. I was told to use a blend no higher than 40 by a speed shop. The latest engine in my stable was dyno tested, it was only run for about an hour maybe lessand then shipped in winter, most likely this is the worst thing to do to an engine, nothing has broken in and now don't run it for 2 months and let it oxidize, even the cam lube is gone by now. So the speed shop says to fire it up with Rotella, OK, its cheap lets see, feels nice, better than Valvoline. Granted this was 2 years ago. Things change. It occurs to me that we would want to use an oil that is the best all of the time not just for break in, if we drive them every day thats not so critical but most of us do not.
Now I'm not a cheap asz, so if it costs a bit more money thats OK because these engines are not cheap either. I have seen a couple of demonstrations of oils being run out on residue, one of those oils being Royal Purple, I have seen this oil run through a dyno and witnessed a horsepower increase. A number of years ago I witnessed the same things being done using Mobil One. I think that either of these oils would be the best type of oil to use for a break in due to these qualities. I understand that they are pricey, so what is the magic, the ZDDP, and you can buy a can of additive that has a lot of this ZDDP in it and presto you have a good break in oil? If the additive is the magic lets by all means put it in to our less pricey oil, but what should we use after that? The purple or the Mobil or the GTX? Personally I think I like the Purple, anyone see anything wrong with that?
 
FTP, much of what you see on dyno tests such as you mentioned can be explained by reducing fluid friction (a function of viscosity). Racers learned this years ago. For 1 or 2 laps of qualifying they use a less viscous oil, then switch to a higher vis oil for the longer, higher temp race conditions.
 
Ok. so I went to the HAMB and looked at Joe Gibbs oil, If any one has any questions I think that site should sort things out. It's a bit pricey but good stuff usually is, be careful to read the part about not mixing his oil into other oil types, or just emptying out your old and adding his.
 
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