Oil for '60 VW that is not regularly driven

[dnastrau]

Greetings! I have a mostly original 1960 VW Beetle with the stock 1200cc 36hp engine. I hope to restore it when I get the time; in the meantime the car is currently stored in my garage most of the time. I start it occasionally and drive it a bit to keep it loosened up. The engine was rebuilt about 10 years ago but only has a few thousand miles on it.

My question is, what oil would be good for this occasional use application? Should I worry about ZDDP levels for the camshaft? There is 10w30 Havoline in there now that is two years old and I would like to change it to avoid moisture cantamination. I have a couple of SM oils laying around that I thought would be OK:

NAPA SM GF4 5W30 (I believe it is the same as Valvoline dino)
Valvoline MaxLife Semi-synthetic SM 5w30

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Andrew S.

 

[bmph8ter]

I've got a '69 (1500 SP) and it gets a 15W40 HDEO. It's got Shell Rotell in in right now, but may get Delvac or Delo next time.

 

[jorton]

Not experienced with VW guess. Synthetic 10w-40, wait and see if it gets more votes.

 

[Bob Woods]

Back then VW called for straight weight oil, on my 69 I used 30wt in the winter and 40wt in the summer. Living in south Texas it worked for me. By 79 VW was starting to accept the use of multigrade oils in air cooled engines. By 85 I was using Mobil One in my 5 cylinder Quantum.

 

[dnastrau]

When the car was still being driven in the summer for pleasure I had used heavy duty straight 30w (over six years ago.) I switched to 10w30 when it got stored for long periods because I think straight 30w is too thick for the occasional winter cold starts here in NE Penna - plus the 10w30 hopefully pumps up faster after sitting. Maybe I should go for a 10w30 HDEO...

 

[ewetho]

When I worked a bit a bug shop and had my 69 Ghia and 72 Super a stock motor will do great on 10W-30 in place of the factory recommended 30 Wt just fine. Seen them go over 100K easy without a filter just the strainer they call a filter.

If you go HI-PO with a 1600 base then you should look into 15W-40 or 20W-50. Heck the heavy oil will do fine in a stock motor too. Just remember to adjust the valves and torque the heads frequently and enjoy Buggin!!!

I miss my Super Beetle. Could beat a Corvette across a large intersection in the mid 90's with an honest 65 HP. Gearing my friends, Gearing. OK Lowering and traction bars help.

 

[Camu Mahubah]

Why don't you run either of the two oils you have on hand?...Just make sure when you do start the motor get her up to operating temp before shutting her down again...a brisk drive to burn off condensation and blowby...I'd rather have 15w40 in an air-cooled motor but I follow your thinking about rapid flow at start-up...the MaxLife you have will work just fine for the type or occasional running you do...

 

[dnastrau]

The 5w30 Maxlife was my first thought too. I guess I have gotten paranoid over all of the talk about ZDDP levels being important for some older engines. But come to think of it, a lot of people used to run non-detergent oil in these engines years ago. I doubt that those oils had much (or any) ZDDP in them. Valve spring pressures in this engine are probably low enough for ZDDP levels to not be much of a concern.

 

[mechtech2]

Modern oils were not available when the car was built, or the manual written.
The possible high local heat made a straight weight preferable.
Multi grade oil is much different today, and should be used.
How thick? 5-30 to 15-40.

 

[dnastrau]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I am going to put MaxLife 5w30 in it for now.

 

[ewetho]

Quote:

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Thanks for the responses everyone. I am going to put MaxLife 5w30 in it for now.

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It will do great I am sure.