What oil do you run in your "Built" motors?

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Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
One of the better Rocky Mountain engine builders over on Chevelles.com uses LAT Racing Oils in his new builds. Anyone else here run LAT Oils?

http://www.rinehartsperformance.com/LAT_Racing_Oil.html
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I still have two quarts of their older high V.I. (199), 75W-140 gear oil I am saving for summer time use.
Their newest formulas for this gear oil are MUCH lower V.I.
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Their no longer available oil additive was a good, STOUT product, and definitely NOT 'snake oil'
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as some on here would call it.
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Once run in for three or four hundred miles I'll switch my fresh 331(Roller 5.0 with stroker crank) to M-1 5W-30... That's what it'll get from that point forward...
 
So my little poll at Chevelles.com in the performance forum has VR-1 in the lead (31%) by 2X over Mobil1 (14%). But Brad Penn is fairly close also (11%), followed by Castrol GTX and Amsoil (~7%) ...

Pennzoil Ultra has picked up a few votes recently
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I used to use different oils. I typically used Web cams, they came with a warning that using synthetic oil would void the warranty, which caused me some internal turmoil. So I frequently used synthetic blend oils from different MFG's when first put together and would then switch to M1 of an appropriate weight. Frequently the M1 10w40 4 stroke bike oil.

At tear down I would rarely see any visible wear aside from the bores and piston skirts, or whatever failed if raced to failure. The inside of the motors always felt dryer to the touch if running M1 compared to Dino or blend oils. Don't know if it made a difference but I could pull a motor apart and then guess the oil used with the owner.

What used to be really surprising was how corrosive the old race gases used to be.
 
Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
If you are an actual motor person. One who either specs custom built engines, or builds your own for a performance application and then drives and maintains that application; what oil do you run and why?

I build moderately old school American V-8's for fun cars, mostly on the street. I've been doing this on and off for about 5 decades. I break in those engines on Chevron Supreme 10W-40. I change oil & filter at 100 miles and again at 500. Then I run yearly OCI's as most of these cars and trucks do not get 7,500 a year.

I have used Delo400 as my go-to oil for decades for general use and that includes a type of engine I build that I call a drooler. That is it has extra internal oiling points and runs a HV pump with the lowest pressure spring I can install so that it max's at ~50 psi.

When I was young and did not know better, I swore oil pressure was important so I wasted power driving high pressure systems and the associated wear on distributor gears and broken oil pump drives. At some point the light went on and I quit doing that ...

So my oils are Chevron Supreme and Delo400. I am adding Valvoline MaxLife as a third oil...

So how bout you'all ???


Here is my information:

High school car - 1968 Buick GS400 bought it with 43k on it. Oil light would flicker on at hot idle with xw30 oils so I stepped up to 10w40. Nylon timing gear wore out at about 80k. A very good older mechanic mentor friend said I should stay away from thick oils for this reason (timing gears / distributor gear wear etc.). Faced with a catch 22 I rebuilt the engine (over the counter Stage 1 and 2 parts) and used Castrol GTX 5w30 the rest of the car's life (114k). I have followed his advice to this day, using the thinnest oil safely possible.

Next car 1970 Judge RAIV (real Judge, real RAIV not a clone) - I struggled enormously with this car for the first 1-2 years I owned it after rebuilding the worn out engine. The lifters I used restricted oil to the top of the engine (via the usual lifter / pushrod / rocker path). I observed this after assembly, checked the usual suspect missing rear oil galley plug but that was ok. The consequence of the poor oil flow up top was I would burn rocker balls out after sustained high RPM which was pretty much any highway driving in a 3.90:1 geared car. I switched from the generic 10w40 I was using to 30 Valvoline VR1. This did not solve my problem but that oil, without question, allowed the rocker balls to last the longest and made me a fan of VR1 ever after. I eventually went to roller rockers and later on at some point after a cam and lifter change (I experimented lots with that car) the oil issue vanished. It was simply either a poor lifter set or wrong part (many manufacturers just use Chevy .842 lifters in Pontiacs, maybe these were the restricted orifice ones? Anyway...). I settled into either my VR1 (if on sale) or any brand 10w40 or Rotella 15w40, 30 and 10w40 grades were called for the RAIV due to increased bearing clearances over a normal production engine.

Now car 1970 LS6 Chevelle - The born with engine is popped out and sits in the corner of my shop ready to swap back in case of a sale. I have a mid-80's bought brand new GM crate XCH LS7 in the car now. I use pretty much use anything (xw30) in that engine, it is the most trouble free performance engine I have had and the least fussy on oil requirements. Currently using 10w30 T5. I have an aftermarket SW oil gauge (previous owner put it in, the car is an idiot light car and will be again shortly as I am taking the gauges out and returning the car to the born with configuration) and it shows 70psi cold start, 40psi hot idle, 65-65psi hot highway. Those numbers are more than fine.

Vacation car 2011 Shelby GT500 - I didn't build this engine, Ford did at their Romeo plant, it is the highest HP / most powerful car I have ever owned so it counts as "built" I believe. Factory calls for 5w50 and it killed me to use that grade oil but I did for the first few years. I have switched to M1 0w40 now. I won't go lower in hot viscosity number and I do have some 5w50 and 15w50 in my stash which I will use in this car. The 50 is for track / hard use which I don't see with the car and I am zen with the lighter 40, especially with a superior quality M1. I will say this about the car and why the oil called for is a 5w50... that oil gets scorching hot, even under normal driving. I cannot touch the oil filter with my bare hands during the oil change and if I get accidentally splashed by draining oil it gives me a visible bad burn. I measured the oil filter can temp at idle and it was 220F... my daily driver GMC is about 180F. Whatever is going on inside that motor (oil cooling the pistons, the supercharger, whatever) that oil runs very hot.

Additional notes: 1) I have noticed universally increased oil consumption with the lighter oils (xw30 vs. xw40/50) in old muscle cars. That seems to be the only trade off with my penchant for light oil. 2) I have experimented (gasp!) with 5w20 in my newer GM daily driver vehicles that spec 5w30 and observed no ill effects. I took my 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix on vacation with 5w20 in the hot summer months to the Wenatchee Valley in Washington on the way to Seattle. 100+F ambient, AC on, high speed interstate driving, steep grades all on 5w20. I also observed no benefit either i.e. increased economy 3) If I used synthetic in my old muscle cars, which I don't due to wasteful cost i.e. cost with no benefit, I would use a 0w30.
 
I run BradPenn 20/50 in our drag chevys,I do my own teardowns and rebuilds and I have seen great looking bearings after I made the switch
 
I work at The Nations oldest speed shop here and we do alot Dyno work and Race engine builds, (66 years) We have Good Results with the Bran Penn oils. We are just Starting to use Mobil 1 5w-50 and seeing fine results also, similar to the old Mobil 15w-50 oils which were Epic good.
 
So over at Chevelles.com, a buddy down under sent me this. I never thought about it, but makes sense to me now that I do...

Broc,

If you want your new cam & lifters to last, then have a set of stock lifters re-faced.

In this country, because of the high cost of new FT lifters, we re-face them & have done for DECADES. I have personally used lifters that have been re-faced 2 or 3 times, zero problems, good as new. [ Contrary to popular belief, FT lifters are the same hardness right through ].

We found out about 15 years ago that the lobe/lifter failures were not oil related...............although the oil companies saw a marketing opportunity & the suckers came...& came.....& they're still coming!

The problem is the lifters. Soft metal, no radius, wrong radius, radius off centre. It makes no difference if they are brand name lifters or not, still off-shore rubbish. I had Comp & Crower lifters fail first time in nearly 40 yrs of engine building. Even trying the humble centre punch test on the bench & comparing it a stock lifter, you could SEE the soft metal displaced around the punch mark.

I send my lifters interstate for re-facing, as the bloke I use specialises in it. Because he does 000s of them, he quickly saw the problem arise years ago.

In your country, for lifter re-facing, you would probably need to find someone who specialises in re-cond of older engines, where old parts need to be re-used.

So if you want a reliable set of FT lifters, have your stock lifters [ or any made prior to about 1995 ] re-faced.

Cheers, Geoff.


So Shotgun, what do you know about lifter refacing services? Anyone really good at it here?

I'm so mad at myself for tossing 100's of of lifters to use new stuff, when the metallurgy was starting to go down hill ...

I still trust Crower and Howards, but real OEM old school lifters were often very good
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Quote:(So Shotgun, what do you know about lifter refacing services? Anyone really good at it here?)
Its kinda a lost art here in the States, Yes i know of it of course, that being said. Alot of the Engines we do are positive Stop rocker adjustment.And sometimes regrinding Flat tappett faces puts the engine stack up out of range of adjustment, (No Adjustment) and the customer doest want to buy new pushrods to correct.where i can: I try to ugrade the Customers build up to a hyd,roller cam set up, But the retro fit kit can come near 1000 dollars extra, The hyd roller RETROFIT lifters alone are nearly 550.00 now for a American V8. We Dont use the Offshore clones, You guys know why..If a customers budget wont allow a Hyd roller, a flat tappet goes in. we Use (recommend)Crane Cams. This goes way back When They Sponsered Dads Drag Cars. (Ohio George) On a Flat Tappett build i never use more than 125 pounds spring Pressure on the valve seat now, alot of times 115- 120. remember stock factory springs were only 80-90. i use the Joe gibbs cam start-up lube on the lobes. With the build up (cly. Head on) checking Progress,I turn the engine ony two -three turns, Piston to valve,cam degreeing,etc, On start up we try to dyno most engines, The engine must Start at once,(OR FIND OUT WHY) This is where most new cams wear out, On the starter. If not Dynoed I ask to install dist. and wires from the Customer to GET IT RIGHT the first time. I have even went to customers place (home)to start up their own car to keep my mind at ease. todays off the shelf oils dont have enough Zinc..Drop in Additives dont mix in well ive found. (but I might metion: GM EOS is great additive if you dont buy the Zinc enriched oils) We use Brad Penn Products here with good results. Gregg
 
Fortunately I have BBC stuff with adjustable valve trains, so a resurface is not a problem with stack height.

Finding a good shop that does it seems to be the problem now ...
 
Carrying on from the Poll over at Chevelles.ccom on what oils are in use for built motors:

VR-1 is number one by a wide margin (2:1).

Mobil1 is number 2 by a pretty good margin over number 3.

In the 3rd spot is a trio of Castrol GTX, Amsoil and Maxlife ...

Hmmm, am I seeing a pattern here like the preferences I see in other threads on this site ???
 
In my mild non-roller Mopar 440's, I've been using M1 0w40 the last few years. Prior to that I was using Rotella T6 5w40.

Back when the last one went together, oils were still SL rated and I did the cam break-in run with (as I recall) Castrol GTX SAE 30, and there was a WHOLE lotta cam break-in grease in there too. After the first 20 minute cam run, I put in a dino 10w30 for 1000 miles, and then went to what was then Rotella T Synthetic before they started calling it "T6".

About 20k miles on that engine at this point.
 
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