Oil for a ford 302

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I have an Rx7 with what appears to be an early 80's ford 302 HO engine in it. I am unsure of engine modifications other than knowing it has been moved to a 600 CFM edelbrock carb instead of what the original intake setup was.

I am wanting to use this car for largely track duty as a drift car, but I am trying to determine what oil to use in the vehicle. For the moment I am using some 10w30 Mobil super as that is what I had in stock when I bought the car and I figured that should be perfectly fine for normal driving until I get it track ready.

I am trying to decide what type of oil to run in it for track use. The choices that seem obvious to me are as follows:

1. A good 10w30 synthetic, synthetic blend, or HDEO
2. A 15w40 HDEO such as Rotella or Delo
3. An A3/B4 such as PP 5w40 or Castrol 0w40
4. A synthetic 5w40 HDEO
5. Mobil 15w50 or Castrol 5w50.

Which of these would you guys push toward?
 
Does the car have an oil pressure gauge? What is the approximate spec for oil pressure in that engine?
 
Drifting is a form of track racing. The engine will experience sustained high RPM and varying torque loads. It will get hot. Drifting is not usually done at 65+ MPH, it's done a slower ground speeds, but with higher engine loads. So that's severe service if there ever was one.

RX7 does not have big radiator opening. Nice car and sleek body, but ... And, we don't know about internal engine mods... HO motor will be roller cam. So that is not a big issue.

I would treat it like any race motor, just a somewhat mild one (I'm assuming it idles with some vacuum, so the cam is prolly stock...). The biggest bug-a-boo for these 302's is water pump/timing chain cover issues, and stretched old timing chains.

You can test them by popping the dizzy cap and and walking the crank back and forth while watching the rotor. If it takes forever for the rotor to move, it has a stretched/worn chain. That will hit you on performance and could be a failure point at speed...

But, assuming it's all OK, you need an oil that will do the heat cycles. I'm not a Mobil1 fan-boy. But in this case that's where I'd go. Easy to get, come in the right grades (xW-40 for track use), and is a quality product.

You could go PUP too. It's up to you. But with a motor of unknown condition, why spend the money. Oil will not kill it. RPM will ...
 
Don't use oil to fix things that need attention.

You need a new high capacity deep sump pan with extended pickup, possible oil cooler and full gauge compliment. Efans on the rad. To Baseline start with say a VR1 10w30 or a Castrol dino motorcycle 4T and see how she does. Go from there.

Word - safety wire.

have fun doin it!
 
Originally Posted By: mazdamonky

1. A good 10w30 synthetic, synthetic blend, or HDEO
2. A 15w40 HDEO such as Rotella or Delo
3. An A3/B4 such as PP 5w40 or Castrol 0w40
4. A synthetic 5w40 HDEO
5. Mobil 15w50 or Castrol 5w50.

Which of these would you guys push toward?


Not a Mobil 1 fan, but from the oils you've mentioned I would stay with Mobil 1 15W-50 for drift applications.
 
At the time, there is no oil pressure gauge installed. That is on my list of things to add. I had to do some rewiring to get the fans, tach, and temperature gauge working. At this time, the car seems to run at decent temps with a fairly large aluminum radiator installed. I bought the car already mostly put together for a quite low price so it was hard to pass up even without too much history as the price of some of the conversion parts would have added up to more.
 
The car has a lot of torque for its weight so drifting at midlevel rpm around 3000-4000 is a completely viable option.
 
Any of the oils will be fine , Look at the oil pressure when the oil is hot.
 
At current, I have not moved toward changing the oil system at this time, but was going to go ahead and add a baffle to help
 
Buy a baffled pan for this type of application and run M1 0w-40. It has been my go-to in 302's and works exceptionally well. It is also designed specifically to handle high speed track/autobahn usage and is used by numerous race teams in the 24hr events.

Another option is Castrol 0w-40, which has a similar compliment of approvals.

Post up a few pics of the engine and we can figure out how stock/not stock it is.
 
Did you have to trim the hood to get the air cleaner to fit? T5 or AOD?

engin.JPG
 
No I didn't end up having to do anything to the hood. Had I used a much larger air cleaner I may have. Right now, I have a 9 inch by 2 inch filter on it though. It doesn't seem to be too terribly air starved. I am not sure how much bigger I could go, but I think I still have about an inch worth of clearance on the air cleaner. I keep meaning actually check the clearance. It is running a T5. I will post a couple pics when I get off work.
 
M1 15W-50 - that's what I used in two SBC road race cars. Get your oil temp over 150F before you put your foot in it.
 
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