Best Oil for an old 454?

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: Clevy
My uncle has a 70 chevelle with an LS-6 454. He uses pyb 10w30 and has since he bought it brand new in 1970. Car has 70000 original miles and boys its already willed to me.
It's the baddest muscle car Chevrolet ever built. The last of the fire breathing muscle cars to roll off the line in Detroit and it looks exactly like it did the day he took delivery.


Never got better than a 13.36 IIRC out of mine. Purchased brand new with 3.73 gears. Headers, carb, tires and all... trapped about 108 mph.

But a nice car nonetheless, and I wish I had kept it!!!

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: Doog
You have a high chance of getting leaks based on the cleaning of syn oil over time.


The old Chevy big block had a bad reputation for oil leaks (especially the rear main) even with dino oil. Chances are, that thing will leak no matter what you put in it.

 

[gouda]

Use 20w50 pyb in your climate year round.
I was employed in truck plan {Oshawa} for 38 years,
know the engine better than most.
The engine runs extremly hot.
My friends in Canada holling horse trailers in the summer
all used 20w50 Castrol,AND 10W40 in the winter months when not
holling trailers. Trust me on this one use pyb 20w50.

gouda

 

[gouda]

Use 20w50 pyb in your climate year round.
I was employed in truck plan {Oshawa} for 38 years,
know the engine better than most.
The engine runs extremly hot.
My friends in Canada holling horse trailers in the summer
all used 20w50 Castrol,AND 10W40 in the winter months when not
holling trailers. Trust me on this one use pyb 20w50.

gouda

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: Clevy
My uncle has a 70 chevelle with an LS-6 454. He uses pyb 10w30 and has since he bought it brand new in 1970. Car has 70000 original miles and boys its already willed to me.
It's the baddest muscle car Chevrolet ever built. The last of the fire breathing muscle cars to roll off the line in Detroit and it looks exactly like it did the day he took delivery.


Never got better than a 13.36 IIRC out of mine. Purchased brand new with 3.73 gears. Headers, carb, tires and all... trapped about 108 mph.

But a nice car nonetheless, and I wish I had kept it!!!


I've never heard anything that sounds like it before. That lope of the cam like its about to stall.
Yeah. Not that they were really fast but they were all muscle.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
Delo, Rotella, Defy, Delvac dino

Agreed. Personally, I'm not a fan of the 10w-40 grade and never have been. I'd stick with a 15w40 HDEO, a 10w30 HDEO, or 5w30 or 10w30 Defy. Even a normal PCMO would likely do the trick. If it were me, my preference would be a 10w30 HDEO. My dad had a 1974 with the 454 some years back, and it only saw the 10w30 PCMOs of the time.

ARCO's point about motorcycle oils is well taken. The major issue I have with motorcycle oils is cost. The big box and car parts places don't have a big selection, at least here. The power sports places price it like it's liquid gold.

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted By: Greg L
This is a question more for my son, who just bought a 1979 Chevy Cheyenne Dualie Truck...with a 454. The truck has over 180k miles on it, and supposedly the original owner did a 'rebuild' some years ago. Not sure how many miles on the rebuild

The question: What oil should he be using on this big block?


I am not familiar with the engine, other than owning a 350 on my '96 truck.


Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated. He is currently using a generic 10w40, but will need a OCI soon.



GL


In our 77 Chevy truck has only seen QSGB, PYB, or GTX 10W30 or 10W40 for use in the SW or PNW. 36 years later it is still running just fine. It is a family truck that will become someone else's joy or burden soon.

 

[dave1251]

You are taking a very diplomatic point of view on this topic for that I applaud you sir!

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: dave1251
It is a family truck that will become someone else's joy or burden soon.

Ours got passed on to the son of my dad's friend, and it served him well. The body, on the other hand, rusted terribly, and our climate is far from the worst in North America for rust. The engine was no problem, of course.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted By: Doog
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
How can you have " the cleaning of syn oil" if there isnt any synthetic lubricant in most "fully synthetic" PCMO, Doog?

#1 easy choice would be RT6, next a major Mineral motorbike 4T or ATV 40grade oil on sale at your local VIP or wherever; these are current/modern base stocks with high EP/AW adds with API SH phos limits. These are API PCMO servvice category oils - dont be confused by motorcycle pictures on the oil bottle - only the certs matter, not ad copy or pictures!!! Most OIL Guys here still dont get this SIMPLE fact and are afraid to run "motorcycle" oil in a car engine. IN most cases this oil is much more robust than ANY current IlSAC approved lube.
DOH!


How would you know? You are unable to keep a car longer than a year...maybe two before the valves start making noise or something else blows out. You are absolutely the last guy I would ask about oil.


No logic here and Nice ad hominem attack - which is not allowed on this forum. I guess you dont want to post here anymore?