Driven DI50 15W50, 118 mi OCI, 10k mi, C7 Corvette Z06

[Emperors6]

118 miles, 2.2 engine hours since oil change. Last UOA is here. UOA history of this vehicle: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/s...c[title_only]=1&c[users]=Emperors6&o=date&g=1

Notes from slip: "Took oil sample with vacuum pump through dry sump dipstick tube after an oil change and a few street/highway driving trips. No track time on this oil. Also replaced oil cooler with a bigger one and changed oil thermostat from 180F to 212F. Oil temperature when sampling was around 207F. I drove about 40mins of mostly highway driving to test the new oil thermostat and burn off whatever contaminants I could before sampling. I had to stay in 5th gear (out of 8 gears) to get oil above 200F. Engine was not idled before shut-off. I waited around 13 min after engine shutdown before taking sample. It took a while since I had to fiddle with the right tube size.This UOA is for Driven DI50. I changed to it for the winter storage time".

 

[fantastic]

I know Mr Lake pushes the Driven oil. That being said what was wrong with the VR1? These 50 weights are some thick oils! I just talked to another fellow Vette owner & saw that his cap said 5w-30 so I asked what he used. His reply was 50 weight. I think they are excellent for any vette with some miles on them. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Emperors6]

I had already bought the Driven two years back when it was cheaper, so it was time to use it up. I also have some Red Line 15W50 in my stash. I will run Driven for an OCI, then Red Line and then compare it to the VR1. I'm mostly looking to see which oil holds its viscosity the best given the oil temps I see on the track (~300F).

 

[Emperors6]

@RDY4WAR Any insights on the Driven DI50 vs Red Line 15W50 vs VR1 vs what HPL oil you would recommend based on my use case above?

 

[RDY4WAR]

I don't see the need for the 50 grade. For track use, I'd say HPL Bad Ass Racing 5W-40. Sprint cars run that oil at 300°F sump temp in light aluminum blocks at 9000 rpm with great success. I think a 50 grade will just rob power.

That's assuming your build is the one I've been following. I haven't had my coffee yet this morning.

 

[Emperors6]

Thanks for replying so quickly. The engine builder (Katech) said the bearing clearances require a 50 weight, so I'm a bit leery to stray away from that. I don't mind robbing power if it means more protection. Do you know if Bad Ass Racing has a PDS? I'm curious to compare it with Red Line's 15W50. Would a 5W50 reduce wear wrt to a 15W50? Do you know what the oil composition of the oils I mentioned before (Driven DI50, Red Line 15W50, and VR1 20W50) are?

Not sure what build you're following, here's a pic from Lime Rock to help

 

[fantastic]

Thanks for replying so quickly. The engine builder (Katech) said the bearing clearances require a 50 weight, so I'm a bit leery to stray away from that. I don't mind robbing power if it means more protection. Do you know if Bad Ass Racing has a PDS? I'm curious to compare it with Red Line's 15W50. Would a 5W50 reduce wear wrt to a 15W50? Do you know what the oil composition of the oils I mentioned before (Driven DI50, Red Line 15W50, and VR1 20W50) are?

Not sure what build you're following, here's a pic from Lime Rock to help

Then absolutely stick to a 50 visc then. That means they've already done the homework & measurements on those clearances. You're wanting the viscosity to stay in place then a 15w-50 is going, potentially, do better than 5w-50. but either one would work since they both increase viscosity up to the needed 50 after warm up. The 5w-50 could be your "all weather/All year" oil though if you drive in during the colder months.

 

[RDY4WAR]

Yep, wrong build. lol I was talking about a Vette engine with Lake a few days ago. Not the same one.

If they put wide clearances in it that force the 50 grade, then you have no choice but to run a 50 grade. HPL Bad Ass 5W-50 in that case. They don't have the spec sheet up on the website. It's ~875 Mo, ~900/800 Zn/P, and ~2700 Ca. It has a good bit of EP though it's ashless so it doesn't appear in ICP. I use a 0W-12 version of it in my Camaro and ran the 0W-20 version in my wife's Mustang for over 10k miles with a good UOA.

Do you have full specs of the build, by chance? Bearing clearance, ring gap and tension, piston to wall clearance, and so on? Some builders provide it and some don't.

 

[Emperors6]

They didn't provide the specs for the build when they asked. They basically said it's proprietary, since they said the built the engine as close as possible to their typical race applications but for street performance and increased durability. It's a 7.0L with a 2.65L supercharger running below OEM boost levels (OEM is 6.2L with 1.74L supercharger). They said the rings they used have a pretty large gap to reduce cylinder wall wear, which increases the blow-by. We had to go to a different PCV setup with an inline air-oil-separator (one with coolant lines to reduce moisture condensation due to temperature differences) that routes the blow-by back to the oil pan since it was too much for a catch can.

 

[Emperors6]

Out of curiosity, do you know the typical data sheet specs for Bad Ass Racing? What OCI can I run with it? Does it allow longer OCIs? I wonder how they compare to Red Line 15W50's HTHS. The use case is driving to the track, on the track, and back. There is also some daily street driving . While at the track, the oil temps are anywhere from 260-300F (closer to the higher end of the range). I top up if the oil level drops below the minimum level. Usually, that's a quart or two for a track weekend. So, the oil is constantly getting replenished. Changing filters while in an OCI is something I'd be willing to do. I usually do an UOA after every track event or every other track event (depending how close the track events are).

 

[TiGeo]

Interesting that this oil's name passes the profanity filter and the mods haven't deleted it

 

[RDY4WAR]

They didn't provide the specs for the build when they asked. They basically said it's proprietary, since they said the built the engine as close as possible to their typical race applications but for street performance and increased durability. It's a 7.0L with a 2.65L supercharger running below OEM boost levels (OEM is 6.2L with 1.74L supercharger). They said the rings they used have a pretty large gap to reduce cylinder wall wear, which increases the blow-by. We had to go to a different PCV setup with an inline air-oil-separator (one with coolant lines to reduce moisture condensation due to temperature differences) that routes the blow-by back to the oil pan since it was too much for a catch can.

That's a croc. They don't know what the specs are, probably didn't write it down or track it, so they fed you a line.

The part about ring gap makes no sense. Gap has little to no affect on cylinder wear, the exception being if the gap closes entirely but then you have much bigger problems. Something that does contribute to lubrication problems and ring coking, and thus increased cylinder wear, is blow-by.

This builder is sounding really sketchy.

 

[Emperors6]

I'll follow up with them again to see if I'll get the specs. I trust Katech to do a good job though, they've built a lot of Corvette engines for a lot of people, plus the shop I use orders many race engines from them every year. I met a few of them when I went to pick up the car near Detroit and they answered many of my questions. We did speak about the oil as well, and 50 weight they recommended as the minimum. The LT4 before it was modified called for 15W-50 for track use.

I've been digging through my discussions with them and found this: "there will be more oil consumption than a standard engine, this is a forged rotating assembly with much larger clearances between the pistons and bores, and larger ring gaps to account for the 2650 [the supercharger]. 1 quart every 2,000 miles is acceptable with freeway mileage, 1 quart every 500 miles when driven over 3,000 RPM."

 

[RDY4WAR]

A quart every 500 miles is acceptable!? There's cars making double and triple your horsepower and boost, that drive 1000+ miles for drag week running 6 and 7 seconds in the 1/4-mile at 5 different tracks in that period, and don't consume a drop of oil.

Heck, even NASCAR engines that run 7000+ rpm sustained around Daytona, with thin rings and hardly any oil ring tension, at 260°F coolant temp and 0W-16 oil cooking at 280+°F, only use ~0.25 quart in the 500 mile race.

 

[Emperors6]

The current engine (and when it was the OEM LT4) uses about the same amount of oil at the track, around a quart for a 40 minute session. Similar with the LSA in my CTS-V when I used to take it to the road course track. On the street, both use no oil. For the engines, you are describing, what's their life expectancy?

I had some earlier questions: do you know the typical data sheet specs for Bad Ass Racing? What OCI can I run with it? Does it allow longer OCIs? I wonder how they compare to Red Line 15W50's HTHS (I'm asking about them since they seem to have the highest HTHS ratings). Any ideas?

 

[Brons2]

They didn't provide the specs for the build when they asked. They basically said it's proprietary, since they said the built the engine as close as possible to their typical race applications but for street performance and increased durability.

Wow. Not giving me the main and rod bearing clearances for a motor they charged me $$$ to build would be a non-starter for me.

 

[Revving2Redline]

I had already bought the Driven two years back when it was cheaper, so it was time to use it up. I also have some Red Line 15W50 in my stash. I will run Driven for an OCI, then Red Line and then compare it to the VR1. I'm mostly looking to see which oil holds its viscosity the best given the oil temps I see on the track (~300F).

Valvoline isn't even in the same universe with driven heaven forbid redline oil.