Oil recommendations-SBC 383

[UncleDave]

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No doubt she pulls hard. Enjoy, it should give you plenty of miles along with oodles of power.

Its cammed a little hotter than I normally would on my own mills.
The 3400 start is the tell I'm looking at. I try to get my rigs to stabilize at 3K - but thats me.

Are you sporting a 3 speed auto?

 

[Speedbird001]

Summit cams were repackaged Crane cams for years. Now there’s only one cam foundry in the US. That’s at least as of 2025. May be shut down now.

That suuuuuuucks. I wonder what became of Isky? Comp Cams was king of the hill for a long time right?

To be fair, I only was involved with a single aftermarket cam, that was bacon the 90's. I wanted an Isky or Crane, but went with a Mopar Performance due to the split lift and duration #'s.

I pray the OEMs are at least still making their own?

 

[4wd]

Summit cams were repackaged Crane cams for years. Now there’s only one cam foundry in the US. That’s at least as of 2025. May be shut down now.

Competition Cams (part of Edelbrock) is alive and well

 

[sru1436]

No doubt she pulls hard. Enjoy, it should give you plenty of miles along with oodles of power.

Its cammed a little hotter than I normally would on my own mills.
The 3400 start is the tell I'm looking at. I try to get my rigs to stabilize at 3K - but thats me.

Are you sporting a 3 speed auto?

She has a Turbo 350 I just rebuilt, I put in a shift kit as well. I can’t wait to throw the engine and trans back in and drive it.

 

[FranklinJL]

Nice motor......compression is still low enough to add some forced induction.....a modest 6psi could net close to 700hp with those specs

 

[PontiacHO]

Competition Cams (part of Edelbrock) is alive and well

Yes. But….the foundry where actual cam cores are forged is what I was referring to. No matter the company, Isky, Comp, Howard’s, Lunati, Melling, Edelbrock, Sealed Power, Elgin, TRW, Crower, Summit, Jegs, Erson, Speed Pro, (and the list continues) all come from one forge. Then from these listed most are likely ground in just a scant few grinding facilities. Not like it used to be.

 

[PontiacHO]

She has a Turbo 350 I just rebuilt, I put in a shift kit as well. I can’t wait to throw the engine and trans back in and drive it.

Torque converter stock? Rear axle ratio?

 

[GW.]

Amsoil Z-Rod 10W-30 or 10W-40.

 

[sru1436]

Torque converter stock? Rear axle ratio?

Builder recommends 2500 stall, I’m going to call coan today. Rearend gear is stock 3.08. The truck is all stock, minus the new engine.

 

[JavierH19]

I'd use off the shelf full syn euro/diesel oils except St euro or T6. Give the new valvoline HD FS diesel a try. 4.3 hths is nice and the ad pack is high on zinc and phos. Can't go wrong with delvac extreme or delo xsp either.

 

[novadude]

I have a similar 355 ('69 block, scat crank, vortec heads, 217/225 @ 0.050 hyd roller, etc, etc). I am using Valvoline EPHM synthetic 5W-30 in mine. 3.3 HTHS, and rumored to be a GTL base oil. Don't know if that's the best choice or not (no oil analysis, as this is the first run with this oil). Prior to that I was using Valvoline HM 10W-30 syn blend and Mobil 1 HM 10W-30. Both of those looked OK in oil analysis.

 

[PMT133]

That's basically what I'm building for my corvette. Though I'm going 3.80 stroke crank so it'll be a 388. Compression around 11:1 too. Lots more cam as well... 232/240 or something like that... I probably would run a standard oil pump on mine and stick with a euro 0w40 but for your mill the 10w30 is probably more then enough. That's really high oil pressure for a relatively mild engine.

 

[AdmiralYoda]

My initial reaction was that your 383 was a little lower on power than I expected, especially with some good flowing AFR heads. You're at 1.076 hp/ci which is very mild. But I think you made a good call on that cam for a cruiser. Torque for days and those small-ish AFR heads will have great port velocity at low speeds. You'll get pretty good gas mileage and great throttle response.

What intake manifold and carb are you using? An Edelbrock Performer RPM and a vacuum secondary 750CFM carb would be perfect. Did you try a carb spacer on the dyno? I bet a tapered-combo spacer would add some power over the whole curve.

Anywho, to your question. I'd stick with a 5W-40. Something Euro for good HTHS or if you go boutique HPL or Amsoil.

Since you are using roller lifters your engine was broken in as soon as it started up, so modern oils will have plenty of zinc.

One last thing...figure out what RPM you will be turning on the highway at typical speeds. Pick a torque converter stall that is lower than those RPMs. It will keep the converter from slipping while driving and keep the heat down a bit.

 

[4wd]

Yes. But….the foundry where actual cam cores are forged is what I was referring to. No matter the company, Isky, Comp, Howard’s, Lunati, Melling, Edelbrock, Sealed Power, Elgin, TRW, Crower, Summit, Jegs, Erson, Speed Pro, (and the list continues) all come from one forge. Then from these listed most are likely ground in just a scant few grinding facilities. Not like it used to be.

Has to be money in it - or not. BiL just retired from a foundry making aerospace parts - and weapons casings - they are doing fine …

 

[Rob_Roy]

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I am surprised they ran it so lean. If they didn’t make any jetting changes after that pull I would plan on doing some tuning once you get it in the truck.

 

[sru1436]

My initial reaction was that your 383 was a little lower on power than I expected, especially with some good flowing AFR heads. You're at 1.076 hp/ci which is very mild. But I think you made a good call on that cam for a cruiser. Torque for days and those small-ish AFR heads will have great port velocity at low speeds. You'll get pretty good gas mileage and great throttle response.

What intake manifold and carb are you using? An Edelbrock Performer RPM and a vacuum secondary 750CFM carb would be perfect. Did you try a carb spacer on the dyno? I bet a tapered-combo spacer would add some power over the whole curve.

Anywho, to your question. I'd stick with a 5W-40. Something Euro for good HTHS or if you go boutique HPL or Amsoil.

Since you are using roller lifters your engine was broken in as soon as it started up, so modern oils will have plenty of zinc.

One last thing...figure out what RPM you will be turning on the highway at typical speeds. Pick a torque converter stall that is lower than those RPMs. It will keep the converter from slipping while driving and keep the heat down a bit.

I’m using a Weiand Stealth 8016, and a brawler 600. The carb was dynoed on the engine, I also have a Holley 750 just in case. I’m going to drive it with the top and see if I like it. The carb did have a spacer when it was dynoed. I want the truck to be a cruiser, but with power.

 

[sru1436]

I am surprised they ran it so lean. If they didn’t make any jetting changes after that pull I would plan on doing some tuning once you get it in the truck.

The builder said he had to richen up the carb. I’ll definitely do some tuning and spark plug reading once I start driving it.

 

[chainblu]

Once you've gotten it back in the truck and everything sorted out, try the 750.