Best oil for Vintage Cushman Scooter

[Rush949]

What would be a good mineral based oil for a Cushman scooter? Some run Rotella 30wt , others 30 wt oil with Lucas ZDDP additive and Dennis Carpenter sells Lucas Hot Rod oil 10-30 and 10-40. This is a flat tappet engine. TIA

 

[Linctex]

The valvespring pressures in the ol' Cushman are ABYSMALLY low.

An 30W will do fine.

Briggs and Stratton engines with equivalent valvespring pressures run a PLASTIC camshaft!

So, just about any oil is fine. Really.

 

[Linctex]

Oh, I forget.... I run any inexpensive 15W-40 HDEO (diesel) in all my small engines.
I don't have any new "CK" oil, I think the newest 15W-40 I have is CJ.

 

[Linctex]

The one I had looked identical to this, but different upholstery color:

I still have the horn!!

.

 

[kmrcstintn]

I have read a Spectro product catalog in the past (past 2 years) and several oils in their lineup have up to 1800ppm zddp; might want to call them to find out which ones have the extra zddp; if ya wanna go the way of hdeo with cj-4 ratings then consider Traveller brand 15w-40 at Tractor Supply Company; current special is 2.5 gallon container for $21.99; I think Supertech 15w-40 at Walmart is still cj-4; if ya want a true name brand in hdeo...Shell Rotella T-4 is ck-4 WITHOUT sn rating which means higher zddp potential or Motorcraft which states higher than 1000ppm zddp on the bottle;

on a sidebar...I'm doing the annual research on choosing oil for my 2-wheeled death machines; I go round & round...synthetic vs synblend vs conventional, hdeo vs motorcycle oil vs 10w-40 pcmo; I have NO idea where to land...I have 5 qts of 10w-40 & 15w-40 frankenbrew, 2 qts of Kolpin 10w-40 synblend powersports oil, and 3 qts of Kawasaki 10w-40 synblend mower oil with wet clutch capability (thought it was bike oil and didn't read the bottle...can't find the receipt); most likely I will tap the frankenbrew for the first oil change after running the storage oil for a month and go from there...

 

[Eddie]

I had one just like the picture and ran 30 wt viscosity oil. I can't remember the brand of oil though. Ed

 

[BrocLuno]

No need for the extra ZDDP. Anything over 800 PPM will be fine. If it were my scooter, I'd run any HDEO in 15W-40 flavor. But if you have a Tractor Supply nearby, some Traveller 15W-40 would do very nicely

http://www.pqiadata.org/Travellers15W40.html?utm_source=July+23%2C+2015&utm_campaign=7%2F24%2F2015&utm_medium=email

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

I had one of those as a teenager. Direct drive, no transmission. Sold by Sears. Top speed ~35mph. There were 3 engines, 3, 4, and 5hp. Same block with a different bore. Tough motors. Had replaceable bearings on the crank shaft and rod, pressure lubrication. I had the 4hp model. Had the engine bored and installed a 5hp piston. Cleaned up the ports, cut a thin head gasket to raise the CR. Installed a larger carb off of a Wisconsin stationary motor. Made a straight pipe on the exhaust. It would do an honest 75mph! Really enjoyed that thing.

Ran 40 weight oil in it in the summer. Couldn't ride it in the winter in northern MI.

Any 15W-40 would be ideal.