Oil for 1968 Ford 390FE V8 engine?

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Have a old '67 F250 HighBoy that has a 390 out of a 1968 vehicle. Far as I know it's stock, and runs on a 2 barrell carburetor so it's not making gobs of power. I've been running 15W-40 Rotella in it, but as I understand it, the zinc levels have dropped substantially in the new formula so should I run something else? Getting ready to change the oil and wanting to know if the Rotella is still safe to run or if I should go with something else. This is a flat tappet cam engine so it needs oil with lots of zinc in it I've been told and HDEO's used to be the ticket but not sure if they are anymore.

Thanks all!

67 ford.jpg
 
Look for a full saps Euro oil. Castrol 0W40 will work fine. Don't let the 0 part scare you, it'll just provide faster lubrication to the upper part of the engine which is a plus.
 
A stock engine is not so dependent on Zinc, especially if the cam springs are stock.
A good 10w30 would work well.
There are oils with elevated Zinc levels (like 1200 PPM) but those are more for higher spring pressures.
There are also ZDDP additives, if you wanna play chemist.

ZDDP Additive

If I ever pull my old Vette or Oldsey apart again I will stab a hydraulic roller and be done with it.
 
Valvoline VR1 prob easiest to find. Brad Penn, and Mobil 1 had a 15w50 formulation also all with higher ZDDP.
 
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I'd get one of the many zinc additives and just done it up a bit. There are some that are SDL and some that are something else (polymer or ester as I recall). Unless it's being heavily used, I'd not worry about it too much. There's nome,is Simon system or whatnot so I doubt an OD is concerning...

Nice truck!
 
Can you still get CK-4 Rotella T5 10W-30, I'd use it but I need a 5w30 for them cold nights in my 89 5.7. I've pretty much settled on Valvoline Advanced since it still uses the upper limits of ZDDP and has moly and titanium to help. A lot of newer oils are using the lower limits of ZDDP which scares me for that engine.

Should mention the 5.7 is a crate engine with around 19k on it.
 
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Those FE blocks are pretty near indestructible (& really heavy, we rebuilt my brother's 360FE out of his '68 F-100 Ranger back in the day, almost couldn't lift it with the crane we had then), any 10W30 will work, I like HDEOs like Rotella Triple Protection, T5, even Delo 10W30 or 15W30 would be awesome in it. You really don't have enough spring pressure to hurt flat tappets, & CK-4 still has some ZDDP, could always add some Rislone ZDDP or similar to it if it makes you feel better.
 
The diesel oils tend to be very robust and clean. That seems like the best of the easy choices in today's environment. What did the ZDDP drop to? Possibly changing brands to one that still has 1000PPM?
 
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