In my opinion,
1. Racing oil is fine for racing, where it gets changed every
500 miles or so. But it typically does not have the additive package for
daily street driving, where blowby, moisture, and other contaminants need to
be controlled and dispursed for 2000 miles, or more.
2. Heavy oil like a 20W-50 is too thick for most engines.
A. Oil that heavy can put a lot of extra strain on the oil pump
shaft and cam gear, leading to possible failure.
B. Thicker oil will flow less volume, reducing the heat removal
from the bearings.
C. Thicker oil will also be harder to push through an oil
filter, the pressure drop may even allow the oil bypass to open and allow
dirty unfiltered oil to the bearings.
D. Thicker oil will be even slower reaching bearings and cams at
start up, especially after sitting for a long period and the surfaces are
dry.
E. I might consider 20W-50 only if the engine was built with
larger bearing clearances (for more oil flow), and if the environment is
often over 90 degrees F, and the engine is running at higher than normal
temperatures. It is specified for my air-cooled motorcycle engine.
3. Minimum oil thickness I recommend for our older cars is
10W-30. Anything thinner than 10W may squish out of the bearing and allow
metal-to-metal contact. I typically use 10W-30 in the winter in my driver
and 10W-40 for summer. Zero and 5W oils are designed for modern motors with
very tight bearing clearances and pushing oil drag friction to low limits to
improve gas MPG.
4. Roller lifters and roller cam followers in most every engine
built in the last 20 years do not require a lot of ZDDP. Some ZDDP escapes
past rings with the oil and can reduce the effectiveness of catalytic
converters to only 100,000 miles. So the EPA mandated lower ZDDP levels so
converters will last 150,000 miles. They also benefit by killing off any
older driver cars with flat tappet cams prematurely.
5. I have been using a product called ZDDP Plus. A small can
will boost the ZDDP level to the old normal levels in a 5 quart oil change.
Dave Homstad
56 Dodge D500
On Sun, Aug 3, 2014 at 7:29 PM, Neil Vedder
wrote:
Valvoline 20/50 Racing; lots of ZDDP, for me.
And, even, Hemmings has gotten into the act, by selling
synthetic
(which is really over-kill, IMHO) ZDDP-loaded motor oil.
Whether ZDDP is needed or not, in a lightly-used engine (like
all of ours
are)....it is 'cheap' insurance and can not hurt anything, but
our
pocketbooks---check Hemmings' 6-pack pricing (photo attachment).
Neil Vedder
On 8/3/2014 4:24 PM, Richard
Whelan wrote:
We use Brad Penn, made in the
old Kendall
refinery in Bradford PA. Similar to Kendall GT-1
with plenty of
ZDDP. Dick
Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2014 6:30 PM
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] RB 383 cam
Another approach is to use Valvoline VR-1 racing oil;
it
has more ZDDP.
However, a friend showed me an article in the
Packard
Pelican or whatever it is that says VR-1 doesn’t have
enough
detergent. I suspect it’s still more than oil 50 years ago.
--Roger van Hoy
Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2014 12:16 PM
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] RB 383 cam
I've found two easy ways to get the ZDDP back in
the
oil. One is to buy the Redline Break-In Additive and
use
about 3 oz of it with each oil change. The other,
even
easier, is to buy a can of STP, which has the
right
amount of ZDDP in it, when you buy the oil and
filter
and put the STP in along with the new oil.
The
advantage of the Redline is that it's actually a
little
cheaper per dose and is easy to poor. The STP is
thick
and hard to pour. But the STP is available anywhere
so
it's pretty convenient.
___________________________________
Sent: Sunday, August 3, 2014 12:09 PM
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] RB 383 cam
Thanks for the input guys.
I
agree about the oil. I've driven the car
a
total of about 10 miles since buying it
from
another list member who also didn't drive
it
during his ownership I believe. There is
a
receipt from a commercial garage showing
a
ring and bearing job, but the receipt has
no
date on it. The inside of the engine
is
very clean and the oil isn't bad either
so
since that minor overhaul it must have
been
reasonably maintained, but of course
with
low ZDDP oil like we are all stuck with
in
the mainstream oils. I'm thinking of
using
rotella once I'm back up and running since
I
don't have a converter to get clogged
up
with zinc.
Bill & Kathi Parker, South
Central
Indiana, harboring of bunch of old
and
newer Mopars
Oh, that must be absolutely
true,
because nobody in the old car
hobby knows about the effects of
NOT
having ZDDP in flat tappet
car engines.
And, of course, the ruined cam
shafts
render the car and its
engine
completely
unrepairable and worthless.
The car mechanics, in particular,
hate
the effects of having to work on these
damaged engines.
Neil Vedder
On 8/3/2014 12:05 AM,
Dave
Homstad wrote:
Bill,
You
might give some thought as to WHY
the cam has developed 3
bad
lobes.
Here
is a good article about how
"OIL
IS KILLING OUR CARS!!!!!".
Personnally,
I think this is a plot by
the
EPA to get old cars off
the
roads quicker, by removing
the
ZDDP from our oils.
Dave
Homstad
56
Dodge D500
On
Sat, Aug 2, 2014 at 6:43
PM,
Bill Parker wrote:
Hello all, I
tore
into the '60 Saratoga
engine
today, an RB 383, and as
I
suspected from the
symptoms,
it has a wiped camshaft.
One
lobe is just a little
nubbin',
and two others are
clearly
half what they should
be.
Seems like a simple cam
swap
is in order except of
course
for the small matter of
early
B/RB lifters and
pushrods
being different
dimensions
from the later ('66
and
later?) stuff. From
a
previous experience
with
putting a cam and lifter
kit
into a '65 engine, I think
I
recall that the late
lifters
are taller, and must use
the
late pushrods to
compensate.
I could have it backwards,
but
in any case, I think
the
solution to using a late
cam
and lifter kit is using
the
late pushrods too. I
have
several core 440 engines
and
I'm thinking, make a
cam
selection, buy the late
style
lifters with it, and use a
set
of the 440 pushrods
(being
that both my '60 383 and
the
440's are RB engines with
the
same deck
height).
Comments/cautions/suggestions?
This is not my hot rod and
I
plan to go with a pretty
mild
cam.
Bill &
Kathi
Parker, South Central
Indiana,
harboring of bunch of old
and
newer Mopars
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