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
*************************************************************
To
unsubscribe or set
your subscription
options, please go to
*************************************************************
To
unsubscribe or set
your subscription
options, please go to
___________________________________
This
email is free from
viruses and
malware because avast!
Antivirusprotection
is active.
*************************************************************
To
unsubscribe or set your
subscription options,
please go to
*************************************************************
To
unsubscribe or set your
subscription options, please
go to
*************************************************************
To unsubscribe or set your
subscription options,
please go to
http://lists.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=l-forwardlook&A=1
Help
The Forward Look with every Amazon purchase by clicking
here!
Help the Forward Look
with every eBay purchase by starting your search here!
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network