What oil are you all using?

[Mark Worthington]

It's a good thing we don't have this magne-stuff here in the US or else we'd spend all our time arguing about it! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Does anyone have any tech on this Castrol magne-stuff?

I'm planning to use plain old SAE 30-weight oil for break-in of my 347 (which I plan to do on an engine dyno) after which I will change to Mobil 1 5W30.

 

[flatchat(Chris)]

For what it's worth I use Penzoil 25/50 (old V8 performance engines)and is good for me, I also run it in with it .
I had a bad experience using 30w for running in--with in 6 hours destroyed a cam and lifters then pistons and bearings
My 4th rebuild this year and the results of Penz' have been good.
Ooroo!
Chris /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

Mobil 1 15W-50 - full synthetic - unlike some PR oils that used cracked base stocks and call it a synthetic - fully synthetic flows faster to coat engine parts durning the first minute of engine operation which is when the most engine wear takes place, and then fully synthetic oils break down less under extereme heat loads - like in a GT40 - whatever u do make sure the oil is changed regularly and don't hammer the car on a cold engine - then it matters far less what oil u use.

 

[Brett James-McCall]

My local Costco has got some new Mobil 1 0W40 for £26 a can if anybody wants some, tell me and I'll bring it to Goodwood.

Brett

 

[jkyte]

Hi Guys,

I own a couple of non branded quick lubes and the things I could let you all in about oil companies and things of this nature. When you sell 25,000-35,000 gallons of oil in many makes and models yearly. You kind of get a totally different perspective of oil, oil companies and the whole nine yards.

Man, I bet it would knock your socks off!! After all, oil comes from pretty much the same place and is pretty much refined at the same refineries and blended at the same blenders and so on and on!!

I've carried house branded oil that was blended right on the same line as Castrol. But, hell all we can sell in east Tennessee is Castrol. So, we got rid of the private label and now feature castrol again and sales are up $1500.00 weekly!! Pretty adds, nice racing program, great looking bottles. But.......

And to think it is only $2.00 more a gallon at the wholesale level!! Guess who gets to pay this??

Don't get me wrong. All oil is not the same. but, if you use and API, ASE, SAE certified oil in any car/truck you drive. Use a top quality filter and have it serviced at least every 3-4000 miles. More than likely, you will never have any problems.

Yes, synthetics are a better product!!! No debate on it.

As a teaser. Can anyone name the maker of Fram filters, STP filters, Security filters? All the same company, all the same internally, but wow, what a difference in names!!

 

[chris parker]

the maker of fram filters as wellas coopers filters her in england is sogeffi filtration a company world wide as you said if you go by the api spec (american petrolium institute) all oils will be speced the spec of a oil is either s* or c* the s stands for spark orientated ignition and the c for combustion engines so you could find as castrol magnatec is a sl spec and a cf spec oil as well basically the higher the second letter the better the spec of the oil.the latest specs out ar sl spec petrol and cf4 spec foe a diesel.
the viscosity of a oil is measured at 0deg c and 100 deg c it is then given a viscosity the fist figure say 10-40 is for when the oil is cold and the second for when the oil is at 100 deg c its physical properties may be thicker when cold but it acts like a thin oil to aid starting on colder days easier to turn the oil pump etc and it may be physically thinner when warm but it acts like a thicker oil.
all mobil 1 did was move the goal posts when testing the oil they though if it acts like a ten grade at zero then if we test it at minus 20 then it must have a zero viscosity
just a marketing ploy as even air has a resistance.
all oil comes out of the ground in it are synthetic polymers which resist being chopped up by the engine better than standard oil all the oil companies do to get either semi or fully synthetic oil is refine it further and put either 50% or 100% synthetic polymers into the bottle to get semi synthetic oil or fully synthetic hence it tends to be better for turbo charged engines as these tend to cause the oil to act at its extremes and breakdown quicker.
hope tis helps on your choice of engine oils also never run fully syntheic oil on a newly rebuilt engine as it will take forever and a day to bet in as fully synthetic oil reduces wear.

 

[Ken Mason]

My local V8 engine guru swears by American Kendall oil. I initially ran my 40 on Mobil synthentic but the oil pressure was really low on hot tickover. I switched to Kendall and ta da! it ran really sweetly with at least another 10 lb pressure at tickover. The 'guru' explains that modern oils are designed to get quickly to the top end of modern overheard cam 16 valve engines and are consequently a bit too thin for our push rod v8s. It certainly works for me....

 

[ChrisL]

A point that has not yet been raised in this thread is the ability of oil to be expelled during oil changes. I have been instructed in the past to drain as much of the old oil as possible. The suggestion was even made that, after draining the bulk of the oil, to disconnect the power from the distributor and crank the engine over once or twice just to expel that extra little bit from the various components (with no load on the engine, the thin film of oil is suposedly enough to protect the engine) then allow it to drain for as long as possible.

If this is in fact as important as suggested to me, then a fully synthetic oil such as Mobil-1 will drain far more efficiently than an oil such as Magnatec (if their promotional material is correct, it is designed to stay behind even during oil changes).

Anyone have any thoughts on the advantages of maximizing oil replacement?


And just a thought on the subject of no-name brands. It may be correct that the same oil exists in both cases, but the “recipe” of a no-name brand can be altered at any time without notice and without fear of long term repercussions in their reputation. After all, it is only in the long term that you will discover whether you have made a mistake in your choice of oils.

 

I don't know how other oils cope with high temps, but with Castrol Formula R 20/50 I found that my engine was holding acceptable oil pressure with the oil temp at 270 degrees.

I don't have an oil temp gauge in the car, so I didn't realise how high the oil temp was until I looked at the datalogging.....

 

the reason to use normal oil is that the molecules are not all the same size like in synthetic. molecules in conventional oil are normally larger and fill bigger gaps due to wear and due to design. the thing to do is use synthetic when the engine is new and once parts get worn a bit start using conventional oil.

 

[JimmyMac]

Quotes :
"There is only one type of oil to use in a competition engine: a non-foaming, ashless high performance oil.
The weight should be 20W-50. There are many companies making an oil of this type - Union, Quaker State. Pennzoil and Kendall, to name a few".
"The minimum quantity should be 8 quarts"

- Waddell Wilson.

He also quotes that the pressure relief valve spring should be shimmed with two .031" washers to increase the hot oil pressure - assuming an oil cooler is used, which I see is standard practise in many other good engine books.

Oil pressure loss can also aggrevated by using 90 degree fittings or dead legs in your plumbing.

 

Having recently built an AK Sportcars 427 Cobra with Chevy V8 it was sugested in the Cobra Replica Club (CRC) that Valvoline oil is the "only" one to use. Having read all the posts on this subject here, it seem's no one with Ford engines use Valvoline !!Why ?? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
Charlie H

 

CH,

I got my 347 stroker from the engine builder last week. His recomendation is,,,,,, Valvoline. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

This is the first time I have ever used it!!! I usually use castrol 20-50W.

 

[Howard Jones]

I have installed a oil cooler on my car and the oil cooler maker wanted a multi grade such a 10-40 or 20-50 used because high oil pressures at startup might dammage the oil cooler. I have 10-40 havoline in it now.I will change over to Valvoline at next oil change just to keep Fred happy. More importantly I am using a morroso oil filter. I threw away the fram after I saw the results of several cut open filters on this forum a couple of years ago. The INSIDE of the filter is the most important part of the oil system after keeping enough oil in it in the first place.

I found that I needed to put in 8 quarts to fill my system. It has a remote oil filter, about 5 feet of AN10 line and about a 6"X10" oil cooler. The pan is a cannon 7 quart street/roadrace type.

I put in 7 quarts marked the dip stick(filled mark), ran engine, marked dip stick (low mark), toped off to filled mark. All ok except I had to cut off about 2 inchs of lenght of the dip stick to fit into the low profile pan. I used a stock 5.0 dip stick to start with.

 

[Andy 8V]

Mobil 1 filtered only by Motorcraft oil filters.

 

[Steve Briscoe]

Mobil 1 15-50 synthetic. I don't know enough about other oils to use anything else but I'm certainly open to alternatives.

 

[chuck smith]

great article

Oils: What oil do I use in my aircooled Porsche or VW?

 

[Rob]

For old school push rod motors I typically use Castrol 20-50, often changing to Mobil 1 after 15K+/- miles.
Careful re. the Mobil 1, I once had a buddy who switched to Mobil 1 after a couple thousand miles, and his rings wouldn't seat. This is why I wait a while....just to be safe.
Ultimately came to the conclusion if the stuff is so slippery that it stops rings from seating, that would be a good argument to use it once they are seated.....

Re filters: I only use Motorcraft, Wix, NAPA or Bosch. Period! I have cut quite a few open and counted filter folds and reviewed dump port locations and such. The aforementioned were my conclusions.

 

[Sandy]

Here is another thread that discusses some of the oil possibilities...

http://www.gt40s.com/forum/gt40-tec...synthetic-sin-thetic.html?highlight=synthetic

Sandy

 

[Chris Duncan]

""We have been using Q8 Formula F1 10w-50""

10w is for 4-bangers, closer clearances. Too thin for the Ford V8 hence the low pressure. Should be 20w-50. Also as already stated the 10 to 50 spread is too much. ( The Honda hybrids now are running 0w-30, less resistance, much closer brg and piston clearances)

"" the thing to do is use synthetic when the engine is new and once parts get worn a bit start using conventional oil.""

Don't know where you got it but this is misinformation. The opposite is true. Synthetics are so slick that it hinders break-in. Builders will tell you break in with conventional and then go to the synth.

The Porsche G50 needs the Redline, how come nobody has looked at the Redline synth for their engines? Pretty impressive list of users and it gives less resistance, better HP than most. 20w50 all-synthetic formula. Red Line Oil

Agree with the marketing comments. Fram filters are crap, they are just well marketed. Pays to do the research. For instance, the Honda factory oil filter is made in Japan, USA, and Canada. The Japan and USA filters are good but the Canada filter is not as good.