Correct Oil

Have a new 302 crate engine and am looking recommendations from you lovely people re engine oil... I have read much about ZDDP content for older designed pushrod flat tappet engines and hope that I can draw on experience on the Forum.
Engine is in a CAV makes 375BHP @ 5800RPM...Bore size 4.000...Flat top pistons...Flat tappet hydraulic...
Appears having read some spec that the Valvoline Racing Oil 20w-50 still retains high zinc content than most but clearly thick as treacle which may not be the best for cold start use.
Anyhow welcome any thoughts from those using Valvoline or anyone else wanting to throw in their opinions...
Cheers Guys and Girls

take 0/40 sae

I was recommended to use Lucas Racing Oil by my engine builder who has been building race and road V8s for many many years. He used to recommend Valvoline VR1 but they lowered the ZDDP content.
There is a website where they have tested and analysed most of the oils available. The oil which came out on top for ultimate load pressure and incidentally highest ZDDP content was Lucas Racing Oil. Second best was Joe Gibbs Racing Oil. The Lucas is what I now use in my flat tappet 302 which is now past it's 20th birthday.
(pic attached.)
ZDDP levels have been lowered in many oils as it not catalyst friendly.
*****You need to break in a new flat tappet cam at 2,000rpm for 15 -20 mins.
Cheers
Mike

My SBC runs high compression and a mechanical roller cam and roller rockers. I use 10W-30 Mobil-1 synthetic oil.

Shell Rotella T 15/40. An all round excellent oil I'v been using for ever.

bill kearley said:

Shell Rotella T 15/40. An all round excellent oil I'v been using for ever.

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Same here. You can get it (T6) in 5w40 Full Synthetic....
You can also supplement with STP (blue bottle) and a number of others

I only use Shell Rotella 15/40.

Pick your oil for your use/temp range/region. Then add this:


Why add ZDDP to oil that says it has it in it? The oil manufactures constantly change their formulations due to several factors. You never will know that the oil you picked to use last time is still the same oil or even still has ZDDP in it. Add ZDDP to each oil change and you will KNOW you have enough in the oil. If you run a flat tappet cam (solid or hyd) without any ZDDP it will eat the cam. Depending on valve spring pressure it might not last an hour. This IS the reason all the OEM's went to hyd roller cams. They knew ZDDP was going away with catalytic convertor introduction. Its never coming back and is scheduled to be completely phased out eventually (soon).

If you must use a catalytic convertor it is time to change to a hyd roller cam and not use oil that has added levels of ZDDP.

10-40 is a good all around 3 season oil. If you live where it gets below freezing in the winter for several weeks AND you drive your car then I would change to a 0-20W for the winter or not drive when below 35F and keep the car in the garage that stays above 40F or so.

I use straight 30W on sale name brand in my GT40, 10 to 1 CR, 302 winsor, 350HP, hyd roller cam and 50W Valvoline R in my SLC, 10.8 to 1 CR, 350 SBC, 450HP, hyd roller cam.

I don't use Synthetic oil because I keep my oil temp under control. If you see oil temps over 260F then run Synthetic. If you see oil temps over 285F then you will need to add a cooler and control it down to about 225-235F. Regular oil will change to a non lubricating fluid starting at around 325F and not return to normal when it cools. Synthetic will live a bit longer and at a slightly higher temp but it too will fail if over heated.

Everybody has a favorite oil. Most if not all name brand oil will work well enough if you use it in its intended performance range. That's my story and I an sticking to it.

Shell Rotella is oil for diesel engines not intended to run 7000rpm. Its also containes anti sout dopes which you don't want on a HyPo engine.

Lingo, Oil temp control. Put an temp gauge in the dash, and anticipate to it. Keep it within 10% of your water temp. Oil coolers with stat takeoffs. Still not there, use a bigger cooler. Again watch the gauge and anticipate to it.
Fancy oils, your temp gauge and pressure gauge will tell you if you need it.

ZDDP not only helps to prevent damage on flat tapped cams, it also prevents damage on crank, pushrod & bearings.
ZDDP does more then saving a cam, it will save an engine, but it will destroy a catalic converter eventualy.

Next lingo, use a decent oil filter. Wix 51515 or Motorcraft FL-1A

JP Verweij said:

Shell Rotella is oil for diesel engines not intended to run 7000rpm. Its also containes anti sout dopes which you don't want on a HyPo engine.

Lingo, Oil temp control. Put an temp gauge in the dash, and anticipate to it. Keep it within 10% of your water temp. Oil coolers with stat takeoffs. Still not there, use a bigger cooler. Again watch the gauge and anticipate to it.
Fancy oils, your temp gauge and pressure gauge will tell you if you need it.

ZDDP not only helps to prevent damage on flat tapped cams, it also prevents damage on crank, pushrod & bearings.
ZDDP does more then saving a cam, it will save an engine, but it will destroy a catalic converter eventualy.

Next lingo, use a decent oil filter. Wix 51515 or Motorcraft FL-1A

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Correct,

Rotella is a VERY good oil but intended for Diesel engines that run at 1200-2000 RPM. It does not have a lot of "anti-foam" additive that prevents oil from foaming and aerating, a genuine concern with a small block Ford twisting 6000+ RPM. Even Diesels like Powerstrokes and Duramaxes don't exceed 3500 RPM. As JP indicated it has additives to reduce soot and particles that are not a concern in a gasoline engine.

I’ve run Rotella T6 in all our race cars ranging from a Porsche 944 with a 4 cylinder to dry-sumped GT1 Corvette with 800+ HP. All running well in excess of 7k RPM.
Absolutely no issues from oiling. We keep oil temps on the outlet side of the cooler to 250 or less. We expect a 30 tp 50 degree F drop across the coolers.
I will admit that I’ve not investigated shearing strength of the oil, but when you pull bearings out after 500-1000 miles of competition and they are in good condition, you have a tendency to not question it...
—
Oil temp sender location is critical.
Taking oil temp from the sump is a bad location unless you can get it from the very bottom. I’ve seen oil temps jump over 300° from 250° almost immediately when standing on the gas and the sender located toward the top of the sump. You’re not taking the temp of the oil, you’re taking the temp of blow-by gasses in shallow oil.
I prefer to know what the temp of the oil is thatI am feeding my bearings. The only way you’re going to do that is if you take it on the output side of the cooler...

"It's only for diesels" argument always comes up with Rotella.

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My local mechanic that I rely on (Paul Whitlock) has been running Rotella in his 2.3 turbo four cylinder for 20 years. It revs to 6000rpm with an oil fed turbo that turns over 10,000 rpm, has "non roller" cam followers and a catalytic converter. Paul has about a quarter million miles or more running Rotella in the turbo T-birds. He said he's never burned up a turbo or a catalytic converter, or an engine, and oil consumption has never been a problem. He's also run Rotella in modern 4.6 modular engines ( with four catalytic converters ). Once in a 90s Lincoln Town car which went more than 300,000 miles. Another in a 1999 f150 4x4 4.6 which also went 300,000 miles. Paul and several of his friends have run Rotella in all of their 390 and 428 Cobra jet motors ( Mustang's, trucks, Mercury cyclones, LTDs, T-birds, Cougars etc ), for nearly 30 years and they are all still running strong.

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The shop in Charlotte (Prestige Motorsports) that is building my new engine said they spec Rotella for most of their new engine builds. The right choice, of course, is what you trust based on experience.

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Yes, Rotella is made for diesels Rick. I can't comment on the foaming part but after 40 years I have developed a lot of trust using it in my class 8 trucks and automotive applications. I see that proof reading is of use sometimes.

KCC40 said:

Have a new 302 crate engine and am looking recommendations from you lovely people re engine oil... I have read much about ZDDP content for older designed pushrod flat tappet engines and hope that I can draw on experience on the Forum.
Engine is in a CAV makes 375BHP @ 5800RPM...Bore size 4.000...Flat top pistons...Flat tappet hydraulic...
Appears having read some spec that the Valvoline Racing Oil 20w-50 still retains high zinc content than most but clearly thick as treacle which may not be the best for cold start use.
Anyhow welcome any thoughts from those using Valvoline or anyone else wanting to throw in their opinions...
Cheers Guys and Girls

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There is no one-size-fits-all answer to your question. You'll need to do a little experimentation.

Zinc and phosphorus are a must. This isn't really debatable. If the brand of oil you choose has enough, you're good. If not, then use an additive. Lots of testing done on this subject. Google it.

What weight of oil to use? This will be unique to your specific engine combo. You'll need to pick a weight to start with, say 10W-40, fill it up with fresh oil and filter, and drive it. Observe the oil pressure under actual conditions. Then you adjust oil viscosity to raise or lower the target oil pressure. Your engine builder should be able to help decide what a good target pressure is. I like to see 60-80 psi hot at highway speeds. More pressure is not always better. Use the thinnest viscosity oil you can to get the pressure you want.

JP, YES, YES, YES, to the oil filter!!!! The 4 dollar ones are complete pieces of sh#%! The method of pressure relief of most of the chepo price filters is pretty much a one time pop open and not reset and made from, in some cases, cardboard and a bent piece of metal. The you have NO filtering going on afterwards and no way to tell that it is happening. Someone did a cut open and review several oil filters on this website many years ago, but I couldn't find it. That is where the relief valve issue was revealed. Afterwards I have been cutting open oil filters and have confirmed that the cheap ones like the standard Pennzoil, Fram, CARQUEST standard and other low price filters are not really any good.

I also found that the OEM types like ACdelco, Motorcraft, and Bosch seam to be much better. I have been using K&N HPs. I believe the Moroso race types are good also.

Wix oil filters are high quality filters. I used to always use Fram oil filters back in the late Sixties. Early 3 liter Ferraris used two oil filters mounted upside down at the front of the engine- a full-flow PH2815 (?) and one on the bypassed oil, PB50. These days I won't use a Fram oil filter. Too bad- they were once a quality product.

Here attached is the info. May be a little out of date now but useful.

Cheers
Mike

jac mac said:

You know, while I still recommend a zink additive , for the last ~15 years Ive been cutting a vertical groove in each lifter bore that allows a small stream of oil to squirt onto the lobe before it reachs each lifter face- full time. Comp Cams make a simple tool to do the mod, IIRC its called a 'Louie Tool' or something like that after the guy who first tried it. Since doing that mod I dont recall a flat tappet cam failure, we did have a cam issue on the TVR, but that appeared to be from a 'human' error problem with setting valve lash. If you wish to scroll all the way thru Russ Nobles engine build thread I think Lim put up photos of the tool he made to do the job, over engineered to hell n back, but I would not have expected any less from Lim.

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@jac mac Is this the one?