Which Oil AFTER Initial Break In?

[Slap Stick]

Tappets? You want your lifters tapping on the cam? The tapping is done at the rocker/valve stem. Never understood why lifters are called tappets.
A friend breaks in his SBC stroker race engines with Rotella and then changes to Royal Purple. He used to use Gibbs but repeatedly had problems with incompatibility with alcohol fuel despite Gibbs assuring him the problem had been fixed. I use the Rotella 15-40 in my air cooled flat lifter pushrod mc engine and it works fine.
Oh yeah....another oil thread!

 

[khryslerkid]

I spoke with both Ken at Brad Penn/Penn Grade and a tech (forgot his name) from Lucas today. Ken says their oil has lower zinc content because it has a perfect balance of ingredients and too much zinc can hinder the break in process. Lucas tech says his oil is designed for that first 20 minutes and especially the first 5 and that his oil is balanced with other additives as well to ensure proper flat tappet cam break in. Both techs had great arguments for their products and represented their companies well. I also spoke with a Lunati Cams tech and he says go with the higher zinc Lucas. I personally don't think a person could go wrong with either brand as both have exceptional reviews.

Looks like you have it narrowed down to two.

I'd use either one.

 

[Ranger16]

Tappets? You want your lifters tapping on the cam? The tapping is done at the rocker/valve stem. Never understood why lifters are called tappets.

I've often wondered that myself.
I guess this splaines it.

• 
  

Definition of tappet

1. : a lever or projection moved by some other piece (such as a cam) or intended to tap or touch something else to cause a particular motion.
   
   
   
   

 

[miller]

Never understood why lifters are called tappets.

Gotta love it! Almost as much fun as floggin' a dead horse.

I was told, back in the day, there was hydraulic tappets, and solid lifters.

 

[wyrmrider]

IMHO the best widely available topest quality oil is EURO SPEC full synthetic- if it meets the spec from any vendor EUROSPEC is all type IV and V base stock so it needs less modifiers- if any so it does not shear down nearly as much as a type III (Castrol style) or blend (whatever that is)
weight depending on usage and clerances
I use 0w-40 as most wear is at start up and 0 flows quicker at any temperature
you can pick it up on sale at reasonable prices- and you can extend your oil changes unless you do a lot of short hauls in cold weather where you do not get warm enough to evaporate the bad stuff- water and acids

 

[Houle #382]

I always thought oil with high zinc content was the best and most of the time expensive until I found this web site www.540ratblog.wordpress.com there is some very interesting reading on oils by a engineer. You really should read this, it's long but very good as some of the best oils are not really that good for wear protection. I use to use Brad Penn as I thought it was very good oil till I read this article.

 

[khryslerkid]

I always thought oil with high zinc content was the best and most of the time expensive until I found this web site www.540ratblog.wordpress.com there is some very interesting reading on oils by a engineer. You really should read this, it's long but very good as some of the best oils are not really that good for wear protection. I use to use Brad Penn as I thought it was very good oil till I read this article.

Long isn't the word for it. Could you list your findings that are shying you away from Brad Penn (Penn Grade)

 

[wyrmrider]

Look up 540rat on Speedtalk
his ball and pressure test only covers one relatively minor aspect
a better article is the Corvair one out of Brazil but it's getting dated
1 the Eurospec oils for certain BMW and Mercedes are designed for flat tappets
2 Good base and some zinc is better than poor base and lots of zinc
3 NEVER add ZDDP to an SN oil (there are Calcium supplements you can use but do your homework)
4 oil specs change - even when the name does not- stay on top of it- big problem lately with some of the Diesel oils
5 you can go nuts at Bob the Oil guy
6 ditto with tranny fluid

 

[CompSyn]

I always thought oil with high zinc content was the best and most of the time expensive until I found this web site www.540ratblog.wordpress.com there is some very interesting reading on oils by a engineer. You really should read this, it's long but very good as some of the best oils are not really that good for wear protection. I use to use Brad Penn as I thought it was very good oil till I read this article.

I skimmed through the wordpress article linked above and found the following quote most relevant:

"a running engine is designed to last indefinitely, and of course, they do not generally cause an oil to reach its failure point. So, due to the complete difference in design, the pressures in my test are completely different, and cannot be compared directly to an engine’s lobe/lifter interface pressure. That would be comparing apples to oranges, which makes no sense."

In other words, if you want to know where one of the given oils is going to fail in the given laboratory bench top timken bearing tester, then by all means these tests are meaningful to you. If you want to know how one of the given oils protects an internal combustion engine driven on the street/strip/track; one cannot draw an accurate conclusion because it is an "apples to oranges" comparison.

 

[CompSyn]

Look up 540rat on Speedtalk
his ball and pressure test only covers one relatively minor aspect

540rat states: NOT a “4-Ball Wear Tester”.

More than likely he is using a test apparatus like this: https://www.falex.com/project/falex-timken/

 

[ir3333]

what do you guys think of this ..hope it works


zinc is a multi million dollar industry now!

 

[Ranger16]

Generally speaking, I take most of what Pat (no neck) Goss has to say with a grain of salt. I've heard him say some pretty stupid things. Of coarse in this case all he did was ask the questions.

That said, I've heard what this guy said before. You can drive yourself crazy with this Zinc thing. I just try to erro on the safe side, use the additive and hope for the best.

 

[HT413]

That oil testing blog reads like it was written by this guy

 

[wyrmrider]

but like I said no zinc additive with a SN oil
start with a good oil as some mentioned, Eurospec, Redline etc
do not try and beef up an old dino oil, don't last
and I agree on the break in only then 800 is fine
and 20 50 you do not want a thick oil unless you are in hot weather or pre heat

 

[ykf7b0]

The video confirms what I've been reading the past few days.

 

[wyrmrider]

oil formulas change regularly and videos get out of date

 

[ykf7b0]

?.......... seemed like good info to me for those who are not up on oil chemistry. I have never heard of or saw the Euro Spec that you really like.

 

[Dennis H]

Ahemmm. There are only 2 true PAO synthetics. Amsoil and Mobil 1. ALL others start with crude. Marketing scheming allows them to be called synthetics. They are not. Amsoil has the Zinc and seal-massage additive package that is preferred for my 440.

 

[Ranger16]

Here is another interesting read. Draw your own conclusions.
http://www.nonlintec.com/sprite/oil_myths.pdf

 

[Slap Stick]

Ahemmm. There are only 2 true PAO synthetics. Amsoil and Mobil 1. ALL others start with crude. Marketing scheming allows them to be called synthetics. They are not. Amsoil has the Zinc and seal-massage additive package that is preferred for my 440.

Not true. You can get group 4 and 5 oils from Red Line and Royal Purple.