Hi,
usdart - Firstly, Welcome to the BITOG "family"
I would only consider a "mixed fleet" 15W-40 HDEO such as Delvac 1300 15W-40 as my first choice. Other Brands exist of course such as Delo and Shell's Rotella series
IMHO using the correct viscosity/specification is more important than the Brand
GEX did fine with me..I did some research and found complaints against all the Engine builders. So far the Engine is exactly as advertised and the few problems I had were Fuel pump, Generator..nothing to do with the Build.
usdart- a stock 1600 with dual port heads? Solex carb, and standard ignition?
If so, Doug's right. You could spend a fortune for Redline 15w40 or use a regular HDEO (15w40) and get great service. Fun car to work on. Enjoy.
Hi usdart
I have been building and driving high hp VW's since 1986, and I used to run the good old Kendall GT1 until...
Castrol has a new Syntec 20W50 that is supposed to have sufficient ZDDP to work with our cams and lifters. I have been using it in in my 94 x 78mm 2165cc for about 2000 miles and I'm about to send a sample off to Blackstone to see how it is performing.
Are you running dual VW diameter valve springs or just single wound? What is your gross valve lift?
Originally Posted By: Johnny
Can't spend a fortune on any oil for the old VW. It only holds 3 quarts.
My '71 had a "Deep Sump" for an extra 1.5 Qts. for a total of 4!!!! There are bigger sumps too. But the stock setup is SMALL. 2.5 quarts of oil and no filter. Yet 100K miles is easy to do. You can use 1 more on older stuff for the air filter!!!
Works good on 5W30-20W50 depending on how hard you drive it and miles on the engine.
In my bought new 1972 Beetle I used, according to the manual, straight 20W in the winter and straight 30W the other 3 seasons. The oil was Valvoline because that's all the autoparts store carried back then. No oil filter and it had an oil bath "airfilter". I loved doing the valve adjustments every 3,000 miles
You can say that again they have a terrible reputation. That is from personal experience and friends. I have a 1904cc boat anchor. Dropped a valve.After tearing it apart found a few other things going wrong