Engine just rebuilt after cam failure, which oil?

[shribe]

1972 Impala with a 350. When the engine was done about 6 years ago my engine builder said straight 30 weight. Last fall it wiped a cam lobe, and he said it was the fact that zinc was taken out of oils and causing cam failures. He told me to use Rotella 15 40 as has zinc. My normal mechanic says the engine guy is full of it and that a synthetic has twice the lubrication properties and after break in, will be better than such a thick oil.

So should I stick to Rotella, or go synthetic after break in and add zinc as an additive?

 

[ChiTDI]

Welcome to the club, and did the builder stand by his build or just pass it on to you? Was the rebuild stock?

 

[Turk]

Either Rotella or a Zinc additive "for sure"!

 

[Jaymus]

Eww, straight 30 weight in a newly rebuilt engine.

That'd be overly hard on the engine mainly if you made many, many short trips.

 

[Chris71]

If you don't have a catalytic converter, try Brad Penn Penn Grade 1 Partial-Synthetic Green Oil racing oil. It has 1200 ppm of both zinc and phosphorous. Your cam will love it. Try the 10w-30. You'll probably have to order it by the case from a Napa or other auto parts store. Some engine re-building shops have it.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Well most SAE 30 oil would have plenty of ZDDP in it as long as it is not a SM oil. I think that the really high levels of ZDDP are most important dureing break-in but it cannot hurt to keep useing a high ZDDP oil. Last I checked Rotella 10W30 had plenty of ZDDP and so did Rotell,Delo and Delvac 15W40. If you want to have a synthetic and plenty of ZDDP and a good HTHS but do not want to scarifice cold weather performance I would use Rotella-T Synthetic 5W40. It is $16 a gallon at Walmart and has enough anti-wear additives to keep a comercial diesel engines valvetrain happy. A lot of the problem is also with the cam cores used by a lot of cam manufactures. Most of them are being made offfshore wich means China and other thirdworlds nations. Now these places are not know for their great quality control. It is usualy heat treatment that suffers since it is the most cost intensive operation after smelting the ores!

 

[OVERKILL]

Delvac 1 5w40 or M1 TDT 5w40. Will keep that FT happy. The latter is readily available at Walmart and is not overly expensive.

 

[shribe]

The guy rebuilt the whole thing and put in a comp 268 (same specs as the general kinetics it replaced) and it cost $1100. This was after 6 years but not many miles as it is a summmer only car. Thanks for the responses, I will definately make sure the zinc level is high. Is there a synthetic that would work after the break in? Is the comp cams additive overkill? As long as I am here, what filters are the best?

 

[ChiTDI]

Yeah, many of the oils above are synthetic. The Delvac, Mobil 1 TDT, and the Rotella T 5w40(not 15w40) are synthetic with lots of zinc.
The filter choice you can search the archives and let us know what you chose.
What about that Brad Penn oil? Have a converter?

 

[shribe]

No converter, I have never heard of the Brad Penn oil, but would be willing to try it so I don't have the same issues.

 

[ProStreetCamaro]

Delo 400 will work perfectly. Still has 1200ppm or more zinc in it and it can be purchased at wal mart for around $11 a gallon. Thats what we run in both of our street rods. One of which makes a little over 600hp with a BIG solid flat tappet cam and the other around 400hp with a lunati voodoo flat tappet cam.

 

[HM12460]

been using mobil 1 15w-50 in my 1974 ford. 400 inch small block. excellent product.

 

[Chris71]

The Brad Penn Penn Grade 1 10w30 has 1,500 ppm zinc and 1,410 ppm of phosphorous so it would be ideal for you. You don't want the regular Brad Penn oil for this application. Make sure it's the racing "Green Oil". An auto parts store such as Napa can usually order from the sales rep. Post later if you're having trouble getting the oil and I'll talk to my sales rep and see what can be done in your area.

 

[RI_RS4]

The following Renewable Lubricants oils will work extremely well in this engines:

RLI Super High Performance 5W40 HD

Renewable Lubricants 10W30 Super High Performance 10W30 HD

Renewable Lubricants Super High Performance 15W40 HD

Renewable Lubricants Super High Performance SAE 40 HD

All are based on the same chemistry and have similar additive packages that will work with your engine. I did a VOA on the 5w40 and the SAE 40

........... SAE 40 .... 5W40
Calcium .... 2558 ..... 2533
Magnesium ... 11 ....... 13
Zinc ........ 1688 .... 1492
Phosphorus .. 1277 .... 1527

 

[ThirdeYe]

Originally Posted By: Chris71
The Brad Penn Penn Grade 1 10w30 has 1,500 ppm zinc and 1,410 ppm of phosphorous so it would be ideal for you. You don't want the regular Brad Penn oil for this application. Make sure it's the racing "Green Oil". An auto parts store such as Napa can usually order from the sales rep. Post later if you're having trouble getting the oil and I'll talk to my sales rep and see what can be done in your area.


Slightly off-topic but how would the racing "Green Oil" fare in a daily driver such as my Integra, for OCI's of between 3-5k? I saw some at a local store and was tempted to try it.

 

[JustinC25]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Delvac 1 5w40 or M1 TDT 5w40. Will keep that FT happy. The latter is readily available at Walmart and is not overly expensive.


Neither is available at ANY Wal-Mart in my area. I have even checked at our tractor supply company. Not available in NH.

 

[OVERKILL]

Wow!! Ghetto Walmart! Even up here in Canada we have the M1 5w40 Turbo Diesel Truck Oil!!! That's unfortunate.

 

[txrhino]

Im using Valvoline VR-1 30 wt in my '67 mustang. It has more Zn/Ph than just about anything straight off the shelf. I was set on using a diesel oil until I came across their VR-1 in 30 wt.

 

[Chris71]

Did you see the actual racing oil or just the plain Brad Penn regular oil? I wouldn't advise the racing oil in a daily driver unless you removed the catalytic converter because the green racing oil has so darn much zinc and phosphorous. Those two elements can plug a converter very easily. The oil itself should hold up very well for just a few thousands work. It would be a lot cheaper to just run the regular Brad Penn if you have a completely stock car. Another benefit of Brad Penn oils is that they are made from pure Pennsylvania basestocks so the oil really clings to the parts inside your engine.

 

[artificialist]

Not much, since the high ZDDP formula is mostly for OHV engines with stiff valve springs, high cam ramp rates, and high RPM, which puts extreme pressure on cams and lifters.

OHC and DOHC engines wouldn't need it, neither would roller cam OHV engines, or OHV engines that aren't high performance.