New guy here,
A quest for information on Zinc/ZDDP brought me to BITOG … and now my head is spinning just a little.
Before finding this site I thought I was pretty well set on which oil to use in my old Honda which has not run in 25yrs. But now I’m thinking I’ll throw the question out there and see what sort of opinions you guys may have. So here goes …
Which oil should I consider for my car?
The car is a 1968 Honda S800 Sports car. It has 800cc’s of raw horsepower under the hood turning its roller-bearing crankshaft up to 9,500rpm’s. The timing chain spins dual over head cams riding directly on buckets actuating the valves. Just for the heck of it I thought I’d also mention the factory service limit is 0.002in for piston to cylinder wall clearance (which I believe is pretty close even by today’s standards?) and there are no valve guide seals. And before someone confuses this for another early Honda we’re talking about a water cooled inline four cylinder here.
On a multigrade oil the factory owner’s manual recommends SAE 10W/30 (SAE 30 on a single grade) for temps up to 86F and SAE 20W/40 (SAE 40 on a single grade) for 86F and above. Now living in Southern California it is possible the car would see temps above the 86F but unlikely.
My plan is/was to run the Valvoline VR1 10W-30 because of its rating as well as the advertised increased ZDDP levels which will hopefully protect those over head cams and followers.
Now I’m thinking a synthetic might be the way to go? What about the ZDDP? Do any of the synthetics come preloaded with enough to protect an older engine like this?
Hopefully I haven’t been too long winded. I look forward to any insight or recommendations the forum may have to offer.
JohninCM
A quest for information on Zinc/ZDDP brought me to BITOG … and now my head is spinning just a little.
Before finding this site I thought I was pretty well set on which oil to use in my old Honda which has not run in 25yrs. But now I’m thinking I’ll throw the question out there and see what sort of opinions you guys may have. So here goes …
Which oil should I consider for my car?
The car is a 1968 Honda S800 Sports car. It has 800cc’s of raw horsepower under the hood turning its roller-bearing crankshaft up to 9,500rpm’s. The timing chain spins dual over head cams riding directly on buckets actuating the valves. Just for the heck of it I thought I’d also mention the factory service limit is 0.002in for piston to cylinder wall clearance (which I believe is pretty close even by today’s standards?) and there are no valve guide seals. And before someone confuses this for another early Honda we’re talking about a water cooled inline four cylinder here.
On a multigrade oil the factory owner’s manual recommends SAE 10W/30 (SAE 30 on a single grade) for temps up to 86F and SAE 20W/40 (SAE 40 on a single grade) for 86F and above. Now living in Southern California it is possible the car would see temps above the 86F but unlikely.
My plan is/was to run the Valvoline VR1 10W-30 because of its rating as well as the advertised increased ZDDP levels which will hopefully protect those over head cams and followers.
Now I’m thinking a synthetic might be the way to go? What about the ZDDP? Do any of the synthetics come preloaded with enough to protect an older engine like this?
Hopefully I haven’t been too long winded. I look forward to any insight or recommendations the forum may have to offer.
JohninCM