General Discussion on Racing Oil

[Tim C]

I am trying to sort through all the advertising hype and get some facts regarding racing oil. I know there are special needs for alchohol and nitro engines but let's keep the topic on four stroke engines running on race gas (gasolene).

I have read a bit on this board and have heard recommendations of ELE HTX833, MOTUL 300V, Torco SR-5, and the new Mobil 1R 0W30 that is comming soon. I don't know the prices or how available these products are. I am sure there are others too.

I am interested in finding an oil to use in my drag racing application that is not extremely expensive, and I don't have to get it mail order from Austraila, but has the extreme duty scuff resistance, low drag, low friction and non corrosive properties. I am talking a racing only application so the product does not have to be compatible with a street driven machine. This is my first post and I am very interested in getting some feed back from the experts on this site.

Tim C

 

[Titanium_Alloy]

Why not to try Redline? Although, I'm not a very big fan of Redline they might work well in your engine. You can choose regular or racing oil depending on how often you want to change it. I suppose a combination of Mobil 1 5/10W-30 and 15W-50 in certain proportions can be good. Amsoil Series 2000 0W-30 should be very stable for racing. I probably wouldn't go now with Mobil R 0W-30, because there hasn’t been any feedback (or you can try it and give us your feedback

). Why go to all this trouble obtaining super special oils? Redline is cheap and readily available from this site sponsor (link in the lower left corner) as well as Amsoil oils from site supporters.

Regards,

 

[msparks]

What type of racing are you doing??

What type of car? Engine size? Turbo? What type of Oil Temperatures? Sump Size?

 

[Ken2]

20W-50?
http://www.schaefferoil.com/data/705.htm
http://www.schaefferoil.com/petty/petty2.htm


Ken

 

[csp203]

0w-30 oil for racing makes no sense to me. Unless you are racing in canada in december! All the racing that I see is done in warm weather. Nobody races with a cold engine. I really do not know anything about racing engines or how to care for them. It just seems that a more stable 10w-30 or even 15w-40 would be the way to go. If I am wrong (most likely), please set me straight.

 

[theguru]

All of the oils mentioned are fine, but I would include Redline racing oils (their street oils may be ok). I think it would be best to speak to the distributors of these products and seek their expert advise.

 

[buster]

quote:

---

0w-30 oil for racing makes no sense to me

---

Not true, a 0w-30, in the right engine/car/conditions will give you more HP and better heat transfer.

 

[Tim C]

msparks

The car is a 1965 Pontiac LeMans with a Pontiac modified 1973 455 engine running modified iron factory heads with 12:1 compression. The car weighs about 3600lb. is naturally aspirated and runs 10.90's @121 in the 1/4 mile. Based on the weight and the track times the car should be making around 600HP at the fly wheel. The car is not driven on the street. It has a factory 5 quart pan and I don't monitor oil temperature. Since it is drag racing I don't think the oil gets too hot although at the rods it may get hot as with drag racing it's full power the whole race. The car is shifted at 6,200 RPM and goes through the traps at 6,000 RPM also. I am currently using Quaker State 15W40 synthetic blend and NAPA Gold filters. I am not sure I am getting the protection I need though.

Tim C

[ January 19, 2004, 10:21 PM: Message edited by: Tim C ]

 

[scooter996]

75% of nascar teams are running the 0w30 r oil or something similar. Its around $6-7 quart. Why 0-30. Your right you dont race a cold engine thats why its a 30 ontop. You know how much air is getting thrown at cooling an engine at 200+ mph. No need for more than that 30weight. Buster I agree. If your doing drag srips I know people that use half the amount of oil needed or required. Less drag and the cars done in 12 seconds or less. My friend vette has 650 at the crank before the 2 stages of NOS hit and he has no trouble with the 5w30 thats recommended by Chevy.

 

[Tim C]

Wouldn't it be a good idea to use the OTC oil I am now using and just add a bottle of EOS to it? I am using Quaker State 15W40 synthetic blend, add a bottle of EOS and now I have a good racing oil? What do you think?

Tim C

 

[porterdog]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Tim C:
The car weighs about 3600lb. .. and runs 10.90's @121 in the 1/4 mile.

---

 

[Terry]

Tim C,

analyze the oil instead of guessing. $35 is a cheap insight for you and will pay for itself in this car !

FYI , one key to look at is 40C vis not 100C for the needs of this drag racing engine.


Terry

 

[gudmund]

for your info, Pontiac of this era all had 6qt oil capacity stock and in 66/67 7qt.(same pan,they only changed the dip stick) Pontiac motors all the way up until they quit building them always had at least a 6qt. capacity(yes it is a 5qt. pan/6qt.with filter). The one thing that helped them hold more oil was the fact that they always had a windage tray, something that had to be added on everyone elses motor for hp use but Pontiacs came stock with. If you ever come across one,a 66/67 dipstick, try it in yours, the oil will show a qt. low. they switched back to the 6qt stick so as to lower the cost of oil changes for the consumer being almost everyone else used less oil at each change. cheaper

 

[Tim C]

Terry,

How do I test my oil? And what will this tell me? I know that the military and civilian jet aircraft operators test engine oil on a regular basis to look for unusual wear so they know when it's time to yank the engine for a tear down. They use a system called spectroanalysis that heats the oil into a gas and then measures the amount of certain matals in the oil. Since I have no baseline and any wear indicated will mean nothing as to if my oil is doing the job or whether another oil will do a better job. I don't understand how testing my oil will help me find my way to a good racing oil? I was just looking for a recommendation. Thanks.

Tim C