Highest ZDDP Conventional Oil for 2020

Nicasio

Nicasio

Joined
Nov 24, 2013
Messages
382
Location
Rocklin, CA USA
I know the oil companies change their formulations from time to time... What’s the latest news for high ZDDP oils in 2020? Right now my ‘68 Skylark with a rebuilt 462 has Valvoline 10W-30 conventional oil with a bottle of Lucas TB Zinc Plus added to it. I only have about 700 miles on the car since fully restored and plan on changing the oil once a year since I hardly drive it. What oil has equal to or more ZDDP than my current set up. I’d like to skip having to buy the separate bottle off ZDDP additive if possible. Also, I’m a huge fan of full synthetics, but should I stick to conventional oil on these old school motors?
 
Probably hard to beat any 10w30 off the shelf diesel oil if you don't want to get into anything too fancy. But I would take into consideration the details of your engine because certain parts may require a tougher oil. Possibly higher viscosity if you ware going to wring it out real good once in a while. What does your engine builder suggest?
 
Excluding any diesel oils, for conventional, I think you're pretty limited, especially if looking for something with detergents for street use or that doesn't have too much Zinc. I know for 20w50 when I researched recently I only came across three conventional oils that had higher levels of Zinc / Phosphorous versus what most of the 'regular' oils have (~800?ppm give or take?)

For conventional, gasoline 10w30, I think you might be down to:

Valvoline VR1 racing oil 10w30 conventional, 'recommended' for street use if no cat. converter, Zinc 1400 ppm, Phosphorous 1300 ppm

US_Val_VR1Mono_MO_EN.pdf - DocuSign CLM

sharena21.springcm.com sharena21.springcm.com

Also there is:
Lucas Hot Rod & Classic Car Motor Oil 10w30, Zinc 2100 ppm, and 0.19 Wt% phosphorus
lucasoil.com

Hot Rod & Classic Car 10W-30 Motor Oil

Lucas Hot Rod & Classic Car Motor Oil SAE 10W-30 is manufactured with the highest quality paraffinic base oils and is fortified with a unique additive package containing high levels of zinc, molybdenum and phosphorus, which provides a tougher, thicker additive film for maximum protection even un...
lucasoil.com lucasoil.com
I don't know if this is a concern for your engine, but for my car (SOHC) I would worry about that 2100 Zinc level being too high. Also specifically states, 'Not recommended for passenger car use', I don't know how much you will drive the car and if you need a strong detergent pack

FYI's Lucas' 'regular' conventional 10w30 has 861 ppm Zinc.


Kendall, which is an option for me with 20w50, doesn't make a conventional higher zinc 10w30 (at least per their website). Neither does Motul, which advertises a higher ZDDP conventional for 20w50, but in any case their tech. sheet didn't list the specific ZDDP level


Most of the higher zinc oils I found, for classics, hot rods, racing, etc, were syn or syn blend (Penngrade notably being a partial syn). The AMS oil recommended above is synthetic, to be clear.


FYI, the current Valvoline regular 10w30 conventional, Daily Protection, has 760 ppm Zinc, and 690 ppm Phosphorous

Expired - DocuSign CLM

sharena21.springcm.com sharena21.springcm.com

I can't speak to the other questions such as conventional vs syn
 
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Here’s a copy and paste of the valve spring info from TA Performance
Product ID: TA_1435A
400-430-455 Stage 1 PLUS Valve Springs .575 Lift
Our latest addition, these springs have been specifically designed to work with camshafts up to .575”
O.D. 1.265
90 lbs @ 1.870
305 lbs @ 1.300
Coil Bind 1.110

[TD valign="top"] [/TD]
 
Cam specs also from TA Performance.
Product ID: TA_290-94H
455H.491"-226'/.502"-235',112'
​
​
Good street/strip cam. Gives 30 HP over stock cam. Stock rockers ok, TA valve springs recommended. Small stall converter recommended. Power Brakes ok. Fair Idle. 9.0:1 or more CR. Average Idle 1000 in Park, 750 in Gear.
Idle Quality:
Fair Idle - heavy lump

VALVE LIFT
  • STOCK 1.55 RATIO:
    IN: .476”
    EXH: .486”
  • TA ROLLERS 1.60 RATIO:
    IN: .491”
    EXH: .502”
DURATION
  • AT .050
    IN: 226
    EXH: 235
  • ADVERTISED
    IN: 290
    EXH: 294
  • LOBE CENTER: 112
  • POWER RANGE: 2200-5200
 
Just to add some more thoughts, when I was researching what ZDDP levels were in 20w50 for most "off the shelf" conventional oils available at most retail stores, most PDS's did not list any value for zinc or phosphorous, so that will hamper research, you may need to rely on any VOAs out there (hopefully with 10w30 being a more used grade than 20w50, there will be more VOAs).

Here's some figures I did find for 'regular' conventional oils, for 10w30 for gasoline engines

Valvoline Daily Protection 10w30 conventional, API SP
Zinc 760 ppm
Phosphorous 690 ppm

Expired - DocuSign CLM

sharena21.springcm.com sharena21.springcm.com


Havoline 10w30 conventional SN Plus
Zinc, mass % 0.080
Phosphorus, mass % 0.068


MAG1 (Warren Distribution) 10w30 conventional API SP
Zinc, wt. % 0.085
Phosphorus, wt. % 0.077


Lucas Oil 10w30 conventional API SN Plus
Zinc, 861 ppm
"P", wt. % .08 max


Chevron Supreme 10w30 conventional SN Plus
Zinc, mass % 0.080
Phosphorus, mass % 0.067


Sinclair 10W-30 conventional API SP
Zinc, wt. % 0.085
Phosphorus, wt. % 0.077



But the following oils generally don't show ZDDP levels in their online PDS; if I just overlooked it, I mean no disparagement:

Driven Racing Oil HR2 10w-30 Conventional Hot Rod Oil
www.drivenracingoil.com

Driven XP9 10W-40 Synthetic Racing Oil

Driven XP9 10W-40 Synthetic Racing Oil
www.drivenracingoil.com


Castrol GTX 10w30 conventional


Pennzoil conventional 10w30
www.pennzoil.com

Pennzoil® Motor Oil

Pennzoil® motor oil is formulated with Active Cleansing Technology and is proven to protect engines in SAE 10W-30, 10W-40, 20W-50, 5W-20 and 5W-30 viscosities.
www.pennzoil.com www.pennzoil.com


Quaker State Advanced Durability conventional 10w30


Citgo Superguard 10w30 conventional


Peak 10w30 conventional


Amalie Imperial Turbo or HPO Turbo, conventional 10w30




Also the Phillips 66 brand does not market a conventional 10w30 (per website listings). For Motorcraft, on their website, it looked like 10w30 was only available in a blend, I could be wrong

I couldn't find a gasoline conventional 10w30 from Warren Oil (Coastal, LubriGold). I didn't look now, but when previously looking for 20w50, I did not readily find PDS's for "white label" / store brand oils like Napa, Carquest, Supertech, Amazon, STP, O'Reilly. I know Warren Distribution (Supertech, Amazon) seems to be good about providing the info when contacting customer service, per posts on here
 
Last edited:
Sorry to keep bumping, but didn't want to add this just as an edit in case people who already saw the post would miss the addition. Since my personal focus has been on 20w50, I didn't think immediately of Driven Racing Oil which has a 10w30 conventional 'hot rod' oil which says it has higher zddp levels. I couldn't find a PDS for it for the specific amounts, nor could I tell if it is appropriate for street use. @JeffKeryk's very helpful link to the corvetteforum post on ZDDP does list a zddp level for Driven, but the thread is 10 years old so it may have changed

www.drivenracingoil.com

Driven XP9 10W-40 Synthetic Racing Oil

Driven XP9 10W-40 Synthetic Racing Oil
www.drivenracingoil.com
 
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Here’s some more ZDDP testing from the PelicanParts forum. I stumbled upon this searching on Summit Racing’s ZDDP Performance Oil. Interesting.

Oil test ZDDP - Pelican Parts Forums

Most technically inclined gearheads understand the value of real world, motor oil load carrying capacity/film strength testing. The results show us
forums.pelicanparts.com
 
Nicasio said:
I know the oil companies change their formulations from time to time... What’s the latest news for high ZDDP oils in 2020? Right now my ‘68 Skylark with a rebuilt 462 has Valvoline 10W-30 conventional oil with a bottle of Lucas TB Zinc Plus added to it. I only have about 700 miles on the car since fully restored and plan on changing the oil once a year since I hardly drive it. What oil has equal to or more ZDDP than my current set up. I’d like to skip having to buy the separate bottle off ZDDP additive if possible. Also, I’m a huge fan of full synthetics, but should I stick to conventional oil on these old school motors?
Click to expand...
I would wait until it's broken in, but nothing wrong with using synthetic especially if you only have to buy it once a year. However finding it with higher zddp is harder. I run m1 0w40 euro FS in my 76 olds 350 which has just over 1000ppm of zinc if I remember right (Castrol edge 0w40 is similar) but I have a stock smog era camshaft which doesn't need much extra protection. Depending on how big your camshaft is you might want slightly more than that.
For conventional you can get Valvoline vr1 and I think it's like 1400ppm IIRC, but it's not cheap locally here, cost almost double a full synthetic on sale.
Edit: just saw your cam specs. I would probably want something with more zddp for peace of mind...as long as you don't short trip it you could probably go 2 years on something like amsoil z rod 10w30. You're going to run it hard I assume from time to time, personally I'd want synthetic.
 
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Nicasio said:
Here’s some more ZDDP testing from the PelicanParts forum. I stumbled upon this searching on Summit Racing’s ZDDP Performance Oil. Interesting.

Oil test ZDDP - Pelican Parts Forums

Most technically inclined gearheads understand the value of real world, motor oil load carrying capacity/film strength testing. The results show us
forums.pelicanparts.com
Click to expand...

That's just a regurgitation of the nonsense 540Rat blog which has been beaten to death on here thousands of times.
 
You're running a pretty mild camshaft and springs, although it is more stout than stock. I'd want a little more ZDDP, but no need to overdo it. Driven GP-1 10w-30 sounds like a great candidate for you. Change it every 4-5k miles or 1 year. If on a really tight budget, Rotella T4 15w-40 will suffice.

ZDDP is a double-edge sword. It's acidic in nature so the higher the concentration, the higher the oil's acidity without proper changes in the oil's additive package to compensate. This is why I never recommend those aftermarket supplements. You don't know what you're getting with those, and they almost always upset the balance of the oil's formula. I like the least amount that'll get the job done.
 
RDY4WAR said:
You're running a pretty mild camshaft and springs, although it is more stout than stock. I'd want a little more ZDDP, but no need to overdo it. Driven GP-1 10w-30 sounds like a great candidate for you. Change it every 4-5k miles or 1 year. If on a really tight budget, Rotella T4 15w-40 will suffice.

ZDDP is a double-edge sword. It's acidic in nature so the higher the concentration, the higher the oil's acidity without proper changes in the oil's additive package to compensate. This is why I never recommend those aftermarket supplements. You don't know what you're getting with those, and they almost always upset the balance of the oil's formula. I like the least amount that'll get the job done.
Click to expand...
I used to use those supplements, but I changed the oil every 3 months at the most back then. Now I drive less KMs, just run 0w40 and change twice a year, no supplements needed.
 
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