Mobil 1 10w40 High Mileage w Lucas High Mileage Oil Stabilizer in C4 Lingenfelter 383 Corvette

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Dec 20, 2020
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I bought the car last May, put this oil / additive combo in with a M1 filter. After spirited occasional driving over 10 months I changed the oil and sent a sample to the lab. I know many here hate Lucas products, I just wanted it for the viscosity bump with high mileage oil. This is a short OCI but I wanted to do it anyhow to see if any red flags would come up. I didn’t expect any, the car runs beautifully and the engine probably has less than 60k on it since it was stroked by Lingenfelter. At the next change Mobil 1 Supercar 5w50 is going in with no additives.
F981508D-C57B-4C8A-8EE9-375D6601B763.jpeg
 
Clean C4's are classically beautiful.

I haven't seen any 'bad' data concerning Lucas products. But, if it only thickens oil, why not just step up a grade?

Skip the 10w40/Lucas and run the 15w50 Mobil1. If you need/want viscosity, simply step up another grade. The Mobil1 Vtwin 20w50 looks pretty stout too, as do the other '50 grades from competitor brands... Redline, Amsoil, HPL, RoyalPurple, MPT, Torco, Castrol, Valvoline, Pennzoil... and all those fancy european oil brands.

Both Schaeffers and STP have oil thickeners with additives. I'd use either of those over Lucas thickener that doesn't. I truly wish that Lucas would give it an API level additive package instead of diluting whatever the oil has.

I've used the older 10w40 M1HM when it had the higher z/p levels. The good ol' days had the zddp levels over 1000ppm and now It has been greenified.

https://www.mobil.com/lubricants/-/...engine-oils-product-guide-sheet--may-2022.pdf versus http://www.billswebspace.com/mobil_1_product_guide.pdf
 
On one hand, you have an old, highly modified car with plenty of miles and an uncertain amount of mileage since Lingenfelter worked on the engine. Somewhere you have chosen to go to very high viscosity oils, and to add Lucas additives. You have also chosen to use the Mobil 1 filter, which is fine, but by no means the best. If I were in your shoes, I would use 0W40 Mobil 1 Oil, and GM OEM filter, or Wix. I would perhaps defer to whatever Lingenfelter says, if anything. Although you might be doing some track time, your engine is an overbuilt, generally understressed, American V8. My thought is that you are overthinking it, making an inadvisable oil choice and compounding it with an oil additive that's questionable at best.
 
Clean C4's are classically beautiful.

I haven't seen any 'bad' data concerning Lucas products. But, if it only thickens oil, why not just step up a grade?

Skip the 10w40/Lucas and run the 15w50 Mobil1. If you need/want viscosity, simply step up another grade. The Mobil1 Vtwin 20w50 looks pretty stout too, as do the other '50 grades from competitor brands... Redline, Amsoil, HPL, RoyalPurple, MPT, Torco, Castrol, Valvoline, Pennzoil... and all those fancy european oil brands.

Both Schaeffers and STP have oil thickeners with additives. I'd use either of those over Lucas thickener that doesn't. I truly wish that Lucas would give it an API level additive package instead of diluting whatever the oil has.

I've used the older 10w40 M1HM when it had the higher z/p levels. The good ol' days had the zddp levels over 1000ppm and now It has been greenified.

https://www.mobil.com/lubricants/-/...engine-oils-product-guide-sheet--may-2022.pdf versus http://www.billswebspace.com/mobil_1_product_guide.pdf
In general I use high mileage oil formulations in all of my 30 year old plus cars. 10w40 was the highest viscosity HM oil offered (that I’m aware of) and it’s not a particularly thick 40 weight at 13.92 V@100c (12.5 to 16.3 is the 40 weight V@100c range). Even with the Lucas this oil is 15.4 - still solidly a 40 weight - just a heavier one with high mileage add packs.
 
In general I use high mileage oil formulations in all of my 30 year old plus cars. 10w40 was the highest viscosity HM oil offered (that I’m aware of) and it’s not a particularly thick 40 weight at 13.92 V@100c (12.5 to 16.3 is the 40 weight V@100c range). Even with the Lucas this oil is 15.4 - still solidly a 40 weight - just a heavier one with high mileage add packs.
I believe Castrol EDGE makes a HM that is spec'd in the 15 cSt range. That and M1 HM are the only full synthetic HM oils I'm aware of that come in 10W40.
 
On one hand, you have an old, highly modified car with plenty of miles and an uncertain amount of mileage since Lingenfelter worked on the engine. Somewhere you have chosen to go to very high viscosity oils, and to add Lucas additives. You have also chosen to use the Mobil 1 filter, which is fine, but by no means the best. If I were in your shoes, I would use 0W40 Mobil 1 Oil, and GM OEM filter, or Wix. I would perhaps defer to whatever Lingenfelter says, if anything. Although you might be doing some track time, your engine is an overbuilt, generally understressed, American V8. My thought is that you are overthinking it, making an inadvisable oil choice and compounding it with an oil additive that's questionable at best.
In 1997 this car left Lingenfelter with a Quaker State 10w40 oil in it. I don’t know if they had a sponsorship or partnership with Quaker State but that’s what’s on the receipt. V@100c for the 10w40 Quaker State I could find is 15.7. This oil M1 HM + Lucas HM OS = 15.4.

The original owner of this car was John Potocki, the inventor of Tire Cradle and a drag racing enthusiast. He didn’t drag race this, this was his baby, but he did enjoy it and he was meticulous with its care and he ran M1 15w50 in it.

I don’t live far from Virginia International Raceway. This car will be enjoyed at multiple track days there this year, likely hitting 130 to 140 on the back straightaway. It will go faster than that - I’m just not sure if I’ll push it there. We will see.

I will also autocross race it 5-6 times this year. All in warm weather conditions.

A Ow oil isn’t necessary and a solid 40 or 50 will provide protection without sacrificing performance … at least that’s my thinking.
 
Clean C4's are classically beautiful.

I haven't seen any 'bad' data concerning Lucas products. But, if it only thickens oil, why not just step up a grade?

Skip the 10w40/Lucas and run the 15w50 Mobil1. If you need/want viscosity, simply step up another grade. The Mobil1 Vtwin 20w50 looks pretty stout too, as do the other '50 grades from competitor brands... Redline, Amsoil, HPL, RoyalPurple, MPT, Torco, Castrol, Valvoline, Pennzoil... and all those fancy european oil brands.

Both Schaeffers and STP have oil thickeners with additives. I'd use either of those over Lucas thickener that doesn't. I truly wish that Lucas would give it an API level additive package instead of diluting whatever the oil has.

I've used the older 10w40 M1HM when it had the higher z/p levels. The good ol' days had the zddp levels over 1000ppm and now It has been greenified.

https://www.mobil.com/lubricants/-/...engine-oils-product-guide-sheet--may-2022.pdf versus http://www.billswebspace.com/mobil_1_product_guide.pdf
Now that I’ve confirmed that there are no red flags with 10 months of trouble free use and a clean UOA I’m going to try M1 Supercar 5w50. I did refill with the M1 HM and Lucas HM OS at the last oil change. I may opt to install the Supercar early. We’ll see.
 

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In general I use high mileage oil formulations in all of my 30 year old plus cars. 10w40 was the highest viscosity HM oil offered (that I’m aware of) and it’s not a particularly thick 40 weight at 13.92 V@100c (12.5 to 16.3 is the 40 weight V@100c range). Even with the Lucas this oil is 15.4 - still solidly a 40 weight - just a heavier one with high mileage add packs.
Looks like vis is plenty thick. Handsome car.
 
Looks like vis is plenty thick. Handsome car.
The oil that was put in the car by Lingenfelter was 15.7. The original owner used M1 15w50 which is 18.0 (very commonly used in built high performance engines)

Mobil 1 HM is 13.92 (V@100c)

13.92 isn’t horrible, but it’s for sure not optimal protection.

There is an old tribologist saying that goes something like this “if you’re trying to reduce engine wear the top three oil properties, you should be concerned with are viscosity, viscosity and viscosity.”

Optimizing, fuel economy, or optimizing catalyst life require different oil properties. This car has hooker headers mated to a Corsa stainless exhaust with no cats. And as you might expect fuel economy is not what this particular build is about 😉
 
Mobil1's 15w50 should drop in visc over usage, as will the wider SAE spread supercar 5w50, which usually comes with more shearing than a narrower SAE range.

Use your inventory of oil/additives and move up to a thicker oil without additives.

~14cst UOA is excellent ending visc. Optimal visc is unknown and requires data. Viscosity, oil psi/flow, and oil temperature are what you need to adapt to. Visc only is a fools tribology. I can take a 0w20 and pick my running visc by varying sump size and oil cooler capacity, as needed, without touching the bottle SAE label grade. I could take a 50 grade, run it low on oil, remove the oil cooler, and its running visc could be worse than the 0w20.

I am no fan of M1 oil filters. What PN? Should be easily crossed to Fram Endurance, Purolator Boss, or WixXP/NapaPlatinum.
Purolator One are also ~blue in color.

HM oils are a marketing term and the advertising label means nothing since it still has to meet the requirements stated on its datasheet.
 
Mobil1's 15w50 should drop in visc over usage, as will the wider SAE spread supercar 5w50, which usually comes with more shearing than a narrower SAE range.

Use your inventory of oil/additives and move up to a thicker oil without additives.

~14cst UOA is excellent ending visc. Optimal visc is unknown and requires data. Viscosity, oil psi/flow, and oil temperature are what you need to adapt to. Visc only is a fools tribology. I can take a 0w20 and pick my running visc by varying sump size and oil cooler capacity, as needed, without touching the bottle SAE label grade. I could take a 50 grade, run it low on oil, remove the oil cooler, and its running visc could be worse than the 0w20.

I am no fan of M1 oil filters. What PN? Should be easily crossed to Fram Endurance, Purolator Boss, or WixXP/NapaPlatinum.
Purolator One are also ~blue in color.

HM oils are a marketing term and the advertising label means nothing since it still has to meet the requirements stated on its datasheet.
What’s the concern with M1 filters?
 
M1 filter does not use full synthetic media. But, M1 definitely charges like it does. Its a blend. You can get a blend in a One or Toughguard at a better price if you want blended media.. So, you are simply paying for my quarterly dividends and I do appreciate it.
 
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