Hey all -
New here. I am a working stiff that loves Datsun Roadsters (and my wife and kids
. I have a '66 1600 and building a custom 67.5 with Buick GN turbo 3.8 with WC T5 5 speed. Been lurking a while have read a lot of this forum and find it very good!
I have been working in Tribology for 13 years, but don't call myself a "Tribologist" because I don't have the paper on the wall. Mine says Materials Engineer. I work mainly in space lubricants and a lot with Solid Film Lubricants. We do get into typical lubes - like now with the crawler transporter bearing issue.
On the side we do some motor oil tests with the Shell 4 ball tester. Over the years we have tested many oils. We have tested new and used oils at various miles in many cars. As you can guess, synthetics are always on top. I run Mobil 1 in my cars now. A rep for Royal Purple came by the other day and dropped off a bunch of oil products and literature.
Which (finally) brings me to a question. The RP 5w-30 ran better on the Shell 4 ball then comparable Mobil 1. I read the thread on RP oils and will try some in the Mazda P5. Is anyone familiar with the Shell 4 ball test and how it relates to the real world of motor oils? I feel it tests the EP additives, but this is only part of the picture.
Also, I am looking into suggesting to switch all MSFC/NASA vehicles over to sythetics. Do other brands have a complete line of lubes? RP does have a good line of products. RP is a lot of sales pitch, but I work with evidence and not hipe. We have lost satallite performance/big dollars due to engineers believing lube salesmen. As you can guess, we need to test everything until we are blue in the face before we fly it.
You all have a great day and keep the good info coming!
Phil
New here. I am a working stiff that loves Datsun Roadsters (and my wife and kids

I have been working in Tribology for 13 years, but don't call myself a "Tribologist" because I don't have the paper on the wall. Mine says Materials Engineer. I work mainly in space lubricants and a lot with Solid Film Lubricants. We do get into typical lubes - like now with the crawler transporter bearing issue.
On the side we do some motor oil tests with the Shell 4 ball tester. Over the years we have tested many oils. We have tested new and used oils at various miles in many cars. As you can guess, synthetics are always on top. I run Mobil 1 in my cars now. A rep for Royal Purple came by the other day and dropped off a bunch of oil products and literature.
Which (finally) brings me to a question. The RP 5w-30 ran better on the Shell 4 ball then comparable Mobil 1. I read the thread on RP oils and will try some in the Mazda P5. Is anyone familiar with the Shell 4 ball test and how it relates to the real world of motor oils? I feel it tests the EP additives, but this is only part of the picture.
Also, I am looking into suggesting to switch all MSFC/NASA vehicles over to sythetics. Do other brands have a complete line of lubes? RP does have a good line of products. RP is a lot of sales pitch, but I work with evidence and not hipe. We have lost satallite performance/big dollars due to engineers believing lube salesmen. As you can guess, we need to test everything until we are blue in the face before we fly it.
You all have a great day and keep the good info coming!
Phil