OCI Recommendation for street driven track car.

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GutsyGecko

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Engine in question is a ford modular 4.6. Original recomendation was any 5w-20 meeting ford spec. (Many conventional oils meet the spec). Engine is shifted at 7200 rpm under race use, but has a 4200 stall converter so spends even its street miles above 3k rpm all the time. Has a hot Crower cam (.581 lift), higher compression, and aftermarket heads/pistons/con rods.

Engine is all ECM controlled, so fuel dilution isn't an issue. The engine is happy to idle in traffic and is very comfortable to drive so it gets driven any day it doesn't rain (even to work and what not). It gets maybe 1/6 of the miles put on the car at a racetrack. Usually about 500 miles a month on the track, with 2k to 2500 street driven miles. Not just drag but track racing where the engine will stay above 4-5k rpm for a few hours on a good day (oil temp can push 280F+ with oil cooler)I tend to use 30wt or thinner 40wt oils depending on anticipated usage.

Last few fills have been Valvoline VR-1 synthetic 10w30 (the cobalt blue stuff). I'm not particularly interested in getting every last mile out of the oil for obvious reasons. What would you guys suggest for an OCI?
 
Do you have an oil pressure gauge? If so, I would use that to determine how thick the oil needs to be.

I suspect M1 0w40 is fine, however.
 
I do have an oil pressure gauge. 75 psi at anything over 1500 rpm. That's the bypass setting. 25 at normal idle. 15 at HOT idle. (Like right after running a few laps. Low pressure light never illuminates at a 30wt or above. You get a flicker with an xw-20.
 
I have zero experience with your engine but i did some trackdays in past. I would go 3k miles with M1 and 3500 with ester based oils.I know everyone will say Mobil is just as good etc.,but it isn't. For daily drive yes,but long trackdays are different matter.
 
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Originally Posted By: GutsyGecko
I do have an oil pressure gauge. 75 psi at anything over 1500 rpm. That's the bypass setting. 25 at normal idle. 15 at HOT idle. (Like right after running a few laps. Low pressure light never illuminates at a 30wt or above. You get a flicker with an xw-20.


In that case, I would probably just stick with a 5w30. Lots of good choices these days.
 
On a car that gets tracked and has such a high stall rate I would say 3k miles. But to be sure you should have a couple of UOA's done, chechking for shear in particular. VR1 is a very shear resistant oil and should do well in your application. What type of oil temps do you see when you track the car?
 
Originally Posted By: 29662
On a car that gets tracked and has such a high stall rate I would say 3k miles. But to be sure you should have a couple of UOA's done, chechking for shear in particular. VR1 is a very shear resistant oil and should do well in your application. What type of oil temps do you see when you track the car?


As said in original post. Oil temps can push 280F. The normal 60F warmer than coolant.
 
Originally Posted By: GutsyGecko
Originally Posted By: 29662
On a car that gets tracked and has such a high stall rate I would say 3k miles. But to be sure you should have a couple of UOA's done, chechking for shear in particular. VR1 is a very shear resistant oil and should do well in your application. What type of oil temps do you see when you track the car?


As said in original post. Oil temps can push 280F. The normal 60F warmer than coolant.




SteveSRT uses m1 0w-40 in his SRT hemi,with temps in excess of 300f,and the used oil analysis showed nothing out of the ordinary.
A mod motor is certainly stout as far as durability but 280f might be a bit much for even a 30 grade as far as film strength is concerned.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Is that 75psi at 1,500 hot, IE, the same as you have when it is 15psi at idle?



It'll still build the 75 psi, but it moves towards needing 2-2.5k to do it.
 
I'll take a stab at this.

What is the normal OCI for this kind of vehicle w/o tracking? Let's call that X (let's call this 5000 for the example below).

Time/temperature would be the main factor. 1/6 mileage isn't 1/6 time, but if we use 1/6 track mileage for time, then your OCI should probably be like X * 2/7 (about 1430 miles).

If your track time is about 1/20, then your OCI should be around X *4/7 (2857 miles).

I based the above on your oil being 40 degrees C hotter at the track than under normal conditions.
 
I was thinking 40 degrees C rise is probably too much... It's probably more like 20 or 30 degrees C.

1/6 time (20 C rise) 2/3 X.
1/20 time (20 C rise) 20/23 X.

1/6 time (30 C rise) 6/13 X.
1/20 time (30 C rise) 20/27 X.
 
Originally Posted By: Skid
I was thinking 40 degrees C rise is probably too much... It's probably more like 20 or 30 degrees C.

1/6 time (20 C rise) 2/3 X.
1/20 time (20 C rise) 20/23 X.

1/6 time (30 C rise) 6/13 X.
1/20 time (30 C rise) 20/27 X.



Right, but the factory 5k was based off of Dino oils. What would a good synthetic be based off of. 10k?
 
Originally Posted By: GutsyGecko
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Is that 75psi at 1,500 hot, IE, the same as you have when it is 15psi at idle?



It'll still build the 75 psi, but it moves towards needing 2-2.5k to do it.


Thanks for the clarification.

Still pretty low RPM to be generating that kind of oil pressure. Makes me hesitant to recommend something thicker really, though I doubt it would hurt. M1 0w-40 is a fantastic oil but I'm not really sure it is needed here. What kind of power are you making if you don't mind me asking?
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: GutsyGecko
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Is that 75psi at 1,500 hot, IE, the same as you have when it is 15psi at idle?



It'll still build the 75 psi, but it moves towards needing 2-2.5k to do it.


Thanks for the clarification.

Still pretty low RPM to be generating that kind of oil pressure. Makes me hesitant to recommend something thicker really, though I doubt it would hurt. M1 0w-40 is a fantastic oil but I'm not really sure it is needed here. What kind of power are you making if you don't mind me asking?


Power is somewhere in the 350 area. About 75 horse over stock. Not a crazy build, but very good power from a 281 cubic inch engine. The 4.6 mod motors have a VERY high volume oil pump. Anything over idle builds tons of pressure.
 
Originally Posted By: GutsyGecko
Right, but the factory 5k was based off of Dino oils. What would a good synthetic be based off of. 10k?


Well, I don't know what an appropriate normal OCI would be, so I left it as X.
 
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