Good day all,
I have an original, well taken care of, 1966 Olds Toronado with an unmolested 425 high compression engine and I live up here in Canada. I've been struggling trying to figure out what oil to use in the thing. 80,000 miles on the odometer and it runs great. The owners manual calls for 10W-30 oil but of course this was mid 60's oil.
Now, I've done a bunch of research and for these flat tappet engines everyone seems to recommend Valvoline VR1 as it seems to have the right amount of ZDDP for this engine, amongst other things. Now, here's the important factor......here in Canada we cannot get VR1 in 10W-30. The ONLY weight available here in that brand is 20W-50 which isn't quite right for this car. I've also seen Castrol Classic, but again the only version is the 20W-50. I've seen Lucas Hot Rod oil, however it almost seems like that stuff has way too much zinc (now, I could be wrong about that). All the well recommeded high zinc oils do not seem to be available here.
Anyway, the important thing here is my location......Canada. We do not have the selections that you have in the states. Everyone starts talking about Driven oil, VR1, etc and the reality is you just can't get any of those here. When it comes to these oils, I'm betting there's some sort of government regulation going on here.
In the meantime, I've just been using Shell Rotella T4 10W-30. If I can't locate a better oil, is this stuff alright to use in my car? Should I bump up to the 15W-40 version or just keep on keepin on with 10W30? Maybe someone knows of a better oil that is actually available here?
Thanks!
I have an original, well taken care of, 1966 Olds Toronado with an unmolested 425 high compression engine and I live up here in Canada. I've been struggling trying to figure out what oil to use in the thing. 80,000 miles on the odometer and it runs great. The owners manual calls for 10W-30 oil but of course this was mid 60's oil.
Now, I've done a bunch of research and for these flat tappet engines everyone seems to recommend Valvoline VR1 as it seems to have the right amount of ZDDP for this engine, amongst other things. Now, here's the important factor......here in Canada we cannot get VR1 in 10W-30. The ONLY weight available here in that brand is 20W-50 which isn't quite right for this car. I've also seen Castrol Classic, but again the only version is the 20W-50. I've seen Lucas Hot Rod oil, however it almost seems like that stuff has way too much zinc (now, I could be wrong about that). All the well recommeded high zinc oils do not seem to be available here.
Anyway, the important thing here is my location......Canada. We do not have the selections that you have in the states. Everyone starts talking about Driven oil, VR1, etc and the reality is you just can't get any of those here. When it comes to these oils, I'm betting there's some sort of government regulation going on here.
In the meantime, I've just been using Shell Rotella T4 10W-30. If I can't locate a better oil, is this stuff alright to use in my car? Should I bump up to the 15W-40 version or just keep on keepin on with 10W30? Maybe someone knows of a better oil that is actually available here?
Thanks!
Last edited:
?
