Oil for completely stock 1973 Pontiac 400 with 100K+ miles.
- Thread starter JRHAWK9
- Start date
Which makes the 0W-40 from Walmart even more sensible. There is zero reason to use the Driven product here. Euro 0W-40 has documented performance. I doubt the OP’s engine and driving habits will stress the oil worse than the Porsche A40 tests.Remember, you need 6 quarts
That's always my argument over other options. I've had many VW people ask why I don't just run Liquimoly since it's the most popular choice in the tuner community for Golfs. It's not in a 5qt jug for $27 on the shelf at Walmart available every day.
Looks like M1 15w50 has a healthy dose of it and is for flat tappet applications.
Do we know the levels of ZDDP in the "flat tappet friendly" oils I listed versus the M1 0w-40? That's the only reason I suggested the ones I did, as they seem purpose designed for a engine of his vintage/design. I've only had one hydraulic flat tappet cam engine('84 2.8L V6) and for the life of me I cant remember what type of oil we used after rebuild break in.
Opinions are all over the place online whether or not extra ZDDP is needed after initial cam break in. It seems to range from either "must have" to "no need, don't bother".
That’s been discussed quite a few times on here. Here the spring pressures are nowhere near in the “high” range, the amount of ZDDP in Mobil 1 0W-40 is entirely sufficient. And as you note this engine is broken in.Do we know the levels of ZDDP in the "flat tappet friendly" oils I listed versus the M1 0w-40? That's the only reason I suggested the ones I did, as they seem purpose designed for a engine of his vintage/design. I've only had one hydraulic flat tappet cam engine('84 2.8L V6) and for the life of me I cant remember what type of oil we used after rebuild break in.
Opinions are all over the place online whether or not extra ZDDP is needed after initial cam break in. It seems to range from either "must have" to "no need, don't bother".
Zinc or ZDDP, is a consumable additive. Unless this Pontiac is driven a lot, just keep fresh oil in it. I believe it would live a long happy life on a nice 10w30. I would run the GTX Hot Rod oil. And my 2 classics are worth quite a bit.
The 0w40 fs has more than average zinc as well. The 15w50 might be a bit much for your engine unless you're really running it hard. I always found mine to feel slightly more sluggish and noisier at idle with xw50 even though I have low (10 psi at idle) oil pressure. I probably need to do the oil pump like you did but it's unchanged for 200,000kms now.
My 350 hits 4000 rpm occasionally these days while passing or merging onto the highway but it really doesn't feel like it's working hard at any time.
It’s only consumable as it deposits onto the metal surfaces where it’s supposed to be. It doesn’t anywhere near “run out” during an OCI.
Any 30/40 found at Walmart will be far superior to a 1973 oil. Among those, M1 0W-40 stands out.
Exactly. That's why a mild flat tappet cam should be fine with 10w30 oil changed regularly.
I remember those days, 10w-30 in winter, and 10w-40 in summer.
Here's a copy/paste from back when I had a car website. Photos are from when it was cleaned up right after I fixed it from hitting a deer in 2002. It has been sitting in the garage for the past 10-12 years or so and is very dusty now, but it will soon be getting cleaned up again. My plan is to have my nephew drive it in a yearly car cruise/show/parade I go to every year that has us drive the parade route right before the parade. It's next September, as it was this years one that gave me motivation to get it back out. https://www.algomacarcruise.com/ It's soon going to be signed over to my nephew, which is going to be hard to do, but I just don't have the time to drive it with the 3 other cars I have. It does it no good to sit. The brake line rusted out and him and I will be installed new brake lines in the next couple weeks. It also has the typical TH350 dump tranny fluid on the ground after sitting that lots of TH350/400's do from the TC draining out.
The 6.5L tag on the rear truck lid I took from the '73 Grand Am that the motor came from. It was in that same location on the Grand Am as well.
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I bought this car in 1989 when I was a junior in highschool with a blown Olds 260 V8 for $300. A friend and I then put a '73 Pontiac 400 in it from what was our family car, a 1973 Grand Am. I have put many hours into it never thinking it would ever turn out the way that it did...it's far from perfect, but a ton better than I ever could have dreamed of. It has new rear quarters, new doors, new rear bumper, new trunk lid, all the interior (dash included) with the exception of the front buckets and console, came out of a 1976 Cutlass Supreme Brougham in which I bought for only $20!! All the original red interior was gutted and all the rust holes were patched with steel plates that my dad got from work. The car was painted the day I graduated from HS, which was Friday, June 8th of 1990 and has been holding up ever since. I continued to improve it as time went on and around 1995 or so I decided to install a stereo system (see pics below). In 1996 I received my first car show trophy with it at Allouezfest's Precious Metals Car Show, which sees around 500-700 cars, so I was pretty happy, until I hit a deer with it a few months later and it stayed in storage for awhile because I was in college and could not afford to do anything with it. In 2002 I decided it sat long enough and pulled it out of storage and began to fix it. There was a total of around $2000 damage done, but luckily I had good collectors insurance that covered all of it. The following pictures represent how it looks like today, as I still have the car.
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Photo's of it in progress and with the old interior. Keep in mind, I was a 17 year old kid and I started with a $300 car that we had to pull out of a snow bank with a blown motor. One thing I would have done differently knowing what I know now is I would have started with a better rust free car from down south.
Steering wheel in these photos is from the Grand Am.
Steering wheel in these photos is from the Grand Am.
That's a good looking car.
Been a while since i saw a nice set of keystone classics.
Been a while since i saw a nice set of keystone classics.
Agree. Those spinners are an old school touch.That's a good looking car.
Been a while since i saw a nice set of keystone classics.
