Oil for rebuilt `74 VW Engine

[z00mz00m]

My family has a dune buggy that has a rebuilt 1974 VW Beetle engine in it and I need to know what oil to use in it.

The buggy was built w/ the frame and front/rear ends from a 65 VW as well as engine and tranny, but after having some problems with the `65 engine we put in this rebuilt 1600cc `74 engine.

I'd guess we have about 600-750 miles on it (no odo of course). Its not really a beach buggy, we mainly just ride around town in it during the summer. We had the valves adjusted around 500 miles (or so we thought) of riding, and I believe the mechanic changed the oil as well. A VW specialist has done all of our work for us.

We do a lot of short trip driving around town, practically no highway miles, and we take it to redline a lot.. love to hear the straight pipe roar

Oh yeah, it has a slight valve tap as well.


What oil should we start using? I just added some German Castrol 0w-30 into my Acura Legend last week and it quieted it down a lot, and everything is smoother, and I was considering that, but I wanted to check with everyone before I went and got a synthetic oil for this thing.


What do you all say?


Thanks!

 

[z00mz00m]

quote:

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Originally posted by G-Man II:
This VW engine has solid lifters, so selection of oil isn't going to quiet down a noisy lifter. You need to have the tappets adjusted.

For the kind of service this engine sees, I'd use a HD oil like Rotella T, Delvac 1500, or Delo 400--all in 15w40.

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aight ya, my dad said i didn't need to mention the tappin cause we'll have to adjust the valves to get those fixed


but lets see.. i'm not too familiar with those oils you just mentioned, i was lookin for more of an oil that u'd find at like walmart, advance auto, or autozone.

whats the best we could get from there? and also, could you include how long we could go using the oil(s) you recommend?

the 600-750 miles we've put on so far have been put on over about a whole year, we don't drive it that much, and almost all of those miles we be put on during the summer months

i'm guessin we should change the oil every 12 months right? or could we go longer with a high quality oil?


thanks for the reply

 

[G-MAN]

All three of the oils I mentioned are available at Wal-Mart in gallon jugs. If it were mine, I'd use the Shell Rotella T.

If you use one of the HD oils I mentioned, once a year changes should be fine.

[ March 28, 2004, 02:33 PM: Message edited by: G-Man II ]

 

[Chris142]

My dad bought a new 1970 bug and a new 1974 bug back in the day.

He put over 300K on between these 2 bugs, never rebuilt either. Never had oil burning problems but he did change the oil, clean the screen, retorque the heads and adjust the valves every 3k using only Pennz 10w-40. Yes he used the old 10w-40's that were supposed to be terrible as far as breaking down and sludge.

He wrecked the 74 at 160K miles. We pulled the motor just to check it out and it still has the hone marks and is spotless inside..

 

[z00mz00m]

it turns out my mom was hopin to go to costco today, so as her and my dad were leaving i told my dad the 3 oils u recommended, and i told him if the shell rotella was there then he should get that

hopefully they'll have it pretty cheap if they have it at all, if not, we'll just get it from walmart

he said the oil that was originally put in was either a 10w-40 or a straight 40 weight oil, not sure which one, gotta pull the receipt out and check

 

[JoggingGuy]

I had a 74 bug with the 1600cc engine also. Put 350,000 miles on it before I traded it in on a new car. Used Havoline 10W40 in winter and 20W50 in summer. Those engines had no oil filter, just a screen underneath the oil plate. I just changed it when it got dirty, usually around 1500-2000 miles. Any of the 15W40 oils would probably work great in that engine.

 

[G-MAN]

This VW engine has solid lifters, so selection of oil isn't going to quiet down a noisy lifter. You need to have the tappets adjusted.

For the kind of service this engine sees, I'd use a HD oil like Rotella T, Delvac 1500, or Delo 400--all in 15w40.