Oil Recommendation - 64 Chevy 283

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Is the Castrol GTX Classic good by itself? Would additional additives be beneficial?
it's just a thick high zinc oil with i think 1200ppm zn and that's what's considered "classic' but 15w40 hdeo or Mobil 1 0w-40 all have around 900-1100 ppm of zinc and phosphorous while 15w-50 is 1300ppm and is just better formulated. The price gtx classic isn't too good. A few bucks more gets you 15w-50 and for a lot less any cheap hdeo will still protect it way better than what it used to get filled with back in the day.
 
Is the Castrol GTX Classic good by itself? Would additional additives be beneficial?
It was formulated for classics. I have 6 quarts on the shelf for my 65 Oldsey 4-4-2.

A few more points...
I like HDEO "Diesel" in 60's engines because of the high detergents. If the 283 internals are kinda yucky, a service with Shell Rotella T will help.

Elevated Zinc is really needed for higher camshaft spring pressures. Any 10w30 should work well in that engine. Millions of flat tappet cams lived a long life on reduced Zinc oils.
 
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Used Delvac 1300 15w40 in mine for many years, the 283's I had when I was younger got whatever I could lift from my Dads oil stash.
 
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Is it the original 283 in it?

283 don't care what oil. It just wants to be full. It's had 4000 different brands and weights in it's lifetime and made it this far. Probably been rebuilt in a garage 6 times by now using JC Whitney rebuild kits. Keep an eye on consumption, it's going to use more than you think, it is not a modern no/low consumption motor!
 
Is it the original 283 in it?

283 don't care what oil. It just wants to be full. It's had 4000 different brands and weights in it's lifetime and made it this far. Probably been rebuilt in a garage 6 times by now using JC Whitney rebuild kits. Keep an eye on consumption, it's going to use more than you think, it is not a modern no/low consumption motor!
This.

My 69 GTO, with a factory 73 455 short block, seems to like semi syn or conventional 10W40. Currently it has Castrol semi syn in it, but it's seen all manner of brands over the 20 plus years I've had it. If you have a working oil pressure gauge, I'd let it tell you what weight to run. I'd start with 10W40 and go from there based on the pressure I was seeing.
 
The 1964 283s were the first to get moly rings. Dealerships had a lot of oil consumption work while these cars/engines were under warranty. Bon Ami sales spiked that year…
 
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