One to ruffle some feathers

[glennc]

I would mention that we are not talking about "mechanics" here but race engine builders, a fairly unique subset of that group. I don't know if you guys are aware of this, but the best engine builders are exceptionally observant and intelligent people who would not have the success they do if they did not carefully observe every detail of their work and exploit every advantage, large or small. If such a person notices a difference in wear between oils substantial enough to mention it as an important consideration in his work, then it is IMO probably a valid and significant difference.

Perhaps one could correlate it to one's own work. What factors that affect your own success to the degree that engine wear will affect that of a race engine builder do you not pay excellent attention to? Assuming that you are exceptionally good at what you do, of course.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie

Now, I'll rely on the same mythos to speculate that a 302 is an old engine and it probally works "best" on older formula oils. Not bad oils, but synth probally does it little good.

Contrast now with modern "race" engines that need modern oil, period. Are these 302 engine buiders really investigating all possible lube options?


I'm the one who dragged 302's into this, I doubt they (they shop in question) deals with them much.

On "old formula" oils, you get [censored] accumulation in the lifter valley.

A good friend of mine's car that was run on GTX had stuck rings on FIVE CYLINDERS!

This was a nitrous car.

Yet another friend, who ran Syntec, and the same quantity of nitrous had clean pistons. Same ECM in both cars. Similar time frames on the bottle.

The engine in my Town Car was not as clean as the engine in my Mustang. Mustang engine has spent a good 1/2 of it's life (the latter half) on M1, the TC has spent MOST of it's life up until I acquired it, on good 'ol Dyno. But both engines have made it to 300+ thousand Kilometers so unless you are trying to see just how far the engine will go (which I am) then you really have to weigh the benefits. If I had left the TC stock, there really would have been no point switching it to M1.

One of the people that has done some experimentation, who is my camshaft grinder, ran 0w20 in his 302 for a season. His reasoning was that he could spin the engine to 9K and that he had better protection using the thinner synthetic than he would using a thicker conventional. The 20-weight resulted in less power loss due to pumping; this was one of his arguments.

So yes, there has been some experimentation. Remember, these are not STOCK engines. Nitrous is hard on things. And getting the head on a Vortech rebuilt is expensive as well....... And it gets engine oil.

The new Modular engines don't seem to accumulate [censored] like the old Windsors did, but then.... Oil is better now than it was in the 80's........

 

[Drew99GT]

OK, sheesh!

 

[[RT] ProjUltraZ]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
One of the people that has done some experimentation, who is my camshaft grinder, ran 0w20 in his 302 for a season. His reasoning was that he could spin the engine to 9K and that he had better protection using the thinner synthetic than he would using a thicker conventional. The 20-weight resulted in less power loss due to pumping; this was one of his arguments.


i believe he felt a difference but without UOA the experiment is incomplete - unless he's satisfied trading wear for small hp increases

 

[OVERKILL]

He didn't do a UOA; at the end of the season he tore the engine down and checked cylinder and bearing wear.