Recommend a Break In Oil

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Boomer

Boomer

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A friend has two rebuilt engines that he wants to fire up. Both are flat tappet with strong valve springs so he will need a good break in oil with high zinc, etc to harden the cam and lifters. After spending time on the search function and not getting anywhere, what do you all recommend he use? He is not trying to save money here but rather do the right thing to give long lived engines for his restored cars
 
Rotella, delo, delvac.Use the cheap one, no need for fancy syns here.
I hope he has assembly lube on the cam..
 
Also you could just use Rotella and add the Redline break in additive.

http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=121



Bottle (16oz) contains:
33.8 grams total ZDDP (zinc dialkyldithiophosphate)
17,000 ppm, 7.8 grams Phosphorus (P)
20,500 ppm, 9.4 grams Zinc (Zn)
16.6 grams Sulphur (S)


Increases of antiwear per quart by using one bottle (16oz.): Oil capacity:
Phosphorus Zinc
15 quarts 610 ppm 736 ppm
12 quarts 763 ppm 920 ppm
10 quarts 915 ppm 1104 ppm
8 quarts 1145 ppm 1380 ppm
7 quarts 1307 ppm 1577 ppm
6 quarts 1525 ppm 1840 ppm
5 quarts 1830 ppm 2208 ppm
4 quarts 2288 ppm 2760 ppm
1 quart 9160 ppm 11040 ppm

Half Bottle (8oz.) When Treating:
12 quarts 382 ppm 460 ppm
10 quarts 458 ppm 552 ppm
8 quarts 572 ppm 690 ppm
6 quarts 763 ppm 920 ppm
5 quarts 915 ppm 1104 ppm
4 quarts 1145 ppm 1380 ppm
 
Originally Posted By: ac_tc
Rotella, delo, delvac.Use the cheap one, no need for fancy syns here.
I hope he has assembly lube on the cam..

+1. Something HDEO and make sure it gets hot to activate the AW additives.
 
on a one of the recent eps of fast n loud, they tried using regular oil(o'reilly house brand IIRC) with a break in additive. didn't work too well.
they rounded of the cams. lots of metal in the filter. even a few "nuggets"
had to have the engine Re-rebuilt, second time around used actual break in oil (as recommended by their engine builder)they tried to hide or obfuscate the label, but you could still tell it was Joe Gibbs
 
You have to break in the cam WITHOUT the full valvespring set installed ( 250 lb wear in springs) , THEN put the heavy springs on. Almost No shadetree does this as its " too much trouble" then you might suffer the consequences and end up with a worn cam - esp if it was not induction hardened - just furnace hardened in china. If I was building a semi-serious motor (over 1hp/cu-in) it would have a full roller set up - youll get ~20 % more low end torque with a good roller on a 2-valve head.
 
Meh, we've pulled it off for decades here, many hot rods built with lots of valve timing and aggressive springs. Most were long before anyone used much roller hardware, now everything worth much has a roller cam in it.

Of course our oils back then were different, but likely not as good as we have now.

The big trick is RPM, most cam producers have specific specs that may need 2500 rpm or so IMMEDIATELY with no long cranking times either.

ANY cam I buy is subjected to my BIL's inspection first. He tells me if it's OK or not, then we move forward...
 
Any 15W40 DIESEL OIL as others stated. It can be store brand like NAPA, O'Reilly, Autozone, SuperTech, Etc. You will drop it soon to purge metal shavings anyway, no need for all the additives unless you have money to burn.
 
Originally Posted By: Dufus2
Any 15W40 DIESEL OIL as others stated. It can be store brand like NAPA, O'Reilly, Autozone, SuperTech, Etc. You will drop it soon to purge metal shavings anyway, no need for all the additives unless you have money to burn.


Many of the cams I have purchased from Crane, Comp Cams, etc., have had specific products furnished to be used during the break in period. Crane even sent assembly lube as well...
 
Joe Gibbs has a system of assembly lube and break-in oil that is designed to form the protective anti-wear film on the internals of the engine as quickly as possible. Get on their website and read up on it. It seems to me that they have really done a lot of thinking about this issue. As others have said here, it's a good idea to break in on lower load valve springs, and once you confirm that the engine has oil pressure, go to 2500-3000 rpm immediately to decrease load on the cam and lifter surfaces.
 
RP has an oil made just for breaking in engines, especially ones with flat lifters and heavy valve springs. It was the first time I ever saw such an oil, so it is what I would use. I am sure the equivalent oils from Joe Gibbs and Amsoil are also suitable.

I don't like the idea of putting some performance additive in engine oil, ever.
 
Originally Posted By: earlyre
on a one of the recent eps of fast n loud, they tried using regular oil(o'reilly house brand IIRC) with a break in additive. didn't work too well.
they rounded of the cams. lots of metal in the filter. even a few "nuggets"
had to have the engine Re-rebuilt, second time around used actual break in oil (as recommended by their engine builder)they tried to hide or obfuscate the label, but you could still tell it was Joe Gibbs


I saw that, too. As soon as he said they were going with an additive and regular oil I thought "enjoy your rounded cams"
 
Don't forget Valvoline VR-1.

@Subdued: A buddy told me about that episode. I guess some people don't know how to break in a high performance application. Before he even finished the story I suggested they should have used a proper break in oil.
 
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