Ok, first off, car is an 86 tbird turbocoupe. I bought it with 97k miles. It had a new turbo on it at the time, and experience since leads me to believe the motor was rebuilt as well. This motor is NOT intercooled and the turbo is water cooled. It is modified, and I've pushed the outer limits over this winter with 18psi of boost (stock = 10) and ~2 degrees timing advance over stock. While I've not had it to the dyno, or even to the track for that matter, I'm a bit fuzzy on the hp rating, but judging from my times based on very safe testing area near my house, I'm probably putting somewhere near 200-225hp to the rear wheels, so I'm making >100hp/liter at the crank. I will be installing an intercooler soon, and probably going to ~22psi when I do (likely to see a 40-50hp jump.) On pump gas, the last 2500 miles have been run with the settings described. I have shots of the plugs, if anybody is interested, and while I was pushing it, I obviously wasn't pushing it TOO far:
http://troutlake.net/gallery/album127
(click thumbnail to get 640x, click it to get full size)
On the oil: I've been pretty religious about 3000 mile changes since I've owned the car. It currently has ~132k on it. Downside: It's all been dino oil (havoline mainly, 10w-30), and those wonderfully good cheap fram oil filters (sarcasm.) The oil has had a tendency to darken quickly, usually enough for me to be uncomfortable after about 2500 or so miles. I've never done (or even heard of, for that matter) oil analysis till finding a link to this site on either nato or turboford.
Ok, one other thing that may be pertinant, after reading here, and seeing what you all consider hard driving, I must say that my level would be somewhere around "I beat the ever-loving out of it every single time i drive it." It sees many many WOT occasions pretty much every time it gets driven. Keep in mind, these motors are built like tanks, and can take an amazing amount of abuse for a 4 cylinder in a 3200 pound car.
I've not found many recommendatons for turboford engines in the archives, but I did find one post that hinted at the fact that they are... not typical... when it comes to oil selection.
Well, I've been searching and searching, and there seems to be a lot of... not contradictory advice, because it's obvious there are many approaches to oil choice that work perfectly fine, but some confusion and enough conflict to make me change my mind about oil selection on a regular basis.
I'll be changing to a k&n oil filter without a doubt, simply due to the flow ratings. Yes, I do have a k&n air filter as well, and plan on keeping it till some UOA's come back with bad results, because the 2.3L TF engine is one of those that DOES see a huge improvement with a cone mount k&n. The stock airbox/routing is horrid and far undersized.
I think my first choice would be redline, considering the extremely hard conditions I apparently subject this motor to. I do work at home, and probably 90% of the time it's driven long enough to heat the oil up.
If I can find GC locally, I may try that, it seems to hold up pretty well in the turbo UOA's I've seen.
Mobile 1 is another consideration, as well as some of the xW-40's for heavy duty applications.
Weight choices: if GC, obviously a heavy 0w-30. If redline, i'm leaning to a 5w-40, or a 5w-30, not really decided.
If money was no object, I'd already have a few cases of redline sitting around... so money is a pretty big consideration here.
Car has a bit under 3000 miles on the oil right now, but I recently had the first seziure of my life last month at 33 years old. TN laws state that I can't even drive a motor vehicle for 6 months. It's not been diagnosed even after a ____load of testing, now it's just a wait and see game.
Ok, another question. I'd like to get a UOA on the current oil, but I fear it's going to show unreasonable wear due to the oil breaking down (turning dark is a sign of that, right?) Do you think it's going to help in the long run, or should I just start with the good oil on my next change?
Wanted to add, this is a wonderful site that's taken up probably 80+ hours of my time since i signed up reading and learning. I had no idea how much I didn't know about the subjects expounded here. Look forward to learning more in the future!
[ May 16, 2005, 12:30 PM: Message edited by: Asimov ]