Still stay w/conventional?

[vregan]

About 7K miles ago, I rebuilt the engine on my '89 Corvette. It used a quart of dyno oil every 450-500 miles (compression is fine on all cylinders) when using 10-30 or 10-40 oil. I'm now using Valvoline Racing 20-50, have 250 mi. w/little oil used (less than a 1/2 pint).

Would I be ok to go to synthetic (20-50?) at this point? I eventually want to switch to syn., but don't want to until oil consumption is minimized even though I put in a very aggressive cam, etc.

 

[Petrou]

i would wait. i still go by the old way of engine building. change the oil at 500. then again at 3000. try to do as much highway as possible. after about 10,000 miles go to snthetic. if you really wanted you could change the oil at 500, then again at 2500 then again at 5000 then switch to synthetic. something like mobil 1, in a 5-30 or 10-30. the 5-30 is factory fill in all corvettes now. i wouldn't use a thick oil like 20-50 after the first 500, its just a little thick, keep it at like 10-30 or 5-30. valvoline synthetic is a good product as well. hope this helps

 

[bubbatime]

Sounds like the rings never seated. Take that thing to the track and run it hard.

 

[Chris142]

Did you use chrome rings?

 

[2oldtommy]

Flat tappet or roller cam? I think your choice of oil should be determined by the cam manufacturer.If flat tappets,stick with an oil with high zinc level.