Synthetic or dino for a drag racing application?

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I have a 1986 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z that I drag race about once a week in the summer. The motor (350) has 70,000 miles on it. I think GM recommends 10W30 for it (don't have the manual). I read the advantages of synthetic oil, but I don't drive this vehicle in the winter and I probably wouldn't extend my oil change intervals due to the car's application. The Camaro isn't strictly a race car; I drive it moderately in the summer, too.

The last oil change I put in Mobil 1 full synthetic, but I think I might have done so unnecessarily. Should I switch back to dino?
 
How about going with Schaeffer's 10w30 blend? I'm running that in my 95 Firebird Formula and I drag race about once a month during racing season.

It's approximately a 25% synthetic, but performs better than Mobil 1 (at a lower price too!), and has a higher HTHS so it'll handle the hard driving very well.

Don't drain out the Mobil1 just yet though, keep it in there until your next interval. So sense draining out fresh oil, Mobil 1 is still a very good oil (I just personally feel their 5w30 and 10w30 is too thin for a GM V8 engine)
 
quote:

Originally posted by Patman:
Mobil 1 is still a very good oil (I just personally feel their 5w30 and 10w30 is too thin for a GM V8 engine)

Just curious what experiences or data caused you to come to your opinion. Do you know if any engines have experienced excessive wear or damage because Mobil 1 was "too thin"? Or could it be that the oil is providing adequate protection but just "flows better" than others?

Not disputing your opinion, just bringing up some food for thought.
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DoctorZ
 
Drag racing is not that hard on any quality oil. heat kills oil drag racing won't kill oil road racing is hard oil.


If synthetic makes you feel better use it. you can,t go wrong .
 
quote:

Originally posted by DoctorZ:

quote:

Originally posted by Patman:
Mobil 1 is still a very good oil (I just personally feel their 5w30 and 10w30 is too thin for a GM V8 engine)

Just curious what experiences or data caused you to come to your opinion. Do you know if any engines have experienced excessive wear or damage because Mobil 1 was "too thin"? Or could it be that the oil is providing adequate protection but just "flows better" than others?

Not disputing your opinion, just bringing up some food for thought.
smile.gif


DoctorZ


I say it's too thin because a lot of guys I know with LS1 V8s burn a lot more oil when using Mobil 1, but when they switch to a thicker 30wt oil like Redline or Amsoil, the rate of consumption goes way down.
 
I think a lot of that is just LS1's. I've used Mobil 1 in other GM V8's and they don't have nearly the consumption of some LS1's. I'd definately agree with Steve S. about road racing being much harder on an engine oil.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Patman:

quote:

Originally posted by RobZ71LM7:
I think a lot of that is just LS1's. I've used Mobil 1 in other GM V8's and they don't have nearly the consumption of some LS1's. I'd definately agree with Steve S. about road racing being much harder on an engine oil.

It's not just oil consumption though, I also have a strong belief that the thinner 5w30/10w30 Mobil 1, with it's lower HTHS, is not going to show as good wear numbers as a thicker 30wt oil would, with an HTHS above 3.5.


I do recall the great result from that one 10w40 GTX oil analysis in an LS1. Isn't he running 5w30 GTX now? Know when his next analysis will be?
 
I haven't seen the guy post in a while, so I'll send him an email tomorrow morning to see if he's got results on the 5w30 yet (I have his email address on my work computer)
 
Since your drag racing,you obviously want to get the most performance from the engine...Least amount of friction=more Horsepower...i would think a synthetic would be best for your application....
 
quote:

Originally posted by RobZ71LM7:
I think a lot of that is just LS1's. I've used Mobil 1 in other GM V8's and they don't have nearly the consumption of some LS1's. I'd definately agree with Steve S. about road racing being much harder on an engine oil.

It's not just oil consumption though, I also have a strong belief that the thinner 5w30/10w30 Mobil 1, with it's lower HTHS, is not going to show as good wear numbers as a thicker 30wt oil would, with an HTHS above 3.5.
 
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