I'm surprised to see no Porsche 356 racers or HP engine builders discussion.
Anybody?
Anybody?
Where are the Porsche 356 racers at?
- Thread starter jimrat
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jimrat:
I've been building 356/912 motors for over 30 years now & read most of the posts on this forum. While I like reading about the latest 0-20wt oils, etc., I'd never put them in these old 4-bangers - JMO.
I've been building 356/912 motors for over 30 years now & read most of the posts on this forum. While I like reading about the latest 0-20wt oils, etc., I'd never put them in these old 4-bangers - JMO.
Bill888, what oil do you recommend for the old 356/912 motors?
Johnny:
I don't want to open a can of worms here, but I've always used straight 30 (and 40 in hot climates/track conditions.) As for brands, any of the big names, however I realize that they're constantly changing. Castrol/Valv MLife/Havoline. I'm not going to say that the motors "like" these oils or somehow run noticeably better - but they do stay together. I've tried a few synthetics in the past, but the fuel contamination of the oil prevents even approaching a long drain interval on these motors.
I don't want to open a can of worms here, but I've always used straight 30 (and 40 in hot climates/track conditions.) As for brands, any of the big names, however I realize that they're constantly changing. Castrol/Valv MLife/Havoline. I'm not going to say that the motors "like" these oils or somehow run noticeably better - but they do stay together. I've tried a few synthetics in the past, but the fuel contamination of the oil prevents even approaching a long drain interval on these motors.
very very little air cooled engine discussion here unless you count motorcycles. I'd think that at least porsche fanatics would find their way here to fuel their obsession.
I had the 151st Porsche coupe built. I also have owned a 1956 super coupe and a 1963 coupe. My dad & I have rebuilt many 356 engines including roller crank engines. great cars in their time.
What size sump did these old motors have? And was there any filtration of the oil besides a pick-up screen? Do you improve the oiling/lube system in any way when you go through one of these motors? I'm just curious. I grew up with several old 60's VW beetles in the family.
I've never done any modifications to the oiling system, but I'll add that I don't build full-race engines. The original cannister filter does a great job, as does the stock oil pump. By the time the engines got to the 356SC/912 versions, they were pretty well developed by the factory.
I worked at a dealer from 73-77 and Castrol GTX 10-40 was used in all the cars. I had a 53 356 Coupe, 59 356A with a 56 Super 75 engine(hot)stuff back then. and a 62 356B. We had a customer with a 62 or so Carrera 2. I believe that cars oil lines ran up to the front of the car into coolers. Not your average 356!
Hi,
Bill888 - Yes we used SAE20w-20 in the Scandinavian and German winters and SAE30 was the "norm" in other seasons. If owners were heading south to Italy or Spain we used SAE40. I always used HD oils - these were the Factory fill then (Shell's Rotella/Rimula). I used Delo CAT Series 3 and Supplement HD specification lubricants after much testing of various lubricant types in many engine families (including Russian air cooled V4s) when I worked for Chevron-Caltex in Copenhagen (hence Delo, which was then and still is an excellent range of HDEOs))
I did much work with HD lubricants in VW (Series 1,2,3) in order to stop sludging which was common then in Europe when using PCMOs of the era (1960s). Of course multigrade lubricants were frowned upon by VW due to the oil cooler arrangements in early series engines
And yes fuel dilution was an issue then - either with or without an auto choke!!
Today the Porsche Factory's own Museum based air cooled engines use either a 15W-40 (mostly) and a mineral 20W-50 when "racing" their most valuable larger volumn exotic engines. The 20W-50 lubricantsa re always warmed to 80C before load is applied and revs exceed about 1800. All late series (not air cooled) engines use a fully synthetic lubricant
As a point of interest the latest DI engines use an electrically controlled oil supply pump and four scavange pumps - one at each corner of the pan
Bill888 - Yes we used SAE20w-20 in the Scandinavian and German winters and SAE30 was the "norm" in other seasons. If owners were heading south to Italy or Spain we used SAE40. I always used HD oils - these were the Factory fill then (Shell's Rotella/Rimula). I used Delo CAT Series 3 and Supplement HD specification lubricants after much testing of various lubricant types in many engine families (including Russian air cooled V4s) when I worked for Chevron-Caltex in Copenhagen (hence Delo, which was then and still is an excellent range of HDEOs))
I did much work with HD lubricants in VW (Series 1,2,3) in order to stop sludging which was common then in Europe when using PCMOs of the era (1960s). Of course multigrade lubricants were frowned upon by VW due to the oil cooler arrangements in early series engines
And yes fuel dilution was an issue then - either with or without an auto choke!!
Today the Porsche Factory's own Museum based air cooled engines use either a 15W-40 (mostly) and a mineral 20W-50 when "racing" their most valuable larger volumn exotic engines. The 20W-50 lubricantsa re always warmed to 80C before load is applied and revs exceed about 1800. All late series (not air cooled) engines use a fully synthetic lubricant
As a point of interest the latest DI engines use an electrically controlled oil supply pump and four scavange pumps - one at each corner of the pan
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