Hot Rods What oil do you run in your hot rod?

hello from france ;
i use igol heritage gtz 20w50 ..
i have a friend who has 1955+1956+1957 chevy+ 1932 hot rod
another friend has 1955+1956+1957 chevy , so we buy a 60 liters oil can , ( seller is a friend too , he do a really good price);
it cost 3 euros / liter (2.5 dollars/quart )normal price is about 15 euros /liter
and we share the oil ...

 

Lucas Hot Rod and Classic Oil 10-30

 

I run Kendall 20W-50 high zddp oil. My local speed shop has it and the price is right at $5.99/quart.

 

Look for has Zink

 

Don't know if you guys have a Menards out east but they have it for $4.99 a quart and often have 11% rebates throughout the store.

 

i choose igol heritage gtz because it has zinc in it..

 

I wish Valvoline would make VR1 in 10W40. I mix it myself sorta with the 10W30 and 20W50. Also, I thought they cut the zinc way down in Rotella when the DEF thing started???

 

I use Shell Rotella 15W40 with a bottle of ZZDP. May be overkill but I'd rather err on the side of caution than have it the other way.

 

WOW two oil posts in the same day. Now that has to be some sort of a record.

I used to use high grade compressor oil but these days I don't even turn that one on because I got an oiless compressor. I think the motors on both are Dayton.

Oh cars? well now lets see. I have a belly button, because lets face it anything without a belly button is an alien. You know what they say about aliens, right? Castrol 20W40 in the summer and 10W30 in the winter.

An Rocket but I have not oiled it yet. Probably Castrol 50 is what I am going to recommend to its nest owner. Its set up pretty loose.

A shovelhead (its just an 80" motor nothing special) its got summer oil in it now, Drag Specialties this time because it was on sale and is good oil. 20W50 (I use 20W40 in the winter) but when I can afford it I use Castrol in it too.

The rest of the time I do not use lubri-cunt at all. But this is a family forum and that is really NUNYA isn't it.

Probably time for me to fly I have answered just one too many dumb@$$ssed questions for today.

 

That shows the oil has 805 ppm of zinc, that's what is typical of modern engine oils that meet current specifications that have limits on the amount of zinc/phosphorus. If you like the oil, that is fine, but there is not a lot of zinc there.

 

Not quite. There was was a reduction in the allowable levels, but still quite a bit more than what you'll find in modern passenger car motor oils. However, in 2017 a new specification for heavy duty diesel motor oils was introduced, and with this new spec there was a change regarding oils that are co-licensed, that is those that carry both SN (PCMO) & CK-4 (HDMO) license. Previously if the label on the bottle showed the C_ license first, and the S_ license second, they allowed the oil to contain the higher C_ spec zinc level. That has changed due to passenger car OEM's request so that if the oil carries both license it must meet the SN spec, i.e. no more than 800ppm. Many HDMO's were reformulated with less zinc in order to carry both license, such as Delo 400. Other's dropped the S_ license, like Rotella T 15W40, in order to continue with the higher zinc levels. So you have to read the label and see what it says. If it's a CK-4 HDMO and it also lists SN, than the zinc level has dropped down to the SN specification. I hope that makes sense. Read the label, don't just go by a post by someone you don't know on a forum.

It's overkill. You're not really erring on the side of caution, you could be screwing up the chemistry of the oil by dumping in the additional zinc, causing reduced performance overall. It's really not recommended.

What are you putting this in? Is this something with an extreme high lift & extreme spring rates? Or something more moderate? Rotella T carries ~ 1200 ppm of zinc, that should be fine for most all applications.

We've gone over this and discussed this topic to death before, that's why I posted earlier to do a search, there's a lot of information already posted on this topic.

 

"What are you putting this in? Is this something with an extreme high lift & extreme spring rates? Or something more moderate? Rotella T carries ~ 1200 ppm of zinc, that should be fine for most all applications"

It's an old Pontiac 370 cu in V/8 engine with a .490 lift cam and the heads were already rebuilt with new springs when I bought them. Max RPMs it about 5800 R's...Gets street driven 99% of the time.

 

I learned that 10W40 can break down faster because of the spread from the low 10W base stock (I don't remember the details) and may be the reason 10W40 is not popular. I think someone on here, maybe Blues4U, did the explanation. Soon after, I stopped buying 10W40, but did mix 10W30/20W50 VR-1 for awhile, like you.

 

I found this paper from Comp Cams interesting. In it they discuss the issue of "Overloading on ZDDP".

"Recent market trends and misinformation have led to a new and adverse side effect known as “Overloading on ZDDP”. When overloading on ZDDP, the additive can actually cause blocking of other important additives, such as friction modifiers or detergent agents. It is imperative that the ZDDP level is carefully specified and blended to correct concentrations."

http://www.compcams.com/Base/pdf/FlatTappetCamTechBulletin.pdf

IMO this points out the fallacy of using aftermarket zinc additives, though Comp Cams sells their own version. But when you're blending your own oils you are becoming the chemist and putting your knowledge and experience over that of the oil formulators who engineered that oil. Engine oils are carefully balanced blend of chemicals, that the lube company spent >$1M to develop and license, and then you come along and pour in something you have no idea of what the effect is on the other additives.

 

Valvoline VR1 50. zinc

 

Blues, Very good post and facts and figures and a little common sense as well. I believe that adding a zinc additive to a oil that is lacking that additive ( like most modern oils) can be a big mistake. Also I do not believe that for our old schools engines 800 PPM of the zinc additive is doing the engine any favors. I also believe as i stated in a earlier post that the big Cam killer is a multi part thing. high spring rates seem--read that seem-- to be a big problem and a low ZDDP additive oil. Guys if you do a little research it is pretty easy to find a oil with enough ZDDP. You may end up having to order it, but what is wrong with having the stuff delivered to your door?

I also was I believe misinformed about Rotella for quite a while. I do run Rotella in my off topic cummings Diesel and wouldn't use any thing else in that truck. But I was told at one time that Rotella was not suitable for a Gas burning application. I have since found out after doing some researc of my own that it is in fact recommended for multi fleet use. i would not today shy away from that oil in my Hot Rod if I needed a different oil.

 

Brad Penn 10W30 in my 350 crate motors. 15w40 Rotella with Lucas Zinc additive in my 230-6 cyl in my 61 Biscayne. Wix filters on everything!

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There was a time when HDMO's were not recommended for gasoline engines, because of the high sulfated ash levels in HDMO that was required due to the high sulfur levels in diesel fuel. Higher levels of Sulfated Ash (SA) can lead to piston deposits. But over 20 years ago sulfur in diesel fuel was restricted to 15ppm, and at the same time the industry restricted the amount of SA in diesel engine oils. The lower levels of SA made diesel engine oils much more suited for gasoline engines.

 

There is no correlation between zinc and DPF’s. The Cummins ISB still has a flat tappet camshaft, so that still has to be accounted for with diesel oil formulas.


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In 2004 I was part of a team from multiple companies (lubricant, additives, engine OEMS, DPF and DOC mfr's) studying the affect of zinc levels in engine oil on plugging of DPFs in the exhaust. This was prior to the EPA regulations requiring the installation of the exhaust treatment devices on new trucks (starting in 2007), and we all wanted real world data on what to expect. It was a very extensive study involving about a dozen trucks fitted with exhaust catalytic converters (DOC's) and diesel particle filters (DPF's) where we weighed the brand new DPF's with a micro scale prior to installing them and again after a certain number of hours of operation to measure any increase in weight due to sulfated ash accumulation. We also measured oil consumption via automatic systems installed on the trucks that would monitor the oil level in the engine and and automatically add oil as needed and record the exact amount of oil consumed. We also monitored things like average speed, fuel consumption, exhaust temp, back pressure, etc. all the data was kept electronically. The end report was pretty extensive and multiple pages long. At the end of it all, what we found was that the amount of oil consumed by the engine had much more impact on plugging of the DPF than how much zinc was in the oil. You could have very high levels of zinc in the oil, but if the engine was tight there would be little to no ash accumulation in the DPF. And on the other hand, you could have very low zinc level in the oil, but if the engine consumed a lot of oil it would increase the SA loading in the DPF. So real world experience showed that there was no real need to lower zinc levels in the oil, just build a tight engine and there should be no worries. But the API lead by the engine manufacturers didn't want to hear that, they already had the limits set for CJ-4 specification and did not even want to talk about changing things. So, we all ended up with the limits.

 

Strange that this is posted as somebody on my facebook was just asking about oil and it sparked a debate there. One guy said none of the off the shelf oils have zinc anymore. I knew this was false and went a searchin' I contacted a rep at Shell to ask a few questions. Shell Rotella T has 1200ppm of zinc. The Valvoline VR1 has 1400ppm. Most of the Mobil 1 oils are between 750 and 900 ppm. The Shell rep advised against using a Zinc additive in conjunction with their oil as it could actually cause engine damage over time. I tend to believe him as Valvoline break in oil has 2100 ppm and that is an oil that is not designed for long term use.

With that being said, I have used Rotella T4 10w30 in my low mileage 230ci flathead 6 in my 1952 Dodge for 5 years no. No issues with it.

 

Brad Penn 20/50 racing oil .

 

Looks like everyone uses every oil available on the market and the general consensus is that nobody is having any problems. Pick your favorite color jug and let it glug, glug, glug into that engine of yours and go till it cant go no more. Rebuild and do it all over again. All oil is good oil. Just keep it lubed and properly cooled.

 

Lucas hot rod and custom 10-30 in my 327.

 

What a lot of "Back Yard Chemists don't realize is that too much Zinc is as bad as not enough). Why add extra Zinc when major lubricant manufacurers have large staffs of chemists and engineers determining what additives are added to their products? By dumping in extra Zinc you mess up the additive formulas and additive package. Too much Zinc causes excessive corrosion and wear. In the case of adding more Zinc and Phosphorous is not the intelligent way to go.

 

Lucas 30w. Warmed up 383

 

Everything that needs to be known about this particular oil subject or any other oil debate has been answered by Blues4U. I feel privileged and am grateful for the time that he has spent educating us on this incredibly complex subject.


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Thanks Andy

 

Joe Gibbs Racing HR1 15W-50 in my 427 and Castrol 10W-30 in my 216.

 

valvoline 10-30 vr1 synthetic in the model A, castrol syntec 5w-50 with ZDDP max in the 39 with the 70 boss 302.