Oil brands for severe use, and racing?

[Ant]

This subject is probably more up to personal preference, I am curious to know what other Cobra owners use in their cars for hard use regarding Oil/grease manufacturer and type of oil and grease.

I have used Castrol RS 10W60 and found it to be extremely stable even when hot at above 250F, where as other oils dropped oil pressure like the Mono 50w racing oil, and synracing that I have used, I found these to be hopeless in my 600+hp BB, but having said that it was only temperature based relating to oil pressure, not sure of the lubricant value etc, so won't bag something I know nothing about!

Out here we have Castrol and Amsoil, who both make racing oils, and incidently Amsoil makes a nice 2000 synthetic racing grease, which interests me as I am about to do some final assembly of wheel bearings etc.
Also Redline oils and some other US manufactured oils available now.

Another thing that amuses me is some engine builders stipulate certain oils and say don't use synthetic oil with this camshaft, but use this premium oil brand and grade, and when I look up the oil its synthetic based or full sythetic anyway - confusing, it appears all the top line oils are synthetic one way or another.
Curious to know what people race with over in the US, I am actually a Castrol fan, but see very good write ups on Amsoil.

Ant

[wilf leek]

Ant - I use Valvoline 20-50 Racing non synthetic in my 408 stroker.

It gives me stable oil pressure even when I wring it's neck on the track. Also no leaks (yet).

[keithw]

Ant,

Here in the US the only place you can buy the Castrol RS 10-60 is at a BMW dealer. It the oil specified for my BMW M5. At $10/qt it is a tad bit expensive.

I use Royal Purple in all my othe toys including my Chevy Duramax Diesel.

Keith

[750hp]

Ant - a bit closer to home for you, I've always used Castrol GP50 (now Formula R) in my V8s. It's always maintained a stable pressure even at higher temps in my 460 Falcon, and it handled my dyno torture with my latest Cobra engine without a hiccup.

My engine guy over here was positive that he DIDN'T want a synthetic oil with my solid roller lifters. He's experienced the case of too little friction with the synthetics - the roller just slides over the camshaft rather than rolling it's way over.

The supercharger guys were divided over whether synthetic was any better, but it seems that no-one could agree.

In the end, I stuck with the tried and true Castrol mineral based product.

[scottj]

I have experienced the roller lifter/cam problem that started the “slipping lifter theory”.
In the last couple of years a bunch of roller cams had problems with flaking and the word spread like wildfire among racing engine builders that it was because the the synthetics are too slippery. My builder said to stay with dinosaur oil to be safe since they hadn’t had any problems with it. But, a bunch of cams flaked with the dinosaur oil too, mine included (Kendall 20w-50).

Now they’re saying that too little friction is not causing the problem. That regardless of the oil used, the roller spends a good deal of time slipping and not rolling, especially on the base of the lobe.

Due to its very small size, the needle bearing in the lifter is the highest loaded bearing in our engines. We can safely run the lifters 300-500 miles (1200 laps) with regular oil. We are able to double that with synthetic. My builder still says to break the rings in on regular oil though.

At the recommendation of the cam companies, builders have been going back to rev kits on some 9000rpm valve trains, to help with the cam trouble.

Using Mobil 1 15W-50 on gas and Royal Purple 21 on alcohol

Scott

[RallySnake]

Ant,

Glad you brought this up. Maybe some insiders on the forum can give us the real story on lubricants.

I used to be a big Valvoline fan, until I saw a television special showing an oil distribution center filling up all the bottles, Quaker State, Castrol, Valvoline and others with the same oil. Now I just buy whatever 10W30 is on sale for the "regular" cars and whatever 20W50 synthetic is on sale for the Cobra.

I would bet that someone on this board can substantiate this.

I did go to a lot of trouble to get Redline ATF for the Tremec, due to a write up on this board. It actually made shifting a little more difficult.

Paul

[Sheppard]

Getting back to the roller cam lifter comments.....I'm in the process of putting together a 428FE with the Comp roller cam, with solid lifters.

I have become concerned about oiling the roller wheel in the lifter base....just based upon what I'm reading....I'm thinking that an oil like Mobil 1 might be the best choice to ensure adequate oiling to the wheel....too bad there isn't some kind of drilled lifter that would take adavntage of the pressure system already in place if your were using a hydraulic lifter......

Anyway I'm wondering about anyone else's experience with roller cam lifters and synthetic oils?

Jay

[B. SMITH]

I HAVE USED CASTROL GTX 20-50 FOR MANY YEARS IN LOTS OF MUSCLE CARS INCLUDING 2 COBRAS AND MY BOATS IN HOT WEATHER. LOTS OF OIL PRESSURE AND NO ENGINE OILING PROBLEMS IN 20 SOMETHING YEARS. MY '02 RAM AIR TRANS AM GETS 10-30 GTX BECAUSE THE DEALER WARNED ME OFF THE MOBILE 1.
I TOO HAVE HEARD SOME STORIES ABOUT ENGINE BUILDERS REQUESTING NON- SYNTHETIC OILS. I DON'T KNOW IF SOUTHERN CLIMATES HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS THINKING.

B. SMITH

[Boudy]

I've used Amsoil in my dirt track engines for years and like it, but it is expensive. I've been hearing about blends that are out now to yeild the best of both petroleum and synthetic worlds. Haven't tried any yet.

Boudy

[scottj]

The blends are recommended because of the zinc. Dave Crower recommends Schaffer's synthetic blend (tractor oil) with his lifters, not Mobil 1, because the straight synthetics don't have zinc.

Kendal was one of the highest rated parafin-based RACING oils until they had to refomulate last year and eliminate the zinc. If your favorite RACING oil is available at the auto parts store it won't have zinc for long thanks to government regs.

I don't know what is best myself so I use what my builder recommends. After all, how many National championship winning engines do I build a year.

Scott

[427 S/O]

Pick up a liter of 'M Gear Guard', it's loaded with MoS2. add after rings have broken in, no HP increase but added longivity. Read up on it.........

[HighPlainsDrifter]

I have used Pennzoil for many years. My '90 aerostar has 442,000 km's on it with not even a noisy lifter. My other cars use it and so does my cobra . Stick with something that works all these years.
Perry.

[bmercer]

Many (more than I like to remember) years ago, we used Castrol R40 in circle track race engines. That was the castor bean based oil. Does anyone out there remember this stuff? I don't know if it is still available now but it had the greatest smell you could imagine, and we never had engine wear problems. Many of today's lubricants are undoubtedly as good or better. Not a recommendation, just a bit of nostalgia.

[Jamo]

It's just too personal a question.

[Ant]

Great all the interest in this topic:

I used Amsoil in my road car, its expensive, but they recommend it can stay in for 25000 miles, and becomes good value being a superior oil, and longer lasting, I dont know whether thats a good idea in a performance car, as oil changes?

Regarding running a new engine in I use Mobil 20-50 mineral oil, and normally put the engine on Castrol RS after 3000 miles, but thats been in solid flat tappet camshaft engines.

[BigEasy]

Royal Purple motor oil--good oil pressure

Evans coolant--very high boiling point, no water

Budweiser--icy cold

Charlie

[scottj]

Bob,
Yep, sure do remember castor oil. We ran it in premix for our motocross bikes. It smelled so good we'd put a pint in Dad's suburban gas tank once in a while.
Scott

[JAM1775]

Virgin Imported Olive Oil.
Just figured you'd want another opinion.
So...seriously...does Mobil 1 20W-50 get the nod ?

[Hal Copple]

after break in, i have run Synthetics in everything i own that has pistons since the late '70's. Frankly, i believe all modern engine oils are superb lubricants, the synthetics are even better. For some interesting reading on engine oils you might peruse:

http://www.caranddriver.com/xp/Caran...l?keywords=oil

http://www.caranddriver.com/xp/Caran...l?keywords=oil

http://www.caranddriver.com/xp/Caran...l?keywords=oil

I believe that race oils are designed to be drained after a race, so they do not have the anticorrosion and such in them as part of their additive package.

I run Redline in my SPF, it works fine, but then, i am sure other oils are fine too. 10-40 winter, 20-50 summer.

[BANDIT 1]

I used Mobil 1 15W50 and 1 quart slick 50 with every oil change in my 69 Mach 1 Pro Street car with very good results.