Oil Choice

[85/Silverado]

My 500 mile break-in is complete and I need to change my oil, what would you guys suggest? I ran Joe Gibbs Break-in oil for the first 500.
The engine is a 383 stroker about 11:1 comp ratio. 3/4 cam, High Volume Oil Pump. I live in the panhandle of Florida.

My Oil pressure gauge runs Maxed out all the time, Is that hurting it?

Plus my engine Temp only gets to 140, shouldn't it get higher to burn the fuel properly?
I just read that Blueprint Engines said (Do not use synthetic oils before completing a 6,000 mile break-in.)

Thanks Guys

[hatzie]

Couple questions.

Oil pressure gauge only pegs after you start it? It's not pegged with the key on engine off?
Pegging with the key on engine off is a bad or unplugged sender. It could still be a bad sender if it only pegs after startup.

I'd refill with the same oil for the first 6,000. I would've been tempted to run the first 5k without draining the oil.
After the first 5-6K...
How tight did you get the main & rod bearings setup?

Tight bearing clearances?
I'd run Shell Rotella T6 5W40 or Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5W40. Sheaffers 9000 series 5W40 and even 5W50 is excellent stuff but it's pricey. Shaeffers 9001 5W50 is the only W50 oil that doesn't shear down, over 100 hours, close to W40 in my Polaris Sportsman 500HO. The price keeps me from running it in my road vehicles.

Looser clearances?
Run Shell Rotella T5 10W40/15W40, Mobil Delvac XHP 10W40, or Mobil Delvac 15W40.
The Rotella and Mobil Diesel & Delvac oils are inexpensive for very good oils. They usually have both C & S API ratings. The prefix C being Compression Ignition (Diesel) and S being Spark Ignition (Gasoline). Look at the API seal on the container.

The Rotella T5 & T6 and the Mobil TDT, Delvac XHP, & Delvac formulations VOA shows plenty of anti-wear additives, good for flat tappet cams, and they are priced well under designer oils like Schaeffers that has the same level of anti-wear goodies in the add pack. Diesel oils in general tend to have more anti-wear goodies in the add pack than regular API S rated oils.

I do oil analysis on my vehicles including the off-road stuff. UOA looks very good, wear metals are significantly lower than averages for the same vehicles, with inexpensive Shell Rotella T6.

VOA=Virgin Oil Analysis
UOA=Used Oil Analysis

The reason I do oil analysis is I can catch stuff like Coolant (leaking gaskets or cracks) or dirt (damaged or poor air filter and or leaking vlave covers & PCV breather seals and filter) in the oil before it becomes a real problem. High silica and abnormal wear metal levels (iron, lead, tin, copper, aluminum) in the oil convinced me to go back to a paper filter element from a "performance" air filter on one of my trucks and to look over the PCV breather filter for leaks. Leaking Valve covers are another common area where dirt gets in fairly quickly... it's not just a nuisance.

[Zach079xxx]

I'm also running a high volume oil pump and my gauge is pegged max, and it's a perfectly working gauge. It's just how it is from the pump. I was told to run the higher pump because it truly circulates oil throughout where a normal pump does not circulate as well. I run whatever oil I have at the moment. At the moment it's valvoline. I asked the same question on what oil to run a few months back, and got tons of replies.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=686224 Here it is if you wanna take a look

[Bigstevex4]

New of the shelf oil has had the zinc level lowered because its bad for catalytic converters. Comp cams for instance recommends high Zinc. Diesel oil like Rottela has higher Zinc but it also has been lowered. I use 10/ 30 Valvoline Racing oil silver. This is one of those ? that everyone has there preference. And just in case I know Zinc is not the end all in oil preference. im no fan of synthetic. Had Mobil 1 in my Road Glide and a catastrophic engine failure at 21,000! Oils fault? but would have ran just as well on Flag recycled 10 /40.

[1redbowtie3]

Originally Posted by Bigstevex4

im no fan of synthetic. Had Mobil 1 in my Road Glide and a catastrophic engine failure at 21,000!

Harley "engineering" and their plastic cam tensioners are likely the cause of that, not the oil.


Synthetic is superior, that's why all performance manufacturers spec it.

[Bigstevex4]

Originally Posted by 1redbowtie3

Harley "engineering" and their plastic cam tensioners are likely the cause of that, not the oil.


Synthetic is superior, that's why all performance manufacturers spec it.

Cam bearing failed and yes it was a problem.
WE had a huge landfill trash manufacture spec'd the most expensive syn gear lube you could buy. Had a 30 below pour point for 95/140 wt. it was insanely expensive still they wanted the planetary oil changed every 500 hrs. roughly 4-5 times a yr. 10 gal x 4 customer put plain old dino in one. it was still plugging along after some that had failed. im just saying some of those fancy specs on a piece of paper really don't make any real world difference, Im not saying don't use it.

[Dead Parrot]

Mechanical or electric gauge? What is 'maxed out'. Kinda makes a difference if you have a 60 psi vs a 120 psi gauge.

What thermostat are you running? Proper temp thermostat for stock SBC is 195 which should give a running temp of around 210. If you followed a well known pattern build for your motor, check it for a recommendation for both thermostat and oil. Make sure the gauge is reading correctly. Miss matched gauges and senders will cause way off readings.

[Jake Wade]

Are you running a Flat Tappet or Hydraulic Roller camshaft?

[cadillac_al]

You don't need a fancy heavy duty oil pump in a Chevy because the stock ones are more than adequate. Since you already have it in there i would run some thin stuff. Cheap synthetic 5W30 or some kind of 0W30. I ran some cheap carquest 5W30 in one of my cars and the oil pressure went way down and I had to change it. That may be what you need.

If it's a 4x4 I would consider changing the oil pump to a stock one since you can get the pan off quite easily. The good standard Melling is usually the favorite. I forget the numbers right now.

[85/Silverado]

This is the main system, I'm not sure if this all matters.

Short Block

[85/Silverado]

This is the Cam. And the Heads where these,, then I had them reworked by Edelbrock for my cam which ran another 400 bucks, so the heads ended up costing $1700.00 So I guess the stats will be a little different.
so I want to make sure I'm using the correct oil.

[Pontiac1976]

http://bowtieguy.proboards.com/threa...re-psi-mistake

This mite shed some light on this.

[Jake Wade]

I would run Valvoline VR1 10w30 in the silver bottle.

[cadillac_al]

That's a nice looking engine. I would think Blueprint must know what oil pump to use so it should be ok. It must be the tight clearances and fresh oil making the high pressure. It must go down some when it warms up doesn't it? Maybe electrical oil pressure gauges can get funky? I don't know. Maybe as the engine breaks in it will come down a little.

My K15 engine pegs the gauge when cold and makes me nervous but it does come down when it warms up. The PO did some work to the engine so I have no idea what oil pump is in there.

[kody1234]

Originally Posted by Jake Wade

I would run Valvoline VR1 10w30 in the silver bottle.

where is the best place to buy valoline racing oil?i can only find can only find valoline vr1 20w50 at advance local.

[Firebirdjones]

Valvoline racing oil is getting somewhat scarce. Most places only carry one viscosity of it. Only Napa around here carries a multitude of viscosities in the VR1 racing oil if that's what you are looking for. Our Napa also carries Amsoil. So you'll have to shop around Kody, the other chain stores here have slim pickins' too.

Brad Penn/Joe Gibbs oils are excellent and can be had with higher zinc levels and excellent detergent and additive packages.

I prefer Amsoil myself, as a preferred customer it's about a $1 a quart cheaper than retail anywhere in town, and it's delivered to my front door. I use their high zinc oil with an excellent additive package and high oil change interval recommendation with UOA feedback that everything is okay. Actually saves me a ton of money in the long run with 10 cars to change. Most now go the 12 month period with low mileage and still look good on the UOA's, so once a year for most of the cars, less headaches and it really cuts the cost down.

[Firebirdjones]

Just for those interested, if you're looking for high zinc content, there isn't as much of it in the 10w-30 VR1 viscosity as there used to be. It's my understanding since most engine manufactures recommend the lighter viscosities, the zinc was lowered in this VR1 so people weren't buying off the shelf oil with high zinc in their newer cars with cat converters.
The 20W-50 however still has a higher zinc content. Depending on where you live you may or may not want that.

Here is an interesting list of oils with some comparisons for those interested. Pay close attention to the pour temps. Interesting note that some of your thicker viscosities work better in cold temps then some lead you to believe. Amsoil 20W-50 for instance pours to -47 degrees, better than some other brands in 10W-30. Not all oils are equal.

http://mcgeerf.tripod.com/americansy...coil/id17.html

[85/Silverado]

I can't afford to swap the oil pump.... I ordered a Melling H-55-HV but I'm not sure the builder installed it.

[Bigstevex4]

Napa has it around here. im lucky enough to get jobber price from our oil distributer. Lucas makes what they call Hot rod oil 10-30 that's comparable Amazon has it in 5 quart jugs.

[Firebirdjones]

I wouldn't worry about that myself. It's brand new, probably snug clearances and a decent oil pump. Blueprint put it together. If there is a warranty (should be) and you go cracking things open to change things, that will likely void any warranty you might have.

I'd run with it and not worry about it. Besides that, the stock gauges only read what....60 lbs.??? Not a big deal. That's not a ton of oil pressure. With a larger gauge you might find it's only holding 65-70 lbs. cold, just over your stock gauge threshold.

My 79 with it's fresh 454 pegs the stock 60 lbs. gauge most of the time, even driving around town. After a long highway cruise getting everything good and warm, and then pulling off to an idle, I'll see it come down to about 30psi at idle. Touch the gas and it's back up pegging the 60psi mark. Perfectly normal.

My 454 chevelle has an aftermarket 100 psi gauge. When cold it runs about 65-70 psi, as I go down the road with rpms around 2,000 it can push 80 psi, but as soon as the engine warms up it holds a pretty steady 60 psi at 2,000 and idles around 40 psi. It's Normal. That shortblock has been together for 20 years now. 3 different top end combinations that now dyno's 640 hp and is abused on occasion.

My advice, if it bothers you, unhook the gauge and stop worrying about it, because it's not hurting anything.

[kody1234]

Originally Posted by Firebirdjones

Valvoline racing oil is getting somewhat scarce. Most places only carry one viscosity of it. Only Napa around here carries a multitude of viscosities in the VR1 racing oil if that's what you are looking for. Our Napa also carries Amsoil. So you'll have to shop around Kody, the other chain stores here have slim pickins' too.

Brad Penn/Joe Gibbs oils are excellent and can be had with higher zinc levels and excellent detergent and additive packages.

I prefer Amsoil myself, as a preferred customer it's about a $1 a quart cheaper than retail anywhere in town, and it's delivered to my front door. I use their high zinc oil with an excellent additive package and high oil change interval recommendation with UOA feedback that everything is okay. Actually saves me a ton of money in the long run with 10 cars to change. Most now go the 12 month period with low mileage and still look good on the UOA's, so once a year for most of the cars, less headaches and it really cuts the cost down.

I have been using joe gibbs hot rod
oil 10w30 from jegs.

[Firebirdjones]

Originally Posted by kody1234

I have been using joe gibbs hot rod
oil 10w30 from jegs.

Good stuff. They make an excellent break in oil too.

[SCOTI]

Why not just run standard motor oil, use a zinc additive, & change it more frequently during the initial engine wear period? No need to complicate things.

[Firebirdjones]

Yeah I've done the break ins either way without issues. Cost ends up about the same anyway.

In the end I just preferred to use the break in oils because they don't require any added supplements, and they have an additive package in them that promotes quick ring seal. After a couple changes and several hundred miles I make the switch to the preferred permanent oil and run with it.

[blazer2007]

I too use the J Gibbs in my new 454,the shop who built it used to use the castrol diesel oil but it too has lost some zinc content in the last years and the shop has switched to the Gibbs ,is more expensive but so was my engine.