What engine oils are you guys running?!

[Zach079xxx]

What oil brands do you all run in your SBC? My most recent oil change I ran 10w30 Quaker state. Not my favorite but it was dirt cheap. Opinions on synthetics?! And lastly any oil additives? I've got less than 1000 miles on my rebuild. I've heard zinc additives such as Lucas oil are good to run?

[Valarius_Starchaser]

YES RUN ZINC your engine will be killed if you don't old engines cant live without it

I run Valvoline 10w30 conventional in my 383 stroker before I pumped the crankcase full of gas guess its time for an upgrade

[edward61]

I'm using 10/40 Valvoline

[enaberif]

I run something local to me but can be bought all over. It is designed for older vehicles and has high levels of zinc.

[hatzie]

I run inexpensive Synthetic Diesel oil specifically Rotella T6 5W40 in everything but the mowers, tiller and, log splitter that call for 10W30. It meets API: SM, SL, SJ, SH and API: CJ-4, CI-4 PLUS, CI-4, CH-4, CG-4, CF-4, CF and JASO-MA so even my Polaris Sportsman 500 uses it.
The Molybdenum, Boron, Zinc and, Phosphate levels are much higher, in some cases almost double, what spark ignition only oils. Anti-wear additives like zinc and phosphorous are very important for flat tappet motors like our GM small block and big block motors.
Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5W40 is the other excellent inexpensive oil. Mobil 1 is available in a lot of different formulations. The passenger car variants don't have near the add pack the diesel truck oil has.

With these two oils you won't need extra ZDDP. You can get Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5W40 & Rotella T6 5W40 at Wal Mart for around $20 per US gallon. Inexpensive not cheap...

[Jake Wade]

Valvoline VR1 10w30 in the silver bottle, it has over 1200 ppm zinc. Good for flat tappet engines,

[bmchevy1979]

X2 on the Rotella 15w40 I run it with a quart of lucas oil stabilizer have never had any oiling problems 40psi oil pressure at idle warm and gauge stays at 60 any other time

[Project86]

I run nothing but valvoline vr1 racing oil. No need for zinc additive. I'm in the south and I use 20w50

[tucsonjwt]

I bought any dino oil on sale over the past 10 years, always 10W40, but I only drive the BB 1-3K miles per year, mostly in the city.

Around Black Friday after Thanksgiving the auto parts stores usually have cases of oil and gallons of anti-freeze on sale - one day only. I have stocked up and am down to 2 cases left in the storage shed, along with some on sale oil filters, like Purolator, Fram, etc. I averaged less than $1.00 per quart (some oil was free after rebate.) I got Valvoline, Quaker State, Mobil, Shell, etc.

My last count on antifreeze was 5 gallons left, all Peak 50/50 at $1 per gallon. ACE hardware often used to have $1 per gallon Peak antifreeze once per year in the fall.

I know this conflicts with the common opinion of premium oil and filters on this forum, but for an old truck which doesn't get much use, I think it is an OK plan for me.

If I ever run out of oil and I still have the truck I think I will switch to 10W30 or maybe even 5W30.

[Zach079xxx]

Thanks for the replies guys. Might try something new next time for an oil change. I'm going to run the Lucas oil for sure. I didn't know anything about it till recently.

And good lord, Black Fridays coming soon! Time to stock up!! :p

My oil pressure is around 35 idling and 60 going down the highway.

[rich weyand]

I ran the VR1 10W30 for the break-in period on the new crate motor. I switched to Mobil1 10W30 full-synthetic plus 1/2 bottle of ZDDPPlus per oil change. Full synthetic gives much better lubrication than dino oils (no, I won't argue the point with you; check the research), but if you put full synth in an old leaky engine, it will just run out. So I would recommend the VR1 for an original/old/leaky engine, and the Mobil1 plus ZDDP for a newer/tight engine.

[Zach079xxx]

My dad wants me to run synthetic because he has some good rebates. Not sure if I want to or not. I run mobil1 synthetic in my other car but that's required. Maybe my next go round I'll try it.

Originally Posted by rich weyand

I ran the VR1 10W30 for the break-in period on the new crate motor. I switched to Mobil1 10W30 full-synthetic plus 1/2 bottle of ZDDPPlus per oil change. Full synthetic gives much better lubrication than dino oils (no, I won't argue the point with you; check the research), but if you put full synth in an old leaky engine, it will just run out. So I would recommend the VR1 for an original/old/leaky engine, and the Mobil1 plus ZDDP for a newer/tight engine.

[rich weyand]

No synthetic oil in a new or rebuilt engine until 3000 miles. It's so slick, the parts in old-school engines won't bed in. New engine designs are machined to much tighter tolerances, and can have synth from the get-go, but not old-school 70s-80s engines.

[tucsonjwt]

One thing about my old 454 (GM Goodwrench rebuilt) is that it has never burnt oil, which is unusual for a big block. I have put about 40,000 miles on it in the past 13 years I have owned it. About half of those miles were under maximum payload of 3000 lbs. or more and it has a dump conversion.

I think gas mileage would benefit from synthetic oil but I won't use it for the "old and leaky" engine reasons mentioned above. It is not leaking now but I think it would with synthetic oil.

[Zach079xxx]

Thanks rich, I'll keep that in mind. You learn something new everyday.

Tucsonjwt; that's awesome. Put her to work man. I've put less than 5000 miles on my truck and I bought it a little over a year ago. Boy has she changed! I've touched just about everything on it except for the dif gears and I have no reason to unless changing the gear oil, which I should probably do... BUT now that my transmission and engine are built to be what I consider reliable I will be putting on more miles hopefully.

[school boy]

I run schaeffer's or rotella 10w40/15w40 "diesel" oil in almost everything. I have had good luck out of schaeffer's for the past 15+ years running in everything from factory daily drivers to my race quads and bikes. Since my injury, I been using the local quick-pit for ease on my daily driver srt8. They only carry the 10w40 rotella. Been running it for 100,000 miles in the daily and works fine. Both the rotella and schaeffer's have additives for the flat tappet cams (most cams). My thing is to change the oil and maintain the engine when I suppost to and not get lazy with it.

[Malo83]

I run Pennz High Mileage 10w40 in my 83 305 with 230K original miles, run Pennzoil in all my vehicles for the last 45 yrs, Wix filters

[DustyNova]

Valvoline or castrol gtx

[Zach079xxx]

Is this the Lucas oil product? http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lucas-Oil-...-1-qt/16777811

What other additives are good for flat tapper cams?

[funkatation]

I will be running Brad Penn in my rebuilt BBC (489).

[rich weyand]

Originally Posted by Zach079xxx

Is this the Lucas oil product? http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lucas-Oil-...-1-qt/16777811

What other additives are good for flat tapper cams?

The general consensus on the net is that the Lucas stuff is snake oil.

What you need is ZDDP. The zinc plates onto the cam lobes and lifters under the pressure. That puts a protective zinc coating on them at the point of contact where all the oil is squeezed out. They reduced the ZDDP levels in automotive oils when they went to roller engines, which don't have the same problems.

Half a bottle of this each oil change.
Amazon.com: ZDDPPlus ZDDP Engine Oil Additive...

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by rich weyand

The general consensus on the net is that the Lucas stuff is snake oil.

What you need is ZDDP. The zinc plates onto the cam lobes and lifters under the pressure. That puts a protective zinc coating on them at the point of contact where all the oil is squeezed out. They reduced the ZDDP levels in automotive oils when they went to roller engines, which don't have the same problems.

Half a bottle of this each oil change.
Amazon.com: ZDDPPlus ZDDP Engine Oil Additive Zinc & Phosphorus 4 Bottle Pkg: Automotive

Or just go with an oil that already has more than 1100 PPM Zinc & similar of Phosphorous. There are several to choose from that are not expensive.

[Zach079xxx]

Thanks rich. Not a bad price being that you only use half.

Hatzie, I'm just seeing what options I have. Was curious what others are running as well!

[Chevy_mud_truck]

Valvoline Vr1 straight 50 78 Chevy with a 454
Valvoline Max life 10w30 04 Chevy with a 5.3

[Gregski]

ROTELLA

Zinc is your friend!