Some advice or personal experience on motor oils would be very much appreciated. I've already beat this dead horse but there is always more to learn. 360 sprint car 650hp on Methanol, I will be running in the south west so there will be some high temps outside. 20-50? 10-30? synthetic or petrolium, High Zinc? I bought the stuff that BR Motorsports sells, Lucas 20-50 Syn #10054, they say it's good.
Thanks

[TQ29m]

Originally Posted by jims41 Some advice or personal experience on motor oils would be very much appreciated. I've already beat this dead horse but there is always more to learn. 360 sprint car 650hp on Methanol, I will be running in the south west so there will be some high temps outside. 20-50? 10-30? synthetic or petrolium, High Zinc? I bought the stuff that BR Motorsports sells, Lucas 20-50 Syn #10054, they say it's good. Thanks

Man, that is a can of worms, but you ask, and I'll tell you my experiences. As of right now, the only thing I'll put in my dry sump, is Castrol GTX 20w50, I've tried a lot of the others, over the past 30 years or so, but Castrol has convinced me, if it's good enough for Don Force, it's good enough for me. I remember in the karting days, all the 4-smoke guys were spending big bucks for super snake oils, and I convinced a few guys to try Castrol, and they never looked back, they were changing it at least twice a night anyway, course a qt would do that, but it just seems to tolorate alcohol better, we've had good luck with most brands, but Castrol seems to go that extra night, when we need it, it just has a better clinging ability, so sitting a while doesn't seem to bother the bearings when using it. Bob

Originally Posted by TQ29m Man, that is a can of worms, but you ask, and I'll tell you my experiences. As of right now, the only thing I'll put in my dry sump, is Castrol GTX 20w50, I've tried a lot of the others, over the past 30 years or so, but Castrol has convinced me, if it's good enough for Don Force, it's good enough for me. I remember in the karting days, all the 4-smoke guys were spending big bucks for super snake oils, and I convinced a few guys to try Castrol, and they never looked back, they were changing it at least twice a night anyway, course a qt would do that, but it just seems to tolorate alcohol better, we've had good luck with most brands, but Castrol seems to go that extra night, when we need it, it just has a better clinging ability, so sitting a while doesn't seem to bother the bearings when using it. Bob

Thanks for that Bob, I've built and raced TQ's on the west coast for 15 years and always ran Mobil 1 off the shelf in my Honda's & Suzuki's with no problem. From what I'm hearing is some motor builders use the increased Zinc additive for better lubrication in these high RPM, high friction push rod motors, but this oil is used for racing only! I guess the Zinc kills catalytic converters. You still into TQ racing?
Thanks again
Jim

[TQ29m]

Jim,yes, still doing the TQ deal, I'm running a 600 Yamaha, against the 836 Honda's, and doing very well, for the money spent, the Yamaha is very inexpensive, I can buy everything used off Ebay, and don't need any hi dollar, after market parts, that are priced like they were made out of "unobtainium", we typically turn the 600 around 13k, which is just a few above what the Honda's turn, but it is very dependable, and the beauty of it is, they still make them, and have for years, so they are more plentyful than the honda's, and the newest in technology, means no special rods, or pistons, or cams, rod bolts are $4.00 ea, so in my budget book, it's a no brainer. At any given race, we are a top 5 car, or better, if we can keep er on all 4. We had Cen-Pe-Co for a sponsor for about 3 years, and used their oil, it is a blend, and they are big into tractor pulling, it was, IMHO, almost as good, didn't seem like it liked the alky as well, but we didn't have any bearing problems with it, and with the motor having piston cooling nozzles under the pistons, I usually run the water at 220, and the oil will be around 240-260, and just stays as clean as fresh, even after 4-5 nites on it, I usually change it, just because I feel sorry for it, and I run 6 qts in the tank. Thanks, and good luck! Bob

[Tim]

Originally Posted by jims41 Thanks for that Bob, I've built and raced TQ's on the west coast for 15 years and always ran Mobil 1 off the shelf in my Honda's & Suzuki's with no problem. From what I'm hearing is some motor builders use the increased Zinc additive for better lubrication in these high RPM, high friction push rod motors, but this oil is used for racing only! I guess the Zinc kills catalytic converters. You still into TQ racing? Thanks again Jim

Jim,

From what I understand, the motor builders aren't using oil with an increased zinc-phosphate additive - they're using oil with the additive amount that was in there a few years ago. You are right that the zinc-phosphate causes some environmental concerns, so the oil manufacturers were required to lower those levels. The oil you buy at Wal-Mart, etc. for passenger car use does not have the same additive levels from previous years, so you're losing the wear protection it provides.

That being said, I've switched from the Castrol 20-50 that I used to buy at Wal-Mart (and which I had no problem with) to the Valvoline VR-1 20-50 that I buy at AutoZone. I did this primarily to get the additive content back to the previous levels to give me a little cushion.

Tim Simmons

Originally Posted by Tim Jim, From what I understand, the motor builders aren't using oil with an increased zinc-phosphate additive - they're using oil with the additive amount that was in there a few years ago. You are right that the zinc-phosphate causes some environmental concerns, so the oil manufacturers were required to lower those levels. The oil you buy at Wal-Mart, etc. for passenger car use does not have the same additive levels from previous years, so you're losing the wear protection it provides. That being said, I've switched from the Castrol 20-50 that I used to buy at Wal-Mart (and which I had no problem with) to the Valvoline VR-1 20-50 that I buy at AutoZone. I did this primarily to get the additive content back to the previous levels to give me a little cushion. Tim Simmons

Thanks for that Tim, I'll check out that Valvoline.
Jim

[TQ29m]

Let me be the first to say, I don't buy anything at Wal-Wart, especially anything for my race car, my truck or car, anything I value, not clothes, nothing, never ever been in one, haven't lost a thng in any of them, having been in business, when they first started their move to take over the world in perceived savings, and having to deal with the poor folks who were taken in by the "low prices", it is not in my bones, to darken their walls, with what I learned in business, anything is fair game, to make it look like you are saving money there, and the manufacturers know that the consumer will be the last line of inspection, so anything goes on their shelves. I buy my products from old, established producers, from the front line stores, who are doing their best, to stay in business. Now, pick your oil, and pick your place to buy it, but remember, the local home town merchant knows a lot about quality also, and he is interested in keeping you from making mistakes. Bob

[speidel21]

Originally Posted by jims41 Thanks for that Bob, I've built and raced TQ's on the west coast for 15 years and always ran Mobil 1 off the shelf in my Honda's & Suzuki's with no problem. From what I'm hearing is some motor builders use the increased Zinc additive for better lubrication in these high RPM, high friction push rod motors, but this oil is used for racing only! I guess the Zinc kills catalytic converters. You still into TQ racing? Thanks again Jim

Bob out of TQ racing? never!

[hoosierdaddy]

http://www.bradpennracing.com/

BRAD PENN 20 50. I WOULDN'T RUN ANYTHING ELSE

[Larryoracing]

(1) You probably won't believe this, but I own a open 360 motor bought out of Pennsylvania, last year, but I forgot what oil we use in it. It has only been run twice. Bob told me and I thought it was Lucas with two quarts of some kind of additive recommended by the previous owner/ builder.

Bob says it a real strong motor and car. Not that it worth anything but the car is a Billy Boat Special...lol...Maxxim with a short set back with all kinds of goodies that everybody tells me those option don't come stock from Maxxim. So, I hope to get to run it in the future, but something tells me I will never run that car. Kind of sad, but life...lol!

2) As far as Wal Mart I had to do a 30 page case study on WalMart in my studies for my just completed MBA degree, so Bob's intution is well founded. I know, but I don't think anybody is interested. Wal Mart hurts the big vendors by getting them hooked on vast sales to WalMart only then abandons them and the subvendors go broke. Vlassic pickels and Huffy bicylcles are two examples. Vlassic pickles went bankrupt and Huffy bycylcles had to sell to China.

3) Another case study I had to do for my MBA was on Harley Davidson. Now, that is another story in survival. Deeply in debt and just about everybody including the US Government and Warren Buffet has invested 300 million dollars to keep it alive. Did you know that...lol!

The US Government has given over 3.2 billion dollars in short terms loans to keep Harley Davidson alive. I could go on a little longer, but lets hope the last US motorcylce manufacture in the US will stay alive. Believe it or not it's 50/50 chance for survival. They are gambling big time...lol! I hope they win.

4) I also own a TQ that I have really wanted to race for years. Again, not in the cards. The simple things in life we never get to do...lol!. I need or want a 5:38 winters rear for it. Anybody have one? I had one but we sold it. Another deal I did not want to do, but I did.

And God Bless Do!

Sincerely,

Larry Otani and Happy Racing.