Best Oil for '68 440's...

[70bigblockdodge]

Ok, Dave. . . So what kind of oil do you use?

I have been using Brad Penn, now Driven GP1 20w50, I also use 15w50 VR1 racing oil and Brad Penn 15w40 diesel oil that I put in my truck.
Now que all the moans about thick oil in a regular car engine.
All my cars have stiffer valve springs, .470- .557 lifts. The mellowest one can and does get stuck in traffic idle time is high, it also has overdrive which it lumbers along approximately 2k at 60-65. I don't do many short trips, store, bank, auto parts is the only close things to my house.
I do not use 10w30 in anything, I consider that winter oil. 10w40 is becoming a obsolete oil, still a 10weight oil, but protects warm like a 40.
New cars are built different, they don't contaminate oil as bad and they know if you up the weight, so I follow recommended on them.
Sure I may be wasting some HP on turning the oil pump with thicker oil. I also don't put engines together with high volume pumps unless rpm is going over 6k and full grooved main bearings. All my junk is measured torqued and dropped in used stuff, no machine work (except Barracuda), they all hold 25+psi at heat soaked idle and 50+ at speed. I'll call that good. I say put whatever oil you feel good with as long as it has high zinc from manufacturer, with good detergent package for our stinky engines. Adding zinc to modern oil is not a great idea as mentioned above the detergents negate the zinc like it is a contaminate. Let's face it your driving old technology you need old technology oil.
I guess I would just not recommend 10w30 or less in our clearanced out worn/leaky engine with a carburetor. Anything above that is fine I think.

 

[Gerald Morris]

As for the viscosity, we either ran straight 30 year round, then 10W-30, and later possibly 10W-40. This is in N TX, so it's not usually as cold as in the norther regions.

Know the region very well, having grown up in Ft. Worth. We would cruise the Interstates on weekends hundreds of miles, especially in 1980, when the temperatures made 113F for several weeks around the Solstice. I ran Pennzoil 10W-40 back in those daze.... Running a 1970 Mach 1 Disgustang, I recall the Cleveland ran well with 10W-40 and Motorcraft filters, which I VERY frequently changed.

To me, I feel that the oil companies can blend a really good oil (base stocks and additives), but you might have to look a bit to find it), which is why I regularly monitor www.bobistheoilguy.com forums, where some PQIA results are also posted. BTAIM

I recently found some Castrol black-bottle Edge that is NOT Dexos approved (key thing these days) AND has the "SL" rating, which means right at 1000ppm of zddp in it. I also went to Rotella T6 5W-40 in my '77 Camaro. Key things: readily available everywhere, decent pricing, and a good syn oil still with over 1200ppm of zddp in its latest blends.

Rotella T6 5W-40 still has 1200 ppm ZDDP? THAT's GOOD 2 KNOW! I'm probably good for the Summer Oil here, having just changed it for Tilly, but 1200 ppm normally is my cutoff criterion for using diesel motor oil in a gas V8. I use Bob the Oil Guy for reference also. I try to refer to whatever is the most recent published CREDIBLE analysis.

Given how clean Tilly's crankcase oil has been, I figure the detergent in the Motorcraft stuff has been working. Suffice to say, overloading one's crankcase oil with all sorts of additives usually results in a spontaneous addition of metal shavings and flakes resulting from having destroyed first the actual lubricant, then the engine. That's why I try to shop for a good level of zinc for the VERY OLD FLAT LIFTERS that 1965-66 built engine still runs. The more recent additives introduced by refiners and synthesizers in these past couple decades were introduced with modern engines
FOREMOST in mind. While most needs for these higher revving, EFI/DOHC engines might be better served with the recent innovations, I simply don't know how the new stuff impacts our V-XIIIs. I can see me running some single viscocity oil soon though. Valvoline VR-1 has done well with this motor when called on.

 

[twostick]

Know the region very well, having grown up in Ft. Worth. We would cruise the Interstates on weekends hundreds of miles, especially in 1980, when the temperatures made 113F for several weeks around the Solstice. I ran Pennzoil 10W-40 back in those daze.... Running a 1970 Mach 1 Disgustang, I recall the Cleveland ran well with 10W-40 and Motorcraft filters, which I VERY frequently changed.



Rotella T6 5W-40 still has 1200 ppm ZDDP? THAT's GOOD 2 KNOW! I'm probably good for the Summer Oil here, having just changed it for Tilly, but 1200 ppm normally is my cutoff criterion for using diesel motor oil in a gas V8. I use Bob the Oil Guy for reference also. I try to refer to whatever is the most recent published CREDIBLE analysis.

Given how clean Tilly's crankcase oil has been, I figure the detergent in the Motorcraft stuff has been working. Suffice to say, overloading one's crankcase oil with all sorts of additives usually results in a spontaneous addition of metal shavings and flakes resulting from having destroyed first the actual lubricant, then the engine. That's why I try to shop for a good level of zinc for the VERY OLD FLAT LIFTERS that 1965-66 built engine still runs. The more recent additives introduced by refiners and synthesizers in these past couple decades were introduced with modern engines
FOREMOST in mind. While most needs for these higher revving, EFI/DOHC engines might be better served with the recent innovations, I simply don't know how the new stuff impacts our V-XIIIs. I can see me running some single viscocity oil soon though. Valvoline VR-1 has done well with this motor when called on.

Back when your car was new, the levels were 800ish +/- ppm. 1200 ppm is lots unless you are running a solid flat tappet on a lobe that should really be on a roller with big spring pressure.

Kevin

 

[CBODY67]

It's been interesting to follow the zddp levels in normal motor oil. SL was (and still is) usually 1000ppm zddp. SM went down to 600-700ppm. SN got back up to about 800, with the newer SN+ and SP having close to 900ppm zddp. Not sure why the increase in the latest blends? This could be a whole 'nuther thread!

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[cretin90]

(dips toe into pool)
I've had amazing results on high-revving, high powered motorcycle engines (vintage and new),and seen results with modern car engines using the Mobil1 products. (i've never built a car engine) The newer synthetics are not ester-based, so degradation of seals is no longer an issue, and the 15/50 in particular has 1300ppm zinc to protect the flat tappets in my 300. I considered VR-1 , but is specifically designed for *racing*, meaning high pressures, high revs. I think my 300 maxes out around what? 5k?. Also, it appears VR-1 can sludge if it sits too long in the pan.
Ultimately, we all tend to go with what we know works. To date, I've had superior results with Mobil 1.
I hope I'm right.

 

[Luke Pokrajac]

I'm going to throw in my .02 in here also... I run 10w-30 in my 68 383 HP. All original rings, pistons, bearings, etc. I have 124K on the engine and run around 50 PSI oil pressure all the time...unless engine is really warmed up then around 35 PSI at idle. I add zinc treatment every oil change. I run full synthetic oil. Also...people may disagree...but I've had excellent results with Engine Restorer in my 383. I just installed 440 source heads on the engine and cylinder walls are in very decent shape. They still show a bit of crosshatch in walls. My engine has a lunati voodoo 256 flat tappet cam in it.

 

[Slap Stick]

Nothing but yak fat for me.

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

Nothing but yak fat for me.

aaaYep back in the day I had a few inquire about their dead towed home vehicles only to which I surmised was that the plastic timing gear had disintegrated and with a question I tossed back to them "Maybe it's the result of your $9.95 bargain oil changes?". Really, back then when when I saw signs advertising the bargain oil changes, this was about time Jiffy Lube started making some presence in the area I thought what do they use for oil, old fryolator oil? Even another mechanic that ran a shop that had repaired some of Jiffy Lube's forgetful mistakes would joke about where Jiffy Lube would get their 'Techs', the punch line was they go to McDonald's and ask the fryolator cook with "Hey you know how to handle hot oil".

Nothings changed today, boobtube is full of quick change failures and the 'Upsale' scams.

.

 

[Slap Stick]

Yak fat is what works best in them antique ditch pump Eyetalian moorsickles.

My son worked at Jiffy Lube when he was a kid. Many times he had to go to a customer's house and fix somebody's screw up. He said he could tell by looking under the oil cap if the car had been to JL regularly. It was all gummed up. Remove the valve cover and the rockers were surrounded by gunk. They used Pennzoil then.

 

[Ghostultramarine]

You could use Cam Oil. 1600ppm of zddp.

Collector Automobile Motor Oil Ltd.