***Important Oil information for ANYONE****
FWIW i switched to VR1 20w-50 this weekend and picked up 20psi of oil pressure at idle (hot), probably more at WOT. now it sits at just under 60psi warm.
thats some thick stuff haha
thats some thick stuff haha
if its really cold you could always pull the ign/fuel fuses real quick and turn it over a few times to get things a lil more oiled up before you actually start it.
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Joined: Mar 2002
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From: North Las Vegas, NV
Ive always have used valvoline 20w50 in my ls cars. My dd truck 360k original miles. Has 60-70psi. My ls1 has 168k miles, cam,bolt ons,stock lifters, i spin 7000rpm all the time, stock internals. Zero problems.
Ive done many,many cam installs in ls motors since 00. Still havent had a lifter or cam failure. Also use 20w50 in the turbo builds ive put out.
Good info links in this thread
Ive done many,many cam installs in ls motors since 00. Still havent had a lifter or cam failure. Also use 20w50 in the turbo builds ive put out.
Good info links in this thread
This thread has me thinking of buying a quart of common oils and burning 3 samples of each to see how they stack up against each other.
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Joined: Mar 2010
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Anyone know the zddp content is of regular rotella 15-40 is?
My local machine shop recommended to use only it in my dads flat tappet cam BBC so I'm guessing it has enough. Hey recommended and sold him a zddp additive also. I'm wondering if just running rotella is good enough for a regular ole ls1 with a turbo?
My local machine shop recommended to use only it in my dads flat tappet cam BBC so I'm guessing it has enough. Hey recommended and sold him a zddp additive also. I'm wondering if just running rotella is good enough for a regular ole ls1 with a turbo?
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Joined: Oct 2009
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From: Michigan
One thing nobody has mentioned in this thread is the reduced oil pressure swing you get with some of the really good synthetic oil as it goes from cold to hot. To me that is important with a turbo car, especially with a journal bearing turbo or two in the system.
I tried out a bunch of different oils a few years ago, and I found Redline Racing oil to have the least reduction in oil pressure of anything I tried. The 50wt and even the 60wt seemed to flow very well when cold, and maintained the most oil pressure after a bunch of beating on the sucker and making a lot of boost.
The Rotella 15w40 mineral oil was scary as far as how much oil pressure it lost, and IIRC that is what I had in one time when I lost a rod bearing. Could be coincidence, but I didn't like the situation.
I liked the way the internals looked after running VR1, but that **** is thick as hell when it's cold, so that always concerned me a little bit...
Anyway, just food for thought.
I tried out a bunch of different oils a few years ago, and I found Redline Racing oil to have the least reduction in oil pressure of anything I tried. The 50wt and even the 60wt seemed to flow very well when cold, and maintained the most oil pressure after a bunch of beating on the sucker and making a lot of boost.
The Rotella 15w40 mineral oil was scary as far as how much oil pressure it lost, and IIRC that is what I had in one time when I lost a rod bearing. Could be coincidence, but I didn't like the situation.
I liked the way the internals looked after running VR1, but that **** is thick as hell when it's cold, so that always concerned me a little bit...
Anyway, just food for thought.
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From: Michigan
I really wanted to have good results with the Rotella, and it was a long time ago so I can't remember the sequence of events perfectly... It's possible that I lost the rod bearing at the time that made it look like the Rotella was shearing down really fast. Maybe it really was a coincidence, as I did feel like the whole setup was much happier when I added and extra thousandth of clearance to the mains and rods.
Bottom line though, if I'm running a highly stressed journal bearing turbo, I want high quality synthetic in the crankcase just because they handle the heat so much better and can still flow when cold. Unfortunately, my next project is a BMW 540i that holds 8 quarts BEFORE adding the lines to the rear-mount turbo. It's gonna be an expensive fill! Haha...
Bottom line though, if I'm running a highly stressed journal bearing turbo, I want high quality synthetic in the crankcase just because they handle the heat so much better and can still flow when cold. Unfortunately, my next project is a BMW 540i that holds 8 quarts BEFORE adding the lines to the rear-mount turbo. It's gonna be an expensive fill! Haha...
get the details on the 0w-30 european, but as it is made to that detail, I would be its cSt rating is 11.5~12 and the important part is the ZDDP levels.
I would switch, I made the switch a while back to 0w-40, just didn't realize the zddp levels had dropped off so much over the years.
I would switch, I made the switch a while back to 0w-40, just didn't realize the zddp levels had dropped off so much over the years.
Last edited by OffspringZ28; Jan 26, 2013 at 06:07 AM.
I have ran this oil for a lot of years now after I seen Bobstheoilguy oil analysis on the german castrol 0w-30. It did very well compared to the others. I havent had any issues running it, but wondering if i should make the switch to something i can find easily here and possibly better lubricating properties.
^^ Valvoline VR1.. I've got Valvoline 20w50 that I got for $3.99 a quart at Autozone. My oil pressure rose about 10-15 psi easy. Although lots of guys are saying it comes out really thick so I'm not too sure about running it after this. Probably go with the Valvoline VR1 10w30 next time.
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EDIT: it's a lot cheaper than the $9 a quart I pay now as well