what weight oil?
what weight oil? I have a 6.0 lsx that I put a Texas Speed cam and a few other goodies in. I was told yesterday from a fellow LS owner, that I should run the Valvoline ZR 20w-50 race oil. Is this true? Seems kinda heavy to me. Thanks
I run 30W oils but look at the viscosity at 100 degrees C. I prefer the oils in the upper range of 30W. German Castrol 0W30 is one oil in the upper end of the range. I am now running Amsoil Z-Rod oil, again in the upper range, that also includes levels of ZDDP and phosphorous not allowed in the latest EPA regulations. With an aftermarket valve train, I believe you are asking for trouble with some of the new oils and their limited use of these additives in their formulation.
I would look less at weight and more at the high temperature viscosity and the additive package.
I would look less at weight and more at the high temperature viscosity and the additive package.
^^^^^^^what vettenuts said.
But it also depends on your lifters. Good lifters run super tight tolerances and they dont work well with thick oil. If you are running a set of sloppy ls7 lifters that tick etc it might actually help. In general I consider 50w (variable or straight) too heavy for a hydraulic lifter motor.
But it also depends on your lifters. Good lifters run super tight tolerances and they dont work well with thick oil. If you are running a set of sloppy ls7 lifters that tick etc it might actually help. In general I consider 50w (variable or straight) too heavy for a hydraulic lifter motor.
I agree with vettenuts. I am running VR-1 conventional 10W-30 on my new build and will switch over to German Castrol after I reach the 1K mark. VR-1 10w-30 is a little hard to find . Some auto parts stores only stock it in 50W , but Auto Zone carries it. Oh and it needs to conventional to get the ZDDP and phosphorous, or they have a race only version in the black bottle also.But the gray bottle is just fine the part # is VV 205.
I run 30W oils but look at the viscosity at 100 degrees C. I prefer the oils in the upper range of 30W. German Castrol 0W30 is one oil in the upper end of the range. I am now running Amsoil Z-Rod oil, again in the upper range, that also includes levels of ZDDP and phosphorous not allowed in the latest EPA regulations. With an aftermarket valve train, I believe you are asking for trouble with some of the new oils and their limited use of these additives in their formulation.
I would look less at weight and more at the high temperature viscosity and the additive package.
I would look less at weight and more at the high temperature viscosity and the additive package.
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What ever oil you use, DO NOT use the so called new car engine oil when a performance cam & high rate valve springs are used.
Read this post for more info; http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...-oil-tech.html
Russ Kemp
Read this post for more info; http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...-oil-tech.html
Russ Kemp
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LSx engines are absolutely NOTHING special. They are every day, ordinary V8 engines. Any oil that anyone uses in ANY type of mildly modded, medium or heavily modded...or fully built forged stroker engine.....can use ANY type of oil.
The only time you need to use a specific type of oil is when your builder tells you to, or if the engine is built with very specific tolerances and it needs a special type of oil.
My fully forged 427ci stroker used off-the-shelf NON-synthetic cheap *** Castrol GTX 20w50 and Purolator filters. It had 173,000 miles on it when it finally snapped a rod at 150mph.
Oil is bullshit.......synthetic oil is BIG bullshit.
Change it every 3000......thats ALL you can do to protect your engine. There's no super-duper magical oil thats gonna do anything that regular cheap oil won't do. And use an oil filter magnet. You'll be amazed at what it captures.
BTW....my new AES 390ci fully forged engine....its getting valvoline VR1 20w50 from day one. Thats what AES recommends and they haven't had any issues yet......these engines have been running good for like 3 years now for them.
.
I spent a lot of time looking into this and settled on Amsoil Z-Rod 10W30 for my car. It is worse for the converters, but I will replace a converter rather than cam and valve train any day of the week. This is especially true in light of some recent posts on this forum where pushrod ends, lifter rollers, etc. have been failing. A lot of guys are running very high valve spring loads that the newer oils won't protect IMO.
^^^Its funny though.....all the people posting with failures are using synthetic oil and espensive filters.
I know about a dozen guys locally that do what I do...cheap *** oil and 3000 mile changes. These are the people with zero failures and their engines last forever.
The verdict is in.
.
I know about a dozen guys locally that do what I do...cheap *** oil and 3000 mile changes. These are the people with zero failures and their engines last forever.
The verdict is in.
.
Dr. Whigham, when you did you heads/cam install, did you use a "break in oil" and then change the oil right afterwards? If not, what did you do?
Actually it's the black bottle and synthetic. They had some silver bottles RIGHT next to it, same stuff. I'm guessing the silver is the new formula with the new EPA regs? IDK. I could be wrong. Either way the silver bottle **** was 9.29 a quart.
I didn't use break in oi for the heads and cam. I used regular Castrol Edge w/ titanium, the gold bottles, but I changed it after 1k miles, and I have ALWAYS used WIX 51522 oil filters. The long truck ones.
As an aside though, with the VR1 I can hear the valvetrain a LOT more now. It was actually quieter with the Edge. That was the whole reason I spit on Mobil 1 now was b/c of the valvetrain noise. When I tried the Edge it was like firing up a new car. Almost silent. I'd kill to see a UOA from our cars with the Edge w/ Titanium. SOMETHING in that oil that's not detergent makes both my H/C/I car, as well as my LQ9 Escalade dead quiet.
I very well may go back to Edge and run a bottle of ZDDPlus with it. I'm not sure what to think with the noise now with the VR1. But blue oil is cool as ****, I don't care what anyone says, LOL
I didn't use break in oi for the heads and cam. I used regular Castrol Edge w/ titanium, the gold bottles, but I changed it after 1k miles, and I have ALWAYS used WIX 51522 oil filters. The long truck ones.
As an aside though, with the VR1 I can hear the valvetrain a LOT more now. It was actually quieter with the Edge. That was the whole reason I spit on Mobil 1 now was b/c of the valvetrain noise. When I tried the Edge it was like firing up a new car. Almost silent. I'd kill to see a UOA from our cars with the Edge w/ Titanium. SOMETHING in that oil that's not detergent makes both my H/C/I car, as well as my LQ9 Escalade dead quiet.
I very well may go back to Edge and run a bottle of ZDDPlus with it. I'm not sure what to think with the noise now with the VR1. But blue oil is cool as ****, I don't care what anyone says, LOL
Actually it's the black bottle and synthetic. They had some silver bottles RIGHT next to it, same stuff. I'm guessing the silver is the new formula with the new EPA regs? IDK. I could be wrong. Either way the silver bottle **** was 9.29 a quart.
I didn't use break in oi for the heads and cam. I used regular Castrol Edge w/ titanium, the gold bottles, but I changed it after 1k miles, and I have ALWAYS used WIX 51522 oil filters. The long truck ones.
As an aside though, with the VR1 I can hear the valvetrain a LOT more now. It was actually quieter with the Edge. That was the whole reason I spit on Mobil 1 now was b/c of the valvetrain noise. When I tried the Edge it was like firing up a new car. Almost silent. I'd kill to see a UOA from our cars with the Edge w/ Titanium. SOMETHING in that oil that's not detergent makes both my H/C/I car, as well as my LQ9 Escalade dead quiet.
I very well may go back to Edge and run a bottle of ZDDPlus with it. I'm not sure what to think with the noise now with the VR1. But blue oil is cool as ****, I don't care what anyone says, LOL
I didn't use break in oi for the heads and cam. I used regular Castrol Edge w/ titanium, the gold bottles, but I changed it after 1k miles, and I have ALWAYS used WIX 51522 oil filters. The long truck ones.
As an aside though, with the VR1 I can hear the valvetrain a LOT more now. It was actually quieter with the Edge. That was the whole reason I spit on Mobil 1 now was b/c of the valvetrain noise. When I tried the Edge it was like firing up a new car. Almost silent. I'd kill to see a UOA from our cars with the Edge w/ Titanium. SOMETHING in that oil that's not detergent makes both my H/C/I car, as well as my LQ9 Escalade dead quiet.
I very well may go back to Edge and run a bottle of ZDDPlus with it. I'm not sure what to think with the noise now with the VR1. But blue oil is cool as ****, I don't care what anyone says, LOL
What weight of Castrol did you use for the break-in period? 10w30 or 5w30? Why did you not use the ZZD Plus with the Castrol; does it already contain it?
I wish they sold the German Castrol here in Jefferson City. I looked, but couldn't find it.