Ls3 crate engine oil weight for track use
03-05-2019, 01:22 AM
#1
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Ls3 crate engine oil weight for track use I’m dropping ls3 crate engine in my track car. The car will never see street use. I live in Dubai and the climate is prone to temperatures ranging between 100f-118f during summer. Minimum temperature the rest of the year would be 95 minimum.
I was planning to run Mobil1 or Royalpurple in my crate engine after breaking it in on the dyno. But the temp worries me a lot.
Down in the future I’ll be using -of course- oil cooler. But what you guys recommend for my hot weather in terms of oil grade? What pressure should I see during idle-cruise-WOT post breakin?
I was planning to run Mobil1 or Royalpurple in my crate engine after breaking it in on the dyno. But the temp worries me a lot.
Down in the future I’ll be using -of course- oil cooler. But what you guys recommend for my hot weather in terms of oil grade? What pressure should I see during idle-cruise-WOT post breakin?
03-05-2019, 04:19 PM
#2
5-30 or 10-30 or straight 30. No need for heavier oil than that.
Should see around 40-50 psi at idle and up to 80 or so revved out.
I would avoid Royal Purple and go with Mobil 1 or Pennzoil Platinum. I've used Pennzoil Platinum for years and it's worked really well for me. Pennzoil was reformulated over 10 years ago and has been excellent ever since.
Should see around 40-50 psi at idle and up to 80 or so revved out.
I would avoid Royal Purple and go with Mobil 1 or Pennzoil Platinum. I've used Pennzoil Platinum for years and it's worked really well for me. Pennzoil was reformulated over 10 years ago and has been excellent ever since.
03-06-2019, 12:04 AM
#3
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Define track use.
1/4 mile 5W-30 is fine.
HPDE or Road Racing I would definitely use a 15W-50 at those ambient temps for sustained 20 minutes+ duty
unless you have oil coolers, increased volume and an excellent cooling system.
( Mobil 1 is the easiest to get for you)
(probably pretty hard to get AMSOIL had to qualify my recommendation as a Dealer lol)
I would want 25+ PSI @ hot idle & 50+ @ 6000 RPM Minimums
1/4 mile 5W-30 is fine.
HPDE or Road Racing I would definitely use a 15W-50 at those ambient temps for sustained 20 minutes+ duty
unless you have oil coolers, increased volume and an excellent cooling system.
( Mobil 1 is the easiest to get for you)
(probably pretty hard to get AMSOIL had to qualify my recommendation as a Dealer lol)
I would want 25+ PSI @ hot idle & 50+ @ 6000 RPM Minimums
Last edited by NAVYBLUE210; 03-06-2019 at 03:09 PM.
03-06-2019, 02:31 AM
#5
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Everybody is going to have a different recommendation...
Highly concentrated ZDDP based synthetic straight 30 weight engine oil (UNless you have an alcohol fuel source).
Highly concentrated ZDDP based synthetic straight 30 weight engine oil (UNless you have an alcohol fuel source).
03-06-2019, 05:06 PM
#6
Define track use.
1/4 mile 5W-30 is fine.
HPDE or Road Racing I would definitely use a 15W-50 at those ambient temps for sustained 20 minutes+ duty
unless you have oil coolers, increased volume and an excellent cooling system.
( Mobil 1 is the easiest to get for you)
(probably pretty hard to get AMSOIL had to qualify my recommendation as a Dealer lol)
I would want 25+ PSI @ hot idle & 50+ @ 6000 RPM Minimums
1/4 mile 5W-30 is fine.
HPDE or Road Racing I would definitely use a 15W-50 at those ambient temps for sustained 20 minutes+ duty
unless you have oil coolers, increased volume and an excellent cooling system.
( Mobil 1 is the easiest to get for you)
(probably pretty hard to get AMSOIL had to qualify my recommendation as a Dealer lol)
I would want 25+ PSI @ hot idle & 50+ @ 6000 RPM Minimums
Good point, I jumped out there assuming drag racing.
03-09-2019, 08:36 AM
#7
40-50wt will give you better lifter stability at speed.
Dino oils like Mobile-1, Pennzoil, etc will not handle the heat nearly as well as a true synthetic. Pick whichever synthetic you can get. I use Royal Purple because it's easy to get. Engine tear downs show almost no wear after 2-3 seasons for racing.
Dino oils like Mobile-1, Pennzoil, etc will not handle the heat nearly as well as a true synthetic. Pick whichever synthetic you can get. I use Royal Purple because it's easy to get. Engine tear downs show almost no wear after 2-3 seasons for racing.
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03-09-2019, 09:39 AM
#8
Also be mindful of getting caught in the trap of thinking more ZDDP is better. That's not always the case. ZDDP levels are misleading because there's several different types of ZDDP that are used. ZDDP is heavily dependent on the alkyl groups that bond the molecule, and you can change the characteristics of the molecule quite drastically by changing the alkyl groups used. For example, ZDDP that's bonded with long-chained primary (low carbon) type alkyl groups does little for wear prevention, but instead works great for soot control and oxidation inhibition. High levels of this type of ZDDP mean little when looking for wear protection. (see: diesel oils) This type of ZDDP also requires extremely high temperature and pressure to activate. (diesels) ZDDP should never exceed 3% of the total oil volume for extended use (~1920 ppm zinc) as levels above this can become corrosive.
Meanwhile, ZDDP with short-chained secondary (ethelene based) alkyl groups activate at low temperature and pressure are far more effective at wear prevention. The racing oil I used contains just 850 ppm of ZDDP.
40-50wt will give you better lifter stability at speed.
Dino oils like Mobile-1, Pennzoil, etc will not handle the heat nearly as well as a true synthetic. Pick whichever synthetic you can get. I use Royal Purple because it's easy to get. Engine tear downs show almost no wear after 2-3 seasons for racing.
Dino oils like Mobile-1, Pennzoil, etc will not handle the heat nearly as well as a true synthetic. Pick whichever synthetic you can get. I use Royal Purple because it's easy to get. Engine tear downs show almost no wear after 2-3 seasons for racing.
Mobil 1 isn't made from dino oil. It's made from natural gas (Gas-To-Liquid or GTL) which is only marginally better than group III hydroisomerized synthetics. They use the same base oil as Pennzoil Platinum with alkylated naphthalenes in the lower tier oils like regular Mobil 1 and Mobil 1 HM, and small amounts of high viscosity PAO in their higher tier stuff like Mobil 1 EP and AP. The second part of that sentence is correct as none of them will handle heat as well as a PAO/POE synthetic, not even close.
Royal Purple uses group III crude base oil like Valvoline Full Synthetic and Castrol Edge. When Calumet bought RP back in 2012, they went to slashing production cost which meant the expensive PAO base oil was cut out from all but the XPR line. ZDDP, MoDTC, and CaCO3 levels were all reduced. Their standard line was cut all the way down to under the 800 ppm limit to meet API SN requirements and get the oil on more shelves. However, they didn't lower the price of the oil. It's still $40 for 5 quarts compared to $22 for Castrol Edge which is 98% the same oil. RP used to be a top shelf synthetic up there with Red Line, JG Driven, Schaeffer's, Brad Penn, and Amsoil. Nowadays, you're just paying for the name and some purple dye.
Last edited by Polyalphaolefin; 03-09-2019 at 09:46 AM.
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03-10-2019, 09:32 AM
#10
None of the NASCAR teams are using Mobil 1's 0w-50 racing oil nor any other 50 grade oil for that matter. The teams that do use Mobil 1 are using a special blend made specifically for them that you can't buy on the shelf. The SAE oil grade of it is around 0w-10.
03-10-2019, 10:45 AM
#11
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I'm not going to get into a pissing match with you but I do own a Nascar ls spec engine and the guy who runs the engine program specifically said mobil 1 0-50 is the only oil that they run in the ls spec engines. We just had a in depth conversation about this very subject. You obviously have some solid information in your previous post and some of that was discussed with him. What the cup guys run may be something different.
03-10-2019, 11:43 AM
#13
Royal Purple uses group III crude base oil like Valvoline Full Synthetic and Castrol Edge. When Calumet bought RP back in 2012, they went to slashing production cost which meant the expensive PAO base oil was cut out from all but the XPR line. ZDDP, MoDTC, and CaCO3 levels were all reduced. Their standard line was cut all the way down to under the 800 ppm limit to meet API SN requirements and get the oil on more shelves. However, they didn't lower the price of the oil. It's still $40 for 5 quarts compared to $22 for Castrol Edge which is 98% the same oil. RP used to be a top shelf synthetic up there with Red Line, JG Driven, Schaeffer's, Brad Penn, and Amsoil. Nowadays, you're just paying for the name and some purple dye.
03-10-2019, 12:55 PM
#14
I'm not going to get into a pissing match with you but I do own a Nascar ls spec engine and the guy who runs the engine program specifically said mobil 1 0-50 is the only oil that they run in the ls spec engines. We just had a in depth conversation about this very subject. You obviously have some solid information in your previous post and some of that was discussed with him. What the cup guys run may be something different.
The oil they use contains little to no detergent (less than 300 ppm), 800-1000 ppm ZDDP, and 1700+ ppm friction modifier. Volatility is also very low at just 3-4%.
03-11-2019, 07:32 PM
#15
I'm not going to get into a pissing match with you but I do own a Nascar ls spec engine and the guy who runs the engine program specifically said mobil 1 0-50 is the only oil that they run in the ls spec engines. We just had a in depth conversation about this very subject. You obviously have some solid information in your previous post and some of that was discussed with him. What the cup guys run may be something different.
The cup stuff is wildly different from the spec engine program, can’t compare the two.
03-11-2019, 11:47 PM
#16
I’ve got 4 of those engines in rotation at the shop, and we run nothing heavier than Driven XP3 which is a 10-30. You shouldn’t need a 50w oil in those engines especially since they are dry sump and should be running a cooler. Are you listening to Yates? If you want to make power with a spec engine you should listen to private builders that put the spec engines together from kits and not Yates.
The cup stuff is wildly different from the spec engine program, can’t compare the two.
03-15-2019, 08:42 AM
#17
Just to add another data point, the new standard fill for the C7/LT1 is 0w40 Mobil 1. The stated use includes track use (left & right turns). Previously, there was 5w30 for street use and 15w50 for track use.
03-15-2019, 03:09 PM
#19
03-15-2019, 03:40 PM
#20
Both. The base oil composition changed little with the D1G2 reformulation. The base oil is still mostly GTL with a splash of PAO and AN. The only real change with D1G2 is the detergent package.