Thread: What oil do you use these dayz??????????

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I have a brand new 454 built last summer with less than 500 miles on it. The cam and one lifter is already gone!!!!! Comp cam told me it was todays engine oils. They said they wont support the old flat tappet cam and lifters anymore! What does EVERYONE in the world use then? I cant believe that every HOT ROD cam in the world is going out nowadays. PLEASE HELP!!! gregpeddie@hotmail.com

thanks

I talked to Comp cams today and apperantly this is a HUGE problem thats been going on for a couple years. They were willing to sell me a new cam and lifters for 150 bucks WITHOUT my reciept. Has anyone one else had a problem with COMP CAMS? Would anyone suggest a different company?

You probably experienced some wear at breakin that didn't surface until down the road a few miles IMO. I know that the new oils have less sulpher or something in them that is contributing to more wear, but 500 miles is way too soon.

I've started running Shell Rotella T in my '23. I chose it because all the big diesel engined boat guys insisted on it and most of their manufacturers recommended it. I also used to run Castrol GTX in my cars, and had good luck with it. I've never had a bearing or component failure from a lubrication issue.

We also used Mobil 1 synthetic exclusively in gas engines at our marina, and had no problems with it either. I may switch to it in my daily driver to try to get a few more miles per gallon. I ran it in my '27 and when I switched to it the temperature went down 10 degrees and I could feel a little more power.

Don

castrol gtx. i had a manual fuel pump fail. did not know it until my oil pressure gauge went nuts. Changed the oil and the fuel pump. It never showed a problem. been with castrol ever since.

Castrol, valvoline, penzoil in the everyday runners and synthetic royal purple
in the hotrods

You will need to add Zinc Phosphate for break in of any of the older style (non roller) flat tappet cam.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ZDDP-...3286.m14.l1318

I use Wolfes Head with Comp Cam additive. Have had no troubles.

Hey Willys, would you also put it in every oil change????? THANKS!

Thats what I do put that additive in every oil change. Even Comp recomends it.

71RAT , If you read bottle it tells you to use with every oil changs. Like I said had good luck.

Originally Posted by 71rat

Hey Willys, would you also put it in every oil change????? THANKS!

Yes,
I always add a bottle at every oil change. Very few of the current oils have the percentages of Zinc Phosphates that are neccessary to run in our old style motors.
John

I've been running Valvoline VR1 in the old cars. Also add half bottle of GM's EOS with each oil change. For breakin besides the VR1 use The Comp, Crane or Lucas additive s shown above or a full bottle of EOS. There are a few others as well. Valve spring pressures can also be a factor during breakin. If I'm running dual springs w/ an inner damper I remove the inner spring and just use the outer spring and inner damper spring till after breakin and sometimes some easy miles 50-100 before installing the inner springs. Anal?? Maybe but with things today you need to be careful. Also be sure your lifters (non roller) are spinning in there bores when using solid or hyd lifters. If a lifter is stuck and does not spin it'll wear the cam lobe AND lifter right down. Could have been something like a burr that was not removed or funky bore itself. Yep even on crate engines you need to check things over well. Sorry to hear of your problems....

well do not let them kid you it has been going on for some time . it is a HUGE problem with bbc i build and machine bbc i will not put a flat lifter cam in any bbc with any guaranty it will not wipe the lobes off .i have seen way to many fail .any thing thats a soild lifter with some hi lbs springs get the EDM lifter has a small hole burnt thru for added oil i used hyd roller cams or soild roller cams in 99% of the builds i do. it is just not worth the big pain in the a$$ if the cam wipes out . the zinc additve will help and i use that with a race oil that has the zinc in it for break in but there are other things about the bbc that make it a cam eater i have seen older blocks eat more then one cam lifter bores not in the right spot added spring lbs will not help this and there is alot of new junk lifters out there that just come apart i do not use comp much for any thing .every one slaps there name on lifters made by who?and who knows were they come from ?? and that a big problem to

I'm running Rotela T but I have heard that even that is now way down on zinc.

Like Pat says this is happening a lot (a friend just built a 460 Ford for a customer....wiped the cam in less than 200 miles). It's been put back together and going back in this weekend I think).

The tech line from Crane pretty much told him the things things that are listed above.

For now it seems like EOS, Brad Penn and possibly Castro Syntec 20-50

Originally Posted by pat mccarthy

well do not let them kid you it has been going on for some time . it is a HUGE problem with bbc i build and machine bbc i will not put a flat lifter cam in any bbc with any guaranty it will not wipe the lobes off .i have seen way to many fail .any thing thats a soild lifter with some hi lbs springs get the EDM lifter has a small hole burnt thru for added oil i used hyd roller cams or soild roller cams in 99% of the builds i do. it is just not worth the big pain in the a$$ if the cam wipes out . the zinc additve will help and i use that with a race oil that has the zinc in it for break in but there are other things about the bbc that make it a cam eater i have seen older blocks eat more then one cam lifter bores not in the right spot added spring lbs will not help this and there is alot of new junk lifters out there that just come apart i do not use comp much for any thing .every one slaps there name on lifters made by who?and who knows were they come from ?? and that a big problem to

Hi Pat, When you build a BBC with a hyd roller cam do you still use the oil additive and recommend doing that with each oil change? It's better to be safe than sorry in my opinion.

Thanks

Originally Posted by stylingZ

Hi Pat, When you build a BBC with a hyd roller cam do you still use the oil additive and recommend doing that with each oil change? It's better to be safe than sorry in my opinion.

Thanks

the zinc is a good thing so yes why not.but not as big as a deal with the stock to mild hyd roller cams the race stuff look for the zinc like brad penn oil i just never got in to it much 10 years ago oil was oil? but i get to look at engine that i built or others and take them down to look them over and see how they held up not all oil is the same. i like to know what my customer used for oil