Today's Motor Oil And Flat Tappet Cams

8BA Ford flathead 20-50 Valvoleen racing oil from Napa. aint blow up yet since 1950 my father bought
it new.
 
I found the information available on the Petroleum Quality Institute of America's website to be interesting as well as enlightening. Owners of motor vehicles of all types, ages, and descriptions might find some of these facts useful in deciding which oils or lubricants are best suited for their particular application, and which ones should be avoided at all costs.

http://www.pqiamerica.com/

Hope this helps.

Best,
Chris S
 
You are so right that OIL ain't what it used to be ! when they added thickeners to oil good oil went to something else !
nowadays auto manufacturers recommend 5w30 .... have you looked at that stuff ? it's not fit for sewing machines ! its way to thin, no viscosity to it !
when My toyota tercel got past it's warranty I went to straight 30 w valvoline(not 10w30) in 5k miles I switched to 40w and stuck with that for the next 15 years, then switched to 20x60 valvoline racing oil....because I could not find 50 or 60w on the store shelves..... I retired the car after 400k miles and I could hear the rods knocking....( it's still at the ranch !)my toyota Cilica has Over 400k miles and still runs great, the toyota pickup 375k+miles
and I attribute the high milage to 1 thing thicker oil ! not to mention changing when it gets dark .
thicker oil is the way to go... not just for farm equipment guys !
getting rid of that multi grade oil every 5000 miles might work....because the thickeners brake down with heat.... if you try that then get a good oil
20-60wt valvoline racing oil....in my opinion it's the best oil out there ...but change it every 5k miles ! or you just have 20w in there !
....my 2 cents worth !
Bob.......
 
I used that Valvoline oil for dyno testing the racing kart motors I used to build for customers.

John
 
In older engines I would tend to agree with you, but in some of these newer ones thicker oil will actually cause damage, especially single-weight oil in extreme cold. Many of the engines produced today have extremely tight bearing tolerances and also have very small oil passages. In a lot of engines the motor oil is used to actuate injectors under pressures exceeding 20,000 psi. The use of heavier motor oil in these engines, especially single-weight oil, can and will cause damage due to oil starvation.

That said, I live in Texas and we regularly see summer temps of 100 F plus. My daily driver is a 1976 Ford pick-up with a 460. I run 20w50 Texaco Havoline in that engine, but it wasn't built to the tighter tolerances these new engines are. What worries me more than the thin oil on new engines is the fact that the oil filter on my riding lawn mower is larger than on most cars and pick-ups now.
 
Interesting thread, I've been around older and newer cars a bit, but one thing doesn't apply for all. I've had Peugeot diesels with 1.6 million kilometers on the engine without a rebuild and still uses the factory 10w40 oil, oil pressure stable 3 bar when worm at idle, on the other hand the little niva has only 57 000 km on the engine and with its factory 15w40 oil barely holds 1 bar when warm at idle so next oil change it will get 20w50, so thares alot in how the engines are build and how they are kept up. Around here we don't have too much of a problem with flattening of camshafts because the oils here don't need to meet any anti pollution standards.
 
I've pretty much gone to roller cams in all of my performance builds. More initial expense, reduced friction, better performance, and most importantly to me, peace of mind. Unless you are running a class that requires a flat tappet cam, saving a few hundred on a flat tappet cam just isn't worth the risk of trashing a 10k engine build, and having to do everything over again. Cheers, Mike
 
We use Shell Rotella 15w40 in our race engines, flat tappet or roller, change every three shows, no problems with this for the past eight years. My former employer sent me to a lubrication class a bunch of years ago, the vendor was pushing Mobil 1 products but admitted that from the cheapest to the most expensive (excluding synthetics) there is very little difference except for the additive package. I use Valvoline in everything else.
 
There is a very informed person responding to questions on oil on the Yellow Bullet forum. This thread went dead, but has some good reading on oil.
www.yellowbullet.com

Royal Purple XPR vs LAT

www.yellowbullet.com www.yellowbullet.com

When OEM left the flat tappet for roller cams the core quality went down significantly. Break in oils, break in springs, EDM holes in lifters for flat tappet cams are the new norm now. It is my understanding that there is a "P55" cam core available, but only has a limited production, and may be difficult to get. My understanding is that it is close to the OEM, or a better grade core.

This is just information I have gleaned from people in the industry, I am not an expert on anything.
 
vocatexas said:
In older engines I would tend to agree with you, but in some of these newer ones thicker oil will actually cause damage, especially single-weight oil in extreme cold. Many of the engines produced today have extremely tight bearing tolerances and also have very small oil passages. In a lot of engines the motor oil is used to actuate injectors under pressures exceeding 20,000 psi. The use of heavier motor oil in these engines, especially single-weight oil, can and will cause damage due to oil starvation.

That said, I live in Texas and we regularly see summer temps of 100 F plus. My daily driver is a 1976 Ford pick-up with a 460. I run 20w50 Texaco Havoline in that engine, but it wasn't built to the tighter tolerances these new engines are. What worries me more than the thin oil on new engines is the fact that the oil filter on my riding lawn mower is larger than on most cars and pick-ups now.
Click to expand...
Yes I have heard that REASON for the thin oil before, however I do not know of an engine that DOES have tighter tolerances than the older new engines....... can you name one ? even New 2019 motorcycles have the same bearing tolerances and tapet tolerances... I believe that is the lie we have been told by the oil companies.... because I can think of only one item that today has tighter tolerances than 50 years ago and that is SOME diesel injector pumps..... in those it is critical that their oil not exceed 10w oil.... but as far as I know the tolerances of all engines are the same as they were in the 1970's........because if they tried to make them any tighter you would have seizures !
.....in engine design there is a point of no return.... too tight of tolerances means it will eventually seize up...you guys know this !
so the manufacturers cannot make the tolerances tighter even if they wanted !.... so they are left with only one option to get rid of the waste oil package it as new and lie like a trooper ! ....
....
I know for a fact you can run straight 40w in 1990's toyotas and get xtreme mileage ....
however I am quite cautious about changing the oil in my Honda CRV.... but will do so in stages it is a faster turning engine than the others I have had... it's nothing for this Honda to reach 5000 RPM..... ( that's where the horse power lies ! ) my other engines hardly ever topped 3,000 RPM
.... that being said.... it is still an engine and close tolerances cannot be any closer than they were in my teen years even if they wanted to make them that tight.... but they can't.... the engine in newer cars like this Honda do indeed turn faster than the old ones but I am confident that a bit thicker oil than 5-30 wt will do no harm ..... if you read the owner's manual it's a propaganda message from cover to cover ! use only Honda products or you'll kill the vehicle ! ..... that is total BS !
......
for what it's worth !
Bob......
 
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