This is something that everyone needs to read, if you are racing your car or just taking it to car shows your engine oil is the life blood that keeps your car running.

The more aggressive your setup, or the harder you drive your car, the oil you use becomes even more important.

Over the last 10 years, We have recorded approximately 10 failed lifters from customers in the US with our cam kits. We sell on average 150-200 cam kits per year, and more cams by themselves. 6 of these have been in the last 12 months.

Doing testing and research with oil companies, Comp Cams, and also with some of our partners in the turbo production the newer 'EPA approved' oils are reducing the anti wear additive packages more so every year and are increasing the amount of detergents in the oil. While this might sound good to keep the inside of your engine clean it is not helping on keeping the oil protecting like it should.


That is why it is more important now more so than ever for those of you tracking your car, installing bigger cams, turbo's and superchargers that you run an oil that will hold up and protect your investment.

With any of our cam kits we highly suggest the use of a quality oil with a high content of Zinc and Phosphorus. For those racing the car, a racing oil should be used. Do keep in mind most racing oils are 100% detergent free and will need to be changed frequently.

Some oils to use would be RedLine, Amsoil, Joe Gibb, Brad Penn, Valvoline VR1 series.


Further Reading...
http://www.joegibbsdriven.com/trainingcenter/tech/streetoils.htm

http://www.redlineoil.com/techinfo.aspx

http://store.forcedperformance.net/m...otor%20Oil.pdf

 

What failed on the lifters? Cam go flat?

 

When you loose the film of oil there, you loose lubrication of course. Generally speaking since we are dealing with a roller here (at least on the LS cars) the lifter may go for quite some time. First you will see pitting on the cam and later it will start to grind flat spots into the roller. Then it either turns it side ways or it just grinds it flat. Flat tappet cars are seeing the lifter just dig into the cam.

 

What's your thoughts on just adding a Zinc addative like "ZDDP plus" or something to the Mobile 1 that is recommended from the factory?

 

The issue with that is, and we provide our cam kits with that additive, the detergents will scrub the metal so much, it wont let the zinc bond to the materials, so you have to be careful with what you use as a base oil.

Comp is also working on some technical papers that will tell us which oils are readily available that is compatible with the additives.

Louis

 

For a basic SC car, and tracking it every once in awhile do you feel Mobil 1 will hold up okay?

 

Brad penn here and doing good. Used vr1 and joe Gibbs before also. There have been a lot of tests done and mobil1 was one of the worst oils as far as maintaining that oil wedge boundary. IIRC the only worse oil was royal purple.

 

I switched to Amsoil Z Rod a couple changes ago, we will see. Been running standard Amsoil for about 15K miles before that.

 

Just to throw something out there if it helps anyone... Royal Purple oil agreed is not what youd think it is but they make a racing oil that has some of the best mixtures of ZDDP for anti wear.

XPR Royal purple has to be specially ordered. I have run it in the m5 e34 and now in the Z06 and just saying, my temperatures of my oil went down while running hard or slow.

I had a real bad problem with Brad Penn once. I used it in a e34 m5 that has no rockers with the cam running directly on the valve shim and the cam had visible marks within 4 thousand miles.

I dont know how this compares to the use in a ls engine but thought id share the experience.

 

I read all of this thread I have 2008 c6 ls3. Will be putting an E-Force 1590-554hp on an other wise bone stock engine. I then went to joe gibbs web-site to see what I should use and still confused the block is steel heads are aluminum.????. Which one to try?

 

Redline in various weights for any modded LT or LS engine over the past 17 years or so.

 

My 06 Vert is E/W Edelbrocks E-Force producing approx 10 lbs of Boost. I make 15 to 20passes per month through the 1/4 mile from June Through September. Its not a dd but beyond the track we put approx 3K on the car per year. I placed a call to Red Line's Tech Support and asked for their oil recommendation. Red Line recommended thier High Performance oil in 5W-30 for my application and told me I should not use their Racing Oil. Their High Performance Oil has approx 1200 ppm of Zinc and 1300 ppm of phosphorus. The Zinc and Phosphorus content of the Red Line High Performance Oil is greater than that offered by Mobil 1. I plan on going with Red Line High Performance.

 

Thanks jxhunte,lt1z
you did some of the leg work for me. i only have 8500 on car but after reading some of these posts the light went on its not a daily driver just weekends and not enough time to drive it more. Its now in hibernation until april but thats what is going in it. dont mind changing it more often to get long life and e-force performance.Any changes to senors in car.Or cat convertor

 

Good choice I think. I will go Redline or Amsoil, depending on how hard it is for me to find redline up here.

 

Another tech article released by Joe Gibb today.

http://lgmotorsports.com/gallery/alb...tech_sheet.pdf

 

Let's look a bit more in depth on why these 'micro brew' oils are so much better than say a normal Mobile 1.

Within the U.S. right now you may think you only have the choice of conventional and synthetic engine oils to choose from. While that is partially true the base stock that the oil is produced from can also radically change the properties of the oil itself, synthetic or not.

Within the Synthetic oils you have three classifications, Group 3, Group 4, and Group 5 oils. Group 3 oils are re-refined petroleum products and are the least expensive until recently they could not be classified as synthetic. Group 4 oils are PAO oils (Poly-Alpha-Olefine) and they are a synthesized petroleum product that has better protection against heat, oxidation, and better flow at low temperatures. The draw back to this oil is they need plenty of oil pressure to provide an effective protection film on the parts they protect. Both Group 3 and Group 4 oils are mineral based.

Lastly we have the Group 5 oils, which are Ester based (diester, polyoesters, and complex esters) which are vegetable and animal based

Red Line and Motul engine oils are currently the only two engine oils you can obtain that start from a Synthetic Ester base. This Ester base forms and electro-chemical bond with your engine components so there is an even less chance of metal to metal contact on cold start up or low oil pressure conditions. This bond is something that the Group 3 and Group 4 oils do not have because of their base material make up even if they have a higher level of ZDDP additives. The other big benefit of an Ester based oil is that they have very little in the way of deposits if they do burn under extreme conditions so there is no build up inside hot engine parts, and this is especially important for those running turbos on their cars.


Further reading on Esters
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...94#Post1252272

 

I use TORCO SR1 10-40w because its proven in our high hp Porsche turbo and n/a cup motors. I noticed a difference in oil temps and contamination/breakdown color smell.

 

Awesome info. I think i speak for everyone when I say we really do appreciate it! Make sure you read the Joe Gibb tech article listed above at least!

I take it that these 'Group 3-5' synthetic ratings are not found on the bottle?

 

 

I think the Z-ROD 10w30 is a good choice for either a heavily modded car or a dual use street/track car:
AMSOIL Z-ROD 10w30 Synthetic Motor Oil (Product Code ZRTQT)
(zinc – 1440 ppm, phosphorus 1320 ppm)

Very similar to AMSOIL's racing Dominator 10w30 I use in my 02 Z06 at the track, but with sufficient detergents for 3-5k mile oil change intervals (or one year whichever first), whereas I change the racing oil at about 500 miles intervals.

More than happy to get AMSOIL products for forum members at dealer wholesale pricing, about 25% below retail, via the AMSOIL Preferred Customer Program. Drop me a PM if interested.