Best Brand/Weight Oil for new 383 Stroker
 

I just purchased a new 383 Stroker with 2 hours of dyno time on it. It has a COMP CAM Mechanical Roller and a Melling M55HV oil pump.

What do you all recommend for Oil Brand/Weight and Oil Filter ?

Dino or Synthetic ?

Should I change out the oil pump spring to the high pressure spring ?

Thanks for your help

i'm using valvoline 10w30, and i'm thinking i'm going to stay with that and change oil/filter every 1500 miles.. i changed my oil after the first 1 hour of run time and then again at 500 miles

i run 10 w 30 in the winter ,,just for start ups ....i change that in the middle of june before bloomington gold,,and then i run castrol 20w 50 racing oil,mines also a 383, we drive em hard on the road tour at bloomington.so i go with the 20 w 50in summer

It depends on your oil pressure "Hot" If you have a modern tight motor I ran 5W30 and 10W30 because the oil pressure would have always been pegged if you tried 20W-50.

My new motor is just broke in so I shifted from Dino breakin oil to the new 0w-50 Castrol full syn.

20w50 Valvoline VR1 Racing oil...i also run the same high volume melling pump and see 60psi regularly.

why so high on the 50 side?

My 385 runs Mobil 1, 10w30.

:iagree: 383 stroker here as well... :cheers: :cheers:

As a note: higher pressure does not equate into higher volume. A thicker oil my increase the pressure because less oil is able to pass through the engine.

Single weight oil is pretty easy to understand. You want an oil thick enough that when your at max HP, max operating temp, and what ever oil pressure that your bearing surface never touches the crank shaft. Your always running on a very thin oil surface.

Multi weight oil "0W-50" has the cold flow properties of "0 weight oil" and at high temp the properties of 50 weight.

I often have water temps exceeding 220 degrees for long periods of time. I'm happy driving slow when it get down to 190 - 200. This is just a test. This 0w-50 HOT gives me about 40 psi at idle and it climbs to a peak of 75 psi from 5000 - 7000 rpm.

as I said this is just a summer test and if the oil pressure gets to running consistantly to high I will drop back down to something less. My 383 cold had 60 at idle and 80 pegged as you revved it up even with 5W-30. I went with less crank baring width in my 427 build to bleed off some pressure and I don't run a oil restricted top end.

Oil pump related question
 

I have approximately 3/8" to 1/2" endplay on the intermediate shaft(Melling IS-55E) between the oil pump (M55HV) and distibutor (MSD 8571 Pro Billet). Using an Edlebrock RPM Airgap Intake. Specs I have seen stat the endplay should be .060". When I lift up the intermediate shaft at the oil pump end it's very close to disengaging. Are ther longer shafts available. I fiure I need one about 3/8" longer.

Any suggestions?