break in oils

[P.J.]

What works best for a big block break in oils.This quote is from the article "Is oil killing our cars"

Latest conclusions: Running our older, broken in engines on Castrol 20W-50 GTX is ok. Break in a new engine for 3,000 miles on HD 30 Castrol.
What has been your experience with break in oils.
Is 20 w 50 too heavy an oil for a big block break in??
PJ

[Chevy454]

Nope...main thing is that it's a dino oil [non synthetic]...even better might be Rotella, which still has some zinc in it...just make sure and use lots and lots of moly assembly lube, and maybe even drop in some GM EOS.

[427king]

[ QUOTE ]
What works best for a big block break in oils.

[/ QUOTE ] Gibb racing oil. Rotella T is better than conventional but still not good enough . 3 shops i know of in the area use it exclusively for dyno work. Its called Joe Gibbs Driven BR break in oil.

[P.J.]

What about the hd 30 oil for the first 3000 miles
I know that adding the GM additive OAS helps too??.
Is HD 30 oil ok for the brake in period. I dont want to use 10 w 30 as some people have recommended. The 427 425 hp motor
I think needs a heavier oil.
PJ

[NCGuy68]

Alot of racers in my neck of the woods break-in with Rotella T and shortly there after, switch to full synthetic. Amsoil 15W50 is popular but keep in mind these are race only engines...not street driven.

[njsteve]

Rotella 15w40. I use it in everything, including my Diesel Truck which is actually supposed to run that oil. I buy it in the 5 gallon jugs and keep a bunch handy.

[Chevy454]

Last I knew, Rotella was losing the zinc also...kinda like the switch to low sulfur fuel. People are now wondering why their engines are eating cams, just wait until the same thing starts happening to the injector pumps in everyone's diesel truck...but hey, we're saving the environment, right? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[VintageMusclecar]

The last several engines I've built have been solid flat tappet Chevy engines, 2 big blocks and one small block. I used "EDM" lifters in all three as well as Shell Rotella 15W40 oil. On the 2 big blocks, I removed the inner valve springs for cam break-in (the small block had single springs that weren't very aggressive), and all 3 made it through break-in with absolutely no issues whatsoever. I also use moly lube exclusively on all valvetrain components.

My $.02

Eric

[RamAirDave]

I blend EOS with Rotella for initial break in.

[m22mike]

[ QUOTE ]
Last I knew, Rotella was losing the zinc also...kinda like the switch to low sulfur fuel. People are now wondering why their engines are eating cams, just wait until the same thing starts happening to the injector pumps in everyone's diesel truck...but hey, we're saving the environment, right? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Here is a thread from CRG http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=305.0
Read the whole thing through, The Shell Rotella Zinc is still high enough for flap tappet cams, John Z gives the SAE rating #'s in this thread. API CJ-4
and as many others have suggested, use GM EOS during the break in too.
And Erics practice of removing the inner valve springs is good insurance too.
Also most of the racing oils will still have good levels of ZDDP in them.
In this Valoline add they even state an increased level of Zink.
http://www.valvoline.com/pages/products/product_detail.asp?product=94
Also do some searching on the WWW and the others Boards about this subject, much has already been discussed.
Mike

[VintageMusclecar]

One other thing I forgot to mention...

Another potential issue that can contribute to cam/lifter failure is a tight or dirty lifter bore. A flat tappet lifter absolutely must be able to rotate freely in its bore...if it can't spin, it will go flat.

As I've mentioned before, as a matter of SOP, I now run a small ball hone through the lifter bores of every engine I build just to make sure there's no varnish or "boogers" left behind after the block has been cleaned.

Afterwards, during mock-up I test-fit the lifters in their bores to make sure they all slide right in and will spin with no effort. You'd be surprised at how many "snug" lifter bores I've encountered even after the block has been cleaned. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

Eric

[70 Forest Green Zee]

I have been stock piling the older version of Rotella, the one with API rating of CI-4. It has started to be hard to find but if you look you can still find it. I think that retailers are mixing their old stock in with the new so if you look one week and they don't have any, check back the next week and you may find some. The new Rotella oil with the new API rating of CJ-4 has greatly reduced levels of the ZDDP which many of us want in our oil. I don't believe that Shell will make Rotella with the CI-4 rating and the higher levels of ZDDP any more so start looking for it and buy every quart that you can find.

[BBIGG BLOCK 396]

Here is an oil tech report from hughes engines.They build strictly Mopar engines but the information sounds really good to me.I run th additive they sell.I buy it by the case and I have not had any problems yet!As a matter of fact we just fired up my soninlaws 340 dart today and used the rotella and a bottle of this additive.I do know it is some SLICK STUFF!

http://www.hughesengines.com/general/techArticleDetail.asp?articleID=1000039

also here is the SLICK STUFF they sell!

http://www.hughesengines.com/partDetail.asp?partID=12866&eTypeID=20

[csx289]

We have switched to Gibbs oil as well- the break in stuff on the dyno and a different grade (XP3 I think??) once the engine is in the car. This is after I just lost a super high buck bilet ROLLER cam using RedLine race oil! Made me wonder what a flat tappet cam would do with RedLine, Gibbs seems to have done thier homework and the oil even made a little HP on the dyno. 3 races with it and no measurable wear (yet).