what is the best oil for flat tappt engine?????
 

hey guys i am chasing some advice on what the best synthetic race oil to put in my 460 bb ford with flat a\tappet camshaft. i have been told that i may see a 5 to 8% gain in going from the 50 weight mineral based penzoil to say a 30w synthetic redline or such. thanks Jai Schluter :D

Put the Rotella 15-40 to it and never look back
Made by Shell Corp.

You want to use a good mineral oil with a high count of zinc in it for a flat tappet cam

i agree with top about the zinc

The oil manufactures are taking the ZDDP (zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate, basically meaning sulphur) anti wear additive levels way down because the sulphur degrades catalytic converter performance. The only way to ensure your flat tappet cam DOES NOT flatten lobes is to add ZDDP back into the oil. If your not running cats, add a full bottle of STP oil treatment, which is loaded with ZDDP, with your normal oil. Don't overfill it though! If you are running cats, just add like 1/4 of the bottle to the oil change. I have a 1981 Chevy C20 with a 350, flat tappet cam. I add just a quarter STP treatment every oil change and I still pass the emissions check. If you have any questions , let me know. Just using off the shelf motor oil your asking for it! Rock on! :D

The GM EOS assembly lube has alot of zinc in it also,you could also use this as an oil additive enhancer

Like Tom says, EOS is one of if not the best sources of zinc on the market today. Problem is it can only be bought from a GM dealer at a cost of $7 a pint afer a resellers discount.

As far as synthetic oils go, one of the best is the Mobile 1 V twin oil, which is loaded with zinc. Most all the other oils, except for racing oil and just a few others are LOW in zinc content. There was a post on another board that has a link to a site that gives the chemical breakdown on most of the major oil brands, both syn and dino and Rotilla is also a good choice.

Local guy builds Hooters Pro Cup engines and swears by EOS for break in on those engines. I also just started running that in my Cummins with Mobile1 syn.

Bob the oil guy

think its http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/ great site for choosing oils,any thing you ever wanted to know about any thing oil related

rotella
 

Hey Tom. one of my sons friends is building a mild steel headed 468bbc with a hydraulic flat tappet cam on alcohol. Will the rotella still be a good choice? Thanks.Don

Oh I believe it will be fine to run with alky,buy it buy the 5 gal pail would be the best way to get it,if you plan on changing the oil frequent.

I have a customer that uses it in an alcohol injected engine,he swears by it
So far we have had "0" problems

oil
 

Thanks Tom. My engine builder keeps trying yo hook me up on Brad Penn Racing oil For my 565 on alchohol but i just havent heard enough about it. At the moment i keep going back to Valvoline.