engine oil

[Guest randy123]

im going to change the oil in my 1951 buick special and i was wondering what oil can be used,thanks

[D Yaros]

I would recommend using Brad Penn oil. You need proper zinc levels in the motor oil for a '51 vintage motor.

[Guest shadetree77]

Randy, I use Shell Rotella T 30W. I based that on reading thread after thread after thread of oil.....well, threads, on here. It works just fine for me(and many others). I started off using a straight 30W non-detergent oil but after my local autozone stopped selling it I just switched to the Rotella. There are plenty of opinions on this matter and opinions on oil content and additives. From my experience combing over countless oil threads on countless sites, there are plenty of guys who have been running the Rotella with no additives in these old straight eights for YEARS. I do put a bit of Marvel Mystery oil in my gas on fill-ups occasionally though. Now if I had a freshly re-built straight eight I might go with something a little more fancy but if your engine is untouched like mine, just go with a simple 30W.

[buick man]

Randy, I use Shell Rotella T 30W. I based that on reading thread after thread after thread of oil.....well, threads, on here. It works just fine for me(and many others). I started off using a straight 30W non-detergent oil but after my local autozone stopped selling it I just switched to the Rotella. There are plenty of opinions on this matter and opinions on oil content and additives. From my experience combing over countless oil threads on countless sites, there are plenty of guys who have been running the Rotella with no additives in these old straight eights for YEARS. I do put a bit of Marvel Mystery oil in my gas on fill-ups occasionally though. Now if I had a freshly re-built straight eight I might go with something a little more fancy but if your engine is untouched like mine, just go with a simple 30W.

You do realize that in just the past 4 years all oil manufacturers have had to change their formulations and thereby specs immensely even good ol Rotella. In short the oil you have been buying is not the same even if it looks and smells the same. Yes add the zinc/phosphorus but be sure the oil you are putting it into has the requisite chemical back bone of which to be able to sufficiently carry and bond to these cations and will not "phase out" of solution.

That leaves just one type of oil that can actually accomplish that. Good ol 100% Dino Oil. Did I say synthetic? I don't think so....

[FLYER15015]

O.K. Randy,

I'm going to give you a real "witches brew" that I have used for 3 years now on the "BABY' (unrestored '40 Buick LTD).

When I first got her, I did pull the pan and scraped out the customary inch of grey sludge. Found the oil pick up float laying in the bottom, so we re-soldered it back on the tube, ground the oil pump housing down to the required .0025" clearance from the bottom plate to the gears. Stretched the bypass spring from 2.75" to 3.25" and filled her up with 6 quarts of cheap 10-30 detergent oil and 2 quarts of motor flush (which is really just kerosene). Ran her for about 10 miles just to circulate every thing.

Now that we had her kind of clean inside, here's the "brew"

Six quarts of Kendal 10-30 (made by Conoco in Houston, Tx), Two blue bottles of STP, 2 little bottles of ZDDP, one can of Restore (from Walmart), a Wix #85001 filter insert (from Carquest), suck out all the old oil from the filter can, and wipe clean, insert filter and refill filter can w/ the 7th can of Kendal. Now you have just about the 8 quarts required.

Believe it or not, I was given this recipe by a recently retired (41 years service) Shell research chemist that lives next door.

Jack claimed that Shell "loaned him out" to Conoco for a while, and he liked what he saw in their labs.

That's what I use, but don't tell any one, 'cause talking oil is like talking religion. Everybody's got their own opinion.

Mike in Colorado

[Guest shadetree77]

....'cause talking oil is like talking religion....

Ain't that the truth?Can I get an AMEN from the congregation???!!:p

[old-tank]

http://forums.aaca.org/f115/zinc-motor-oil-338283.html

You probably can use any available oil. Just choose the viscosity that will maintain good oil pressure and keep the engine quiet for your driving conditions.

Willie

[buick man]

Good points fellas. I too was a chemist for 15 years after college. Form my opinions from science and experience. My point is the old formulas are not the old formulas anymore.

q.e.d.

[ted sweet]

since when doesn't zzdp mix with sythethic oil?

[buick man]

since when doesn't zzdp mix with sythethic oil?

Since they produced the periodic tables.

Zinc dialkyldithiophosphates = ZDDP

Actually, No one said it did not mix. What was disclosed is that synthetic oil is not as good of a binding carrier for the Zn ( Zinc ) & P ( Phos) molecules as is Dino oil. Synthetic oil was designed to be very fluid at very low temperatures and have consistent viscosity at very high temperatures. At those extremes they still are able to coat and lubricate substrates for the type of sliding frictional forces acting on surfaces and do this very effectively.

However, the reason you add ZDDP into a lubrication compound is to render that particular lubricant, in addition the ability not for the accommodation of sliding stretching and flow capabilities but to accommodate accumulated factors in the resulting frictions of impact. Metal pounding on top of Metal and not just Metal sliding against Metal. If you have a medium that is not well suited to keep this admixture of ZDDP in solution ( bound ) without phasing out ( separating ) then it is said to be an inferior carrier compound.

Dino oil is an excellent carrier and binder and does this naturally. However it does not have good flow at very very low temperatures and cannot handle very very high temperatures without in a sense distilling out of solution and losing it's lubricative compounds and qualities. But we are talking hardy extremes here in both directions. But that is of little concern for our cars as we are not operating them at those parameters or anywhere close to it plus we have a lot of internal engine components in our particularly engineered engines that have a lot of impact of metal on metal going on that modern engines do not have.

Simply said, If you want a substance to render safety measures against impact frictions than ZDDP is what you want to add but added to a good consistent bonder and carrier for it. An Dino oil is the best for this particular isolated purpose and achievement. It will "cushion" the metal substrates.

But with all this said - Please by all means in the end, add any type of oil you want to your car, believe anything that sounds conveniently pliable and add as much or as little or no ZDDP to that type of oil whatever it may be that You think is the best regardless of what anyone may think or say for whatever reason. After all, it is your car, you draw your own conclusions and after all is said and done, you know best.

Edited April 25, 2013 by buick man (see edit history)