[Fot] VR-1 Oil

[Duncan Charlton]

A friend poured a whole quart of what he called "straight ZDDP" into his
Morgan's freshly rebuilt TR engine.  Seems it wasn't a good idea.  He said,
"It coated everything in a golden syrup, bunged up the valves, coated the
pistons, crank, the works."

Duncan

On Apr 20, 2013, at 10:59 AM, Tim Pettenati wrote:

> I'm just finishing up a rebuild which included a reground cam and all new
> tappets. Previous Owner was running Castrol GTX, which apparently doesn't
work
> very well on a flat tappet race motor.
>
> I'm looking at a couple of quarts of
> VR-1.  The 10W-30 is SM rated.  The newer
> 20W-50 has no API circle but says "
> Exceeds SG/CD".  An older quart of 20W-50
> has an API SM circle.  Seems to go
> along with the stories that Valvoline had
> recently bumped up the additive
> package.
>
> None have the EC ( Energy Conserving) logo, which I'm told should be
> avoided at
> all costs.
>
> Anyways, I'm breaking in using Joe Gibbs BR oil.
> Being overly cautious after
> all the horror stories about flat tappet damage,
> I just pulled the head after
> about 45 minutes of run time and so far all is
> well and is breaking in nicely.
> Cam and tappets were parkerized, tappets were
> hardness checked.  Work was done
> by Dema Elgin. I spent some time visiting
> his shop in Santa Rosa, and it was an
> educational experience.
>
> Cheers,
> Tim
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Duncan Charlton
> <duncan.charlton54 at gmail.com>
> To: FOT of <fot at autox.team.net>
> Sent: Sat, April
> 20, 2013 8:14:35 AM
> Subject: Re: [Fot] VR-1 Oil
>
> Just to refresh my memory I
> had a look at some of the archived discussions on
> bobistheoilguy.com.  It may
> not be news, but we shouldn't lose sight of the
> fact that it's not all about
> maximum ZDDP.  Some consider 1800ppm to be the
> upper safe limit due to
> corrosion of some camshaft materials and that anything
> above 1500ppm after
> break-in is unnecessary.  Mobile 1 racing oils have
> 1750ppm, VR1 conventional
> has 1300, B-P oils have 1300ppm, Redline race oils
> have 2500ppm, Rotella 15W40
> has about 1300.  Depending on what research one
> sees, an adequate level ought
> to be 1100-1500ppm.  Aircraft mechanics point
> out that oil viscosity has
> something to do with cam lobe wear, too -- those
> who are flying non-certified
> engines are free to substitute oils, and wiped
> out lobes are usually traced
> back to low-weight oil, ZDDP or not (one mechanic
> mentioned that certified
> engines "don't use any ZDDP" but I haven't attempted
> to confirm that).
>
> Duncan
> (using Rotella 15W40)
> Texas
> 1952 Morgan Plus 4
> #6 red
>
> On Apr 20, 2013, at
> 6:40 AM, Bill Tobin wrote:
>
>> It's not always all about price.
>> Maybe you
> like the product. If we can save a few bucks and get our usual
> stuff, why not?
>> I agree with you about the costs of vintage racing, but if you have had
> sucess in the past with a product, why not stick with it?
>> That's why there
> are many oils on the market. Choose the one you like.
>> Cheers, Bill
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