[Healeys] Lifter and Cam Wear ZDDP Issue

Mon Jun 27 09:37:15 MDT 2016

And I just bought three gallons of Chevron Delo at Costco, no. 129 on the list. There were 128 oils that fared better.   Shell Rotella scored even lower in this pretty impressive report, 134.   

    On Monday, June 27, 2016 7:03 AM, Michael Oritt <michael.oritt at gmail.com> wrote:

 There is a curious conflict in the psyche of mankind that on the one hand seems to predispose us to believe the wild proclamations of messiahs, seers, and savants, while at the same time we often burn heretics at the stake.  
Without trying to discredit Mr. 540 Rat (He Really needs to get a better name) I am going to go with the empirical data I have collected:
When I first started racing an Elva Courier in 2007 I bought an MGA 1600 engine from a well-respected and experienced engine builder.  It came with the best of internals including a new full-race cam from--I'll omit the supplier's name--a top notch supplier.  We broke it in by running about one hour using top notch (name excluded) diesel oil and I then drained the oil, changed the filter and switched over to top notch (name excluded) 10/40 full synthetic oil.  By the end of the first or second race the engine ran terribly and upon tearing things down we found that the cam lobes were worn and the lifters did not have the proper wear pattern.
About this time is when the issue of ZDDP levels in flat tappet engines began to get ink.  Rather suddenly lots of reports appeared from respected sources about cams going away using the same trusted brands of oil.  Opinions abounded. To make a long story short I bought a new cam, replaced the tappets and began to run ONLY Royal Purple race oil AND add a container of ZDDP additive for good measure.  I have done the same thing with my two other race cars and though I have had lots of problems for lots of reasons I have not experienced anything other than normal cam/lifter wear.  In fact I have been able to reuse that original replacement cam through several rebuilds of that same engine.
I'm sure that more will be revealed.  Some of what Mr. 540 Rat says is really not revolutionary and like most race folks I use a full-race synthetic oil of a proper viscosity and change it and the filter after each weekend. But a bottle of ZDDP additive is cheap peace of mind and I'm going to stick with what has, at least thus far, worked for me.  BTW I do the same for my street 100.
Best--Michael Oritt

On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 3:30 AM, Derek Job <derek.c.job at gmail.com> wrote:

Michael,
As you are probably aware this subject was beaten to death on the British Car Forum. The conclusion I came to at the time was that thinner, fully synthetic oil was the best way to go. However there was still some ambiguity regarding whether to look for a fully synthetic that had the 1200 ZDDP or whether to ignore that. Fully synthetic oil with high ZDDP is hard to find and reduces the choice. I think I came across part of this chap's report when I was doing my research. This is a great report and seems to nail the ZDDP myth once and for all. I haven't read the whole report as yet but I notice that all the best performing oils are fully synthetic, which I guess is no surprise as the oil industry spends millions developing them.
Derek
On Sun, Jun 26, 2016 at 3:36 PM, Michael Salter <michaelsalter at gmail.com> wrote:

For those of us who have been long term adherents to the theory that premature cam and lifter failure is attributable to the elimination of Zinc Dialkyl Dithio Phosphate (ZDDP) from modern oils the following link is to a very long but thought provoking blog related to the subject.

https://540ratblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/motor-oil-wear-test-ranking/

Michael S
BN1 #174

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