[Healeys] Oil Additives

[Bob Spidell]

Just thought of something: How did you break-in the cam that failed (and 
the new one, for that matter)?


On 4/27/2020 4:35 PM, Bob Spidell wrote:
> I think this is the kind of failure ZDDP is supposed to help prevent.  
> I doubt Mobil 1 has a lot of ZDDP in it; it was basically 'outlawed' 
> in all but 20W-50--since very few modern cars use that weight and even 
> fewer have flat tappets--and I don't think I've even seen M1 in that 
> weight.   It doesn't sound to me like you did anything wrong with your 
> driving habits; just a bit of bad luck maybe.  My last rebuild I got a 
> DW 'gun-drilled' cam, which I hope helps prevent lobe wear.
>
> Decades ago, Mobile made a 'Mobile 1' for aircraft and it was an 
> unmitigated disaster; it didn't scavenge the lead in 100LL and the 
> lead gunked-up rings (esp. in 'big block' Continental engines).  I 
> heard a few unscrupulous aircraft owners got new engine rebuilds if 
> they used it, even if they didn't have a problem (a rebuild on a big 
> Continental can run $50K or more).  In the piston aircraft community, 
> it was gospel that you used multi-vis oil only in the winter, and 
> straight 100W--equivalent to 50W motor oil--in the summer and because 
> it supposedly left a thicker film of oil on the moving parts (most 
> piston aircraft have hydraulic lifters).
>
> Bob
>
> On 4/27/2020 1:41 PM, Wayne Schultz wrote:
>> Hello everyone, I recently completed a rebuild of the engine in my 
>> Healey 3000. At 48K miles i noticed metal during an oil change. I 
>> dropped my oil pan and found even more metal and a silver ring in the 
>> block that lined up with a cam lobe. I had been using Mobil 1 for 
>> years and always had good oil pressure and a very quiet motor.  I 
>> pulled the motor and upon teardown I found one bad cam lobe and 
>> several lifters that had mild pitting.  I thought about how I used my 
>> car and came to conclusion  I, rather than the oil might be the  
>> reason for the cam failure.  I drove my car every couple of weeks in 
>> nice weather. This is just enough time for the oil to leave the cam 
>> and lifters to drain into the pan. This meant the next time I started 
>> the engine the cam and lifters might have been metal on metal.  My 
>> new lifters are short bucket lifters with a drain hole to 
>> lubricate the cam lobes. Now using VR-1 20/50
>>
>>
>