Do you add any zinc to the engine oil on a k5?

[Blue85]

The cam failure epidemic started around the same time that the epa quietly mandated the zinc in oil be reduced.

But yet everyone blamed the cam grinders. Not even the cam core manufacturers.

I not an expert, but I know 2+2=5 and the zinc reduction and the cam failure issues were the same time frame....

Really? We would all love to see actual numbers on this, but it's tough since flat tappet cams were only for enthusiasts(hah!) for the last few decades. Anecdotally (which doesn't matter) I've only heard of large scale cam/lifter failure in the last 5 years or so.

OCT 23, 2018"

Technical - Which Zinc additive for H.A.M.B. engines?

I've used Valvoline VR-1 since the '60s. Excellent service, had it in bulk when I had my shop. 30 wt. Racing was its old name, all my Porsche...

www.jalopyjournal.com

I agree that it's weird "enthusiasts" would gladly pour oil from the 1970's into their "prized" engine above oils with modern additives. We need some references to real science and quantitative analysis, not bro-science and campfire stories.

 

[mrk5]

My mantra has always been "run whatever makes you feel good".

 

[Chickntrk]

My mantra has always been "run whatever makes you feel good".

When I worked at the dealership if a customer brought in a vehicle for something that we couldn’t replicate we would always make up something that we found, 90% of the time just the thought we had fixed something satisfied them. We used to joke that we gave them a “little something to make them feel good”

Had a guy buy a new truck and wanted a LEER cap painted to match. Body shop painted the cap and we installed it, when he came to pick up the truck he said that cap isn’t the same color and refused to take the truck home until the cap was repainted to match. We had the detail shop wax the cap that afternoon and told him yo return the next day, he came back and said now see that’s the right color!