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Oil weight for 454

Used to run 15/40 in the ol mans 454, but it has some good piston slap when till its warmed up. Run just 10/30 in it now, seems to like it more. But it's only rattled since 1977 :haha:, hasn't run zinc additive either, prob should start I guess for some extra insurance :waytogo:

I run 15/40 Rotella in the Beaumont, seems like good stuff.
 
Yeah i usually run a half bottle of zinc additive in any flat tappet motor after the cams been broken in.
 
Yeah i usually run a half bottle of zinc additive in any flat tappet motor after the cams been broken in.

Yeah I still got half a bottle of Lucas here from September! :thumb:

If I'm not mistaken, aren't the BBC's prone to eat cams?

Yes they are... BBC are known for eating cams... I think Dave has special lifters in the Maiden that helps that.

My brother in law had a 72 K10 with a 454 that ran like crap, I told him the cam is flat! I told him to change it and all will be good. But no! He went and gave the BB away for a 350! :doah:

From more research I did (here is an interesting article http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/518/motor-oils ) the thicker oil film can help in certain circumstances. But again, I suspect that is a separate matter vs. solely looking at pressure.


That's a good read. Makes sense too! Thanks! :thumb:
 

Bringing this back because I just read that article. I agree with him in that I do try to run synthetic in everything because of the inheret benefits over larger temperature changes. I even put synthetic in my air compressor a while back so the pour point wasn't too low for cold startup since its located in a non heated area.

However, he also says several things that are completely wrong, so it makes you question anything else that you don't initially agree with anyway. Like this...

Sure, your piston diameter will shrink on cooling but so will the diameter of your bore. The net result is about the same clearance hot and cold.

Uuuuhhhh, no. The bore is iron with less coefficient of thermal expansion, and it is liquid cooled. The piston is aluminum which expands much more (especially for forged pistons) and the main cooling is any oil splash plus some heat transfer to the bore through the rings. The piston is actually barrel shaped so when it is expands more at the top do to heat from combustion it won't seize in the bore. So although they do both expand and contract, it is not at the same rate, nor are they at the same temp while operating, the clearance is definitely more when cold.

And this paragraph below is funny, it seems this guy is a little out of reality when it comes to normal use of cars.....

I personally used 0W-20 Mobil 1 in the 575 Maranello and for the first oil change I drained the Murcielago’s (OEM) 5W-40 Agip and replaced it with 0W-30 Mobil 1. The engine became much quieter. A valve tappet noise disappeared. I then used the 5W-20 Red Line in the Lamborghini. Used oil analysis showed that this oil worked well for my non racetrack application. The same oil went into my Maybach 57. My Enzo Ferrari calls for the Shell Helix Ultra racing 10W-60 but I have used the Castrol Syntec European Formula 0W-30. This is different than the easy to find plain 0W-30 Syntec. It MUST say European Formula across the front of the label. I buy it at AutoZone stores but it is often mixed with the plain stuff. I am now using Renewable Lubricants Inc. (RLI) 0W-30 in the Enzo and 0W-20 RLI in the new Maybach 57s AMG.

With that said, the rest of the article may have convinced me to run a little lighter weight synthetic than I currently do with the mobil one.

About the rotella in the big block. I don't see why it wouldnt work just fine, I agree with the others as well.
 
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If I'm not mistaken, aren't the BBC's prone to eat cams?

From more research I did (here is an interesting article http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/518/motor-oils ) the thicker oil film can help in certain circumstances. But again, I suspect that is a separate matter vs. solely looking at pressure.

I think ALL Chevy V8's are prone to eating cams,the flat tappet older ones anyway...worst cam eaters were the 305's and 307's for some reason,but I've had to put new cams in 283's and 327,350's and 400 SB as well as one of my 454's...I think they failed to heat treat the lobes properly,it seems #1 cylinder is the one that has a flat exhaust lobe most often..
 
early on I think it was a cam problem, more recently its been an oil issue with the removal of zinc and phosphorus to properly lubricate the flat tappet lobes.
anyhow Dean with that 1200ppm/zinc in your oil you should be fine.
 
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