<VV> high performance engine oil

[Tony Underwood]

At 08:52 PM 9/27/2007, BobHelt at aol.com wrote:
>
>In a message dated 9/26/2007 7:05:40 AM US Mountain Standard Time,
>tonyu at roava.net writes:
>
> >At  least one manufacturer (Brad Penn) *does*
>specify zinc content in their  oil.
>.
>
>
>http://www.amref.com/bp_product_pgs/BPengoils.htm
>
>The  data sheets specify the amount of zinc, both
>concentrated and compounded,  in their oils.
>
>
>
>Hi tony,
>Well, I checked both the product bulletin and MSDS for several of their  oils
>and nowhere did they specify the amount of either Zinc or Phosphorous.



Section 313 (Title III Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act):
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 


This product contains the following toxic chemical category(ies) 
subject to the
reporting requirements of Section 313 of Title III of the Superfund Amendments
and Reauthorization Act of 1998 and 40 CFR Part 372 (percent by 
weight is also provided):

1.4% zinc compound or 0.14% zinc in compound form

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 



>But even if they did specify the amount of zinc, what would that mean since
>there is no API requirement for the oil to contain zinc, only phosphorous?


The zinc in the oil is explained as being zinc dialkyldithiophosphate 
aka ZDDP, which I assume is the phosphor compound in 
question.     Correct me if I'm wrong here.    I'm certainly no 
expert on engine oil compounds.   Is ZDDP what you're talking about?

What do these zinc figures really mean in "real world" 
discussion?   How much is enough?   What's not enough?   Do Corvairs 
suffer excessive wear these days because modern oils are using 
additives that help prevent scuffing, thus catering to modern engines 
which are getting so evolved that they don't experience much heavy 
loading on sliding parts anymore...?


They talk about engines which do experience heavier loadings on the 
Brad Penn website, in their comments pertaining to their "green" race 
oils which have increased percentages of ZDDP (in some  instances 
considerably more than is used in their standard auto engine oils).

I'm no authority on engine oils.    "All I know is what I read in the 
papers."   But Brad Penn does post information about the increased 
zinc additives in their performance oils, which is something that's 
not so easy to find out from many other oil manufacturers.

While I'm at it, I should mention that recently Brad Penn has taken 
down a couple of the data pages on some of the "street" weight BP1 
race oils, no info as to why.   Other "track" race oil data pages 
remain in place, including the page for the BP1 break-in oil.   All 
the "green" oils contain the same percentage of ZDDP.

Some of their premium grade street motor oils also contained the same 
percentage of ZDDP while their standard "modern grade" oils had less.


On another performance car list, there has lately been a lot of 
discussion about high quality engine oils for high performance 
engines running flat tappet cams with very stiff valve springs (well 
over 300 lbs in some instances).   There has been considerable 
discussion about cases where carefully assembled (read: expensive) 
engines were having issues with cam lobes getting wiped and rocker 
faces and valve stem ends experiencing excessive wear after only a 
short time and these guys are concerned, as are the engine builders 
as well, who have to stand beside their product.   Some of these guys 
spent big bucks on the engines going into dual purpose musclecars and 
they're concerned about being able to get an engine oil that will 
help keep a 12,000 buck rebuilt 426 Hemi engine alive.

Rotella engine oil was one that's been discussed a bit... an industry 
guy on that list did say that until Rotella got reformulated (SM) it 
was indeed a good oil to use in a genuine high performance musclecar 
engine, but not so much now following the reformulation which is a 
compromise, catering to standards as well as to modern lightly 
stressed computer designed engines with gentle cam specs and lightly 
loaded valve trains...  not a Hemi with heavy forged steel rockers 
opening an intake valve 2 1/2" in diameter against what's described 
among musclecar circles as "battleship springs".

Situations such as this are likely as severe a test of an engine 
oil's capability to lubricate a friction surface as anything anyone 
is ever likely to experience.

People in such circles are paying a lot of attention to engine oils 
these days...  mumbling about how if you wanna play you gotta pay the 
man, while wondering how much longer they'll be able to get oil 
that's gonna keep that 12,000 buck engine alive.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_j7_jo6NUA&mode=related&search=


...if you wanna hear 9000 rpm.   That's a lot of whirling weight to 
keep oiled.



I'd wager that a Corvair engine can be just as rough on any engine 
oil, what with the high temps a tweaked 'Vair engine is likely to 
soak into its oil, which is still expected to keep metal from meeting 
metal for however long it takes to finish those laps.


...if that extra bit of ZDDP will help prevent junk from happening, 
I'd buy it (and did).



tony..