Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

how good is rotella 5w40 diesel oil for race applications. how well do it stand up to the rpm because unlike diesel motors that dont turn that many rpm.
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Not near as good as it used to be.

That is what I have hurd, they have taken most of the good stuf out now.

If you are refering to the Rotella "T" 15/40 oil then I can say it ain't what it used to be.
Delo 400 15/40 seems to have the highest percentage of high pressure additives in common off the shelf oil.
There are racing oils that have the good stuff as well but read the bottle and make sure you are using the OFF ROAD USE ONLY oil.
All street oils have had it removed years ago.

Two types of Shell ROTELLA T, look at the bottle carefully.

Shell ROTELLA T Multigrade (HDEO) This is the heavy duty oil that is preferred.


Shell ROTELLA T with Triple Protection (ultra low sulfur, less zinc and phosphorus)

Ken0069 wrote:Brad Penn is a good one and it's not that expensive either. I run the 20w50 racing oil, which is "semi-synthetic" and carries an "SJ" classification. They also got a break in oil that was specially designed for flat tappet engines. Check'em out!

We stopped running the brad Penn a few years ago when they lowered the zinc in there oil and have been using the http://www.cen-pe-co.com/ 20/50 whcih has 2300 PPM of zinc for our cam break ins.

grudge racer wrote:how good is rotella 5w40 diesel oil for race applications. how well do it stand up to the rpm because unlike diesel motors that dont turn that many rpm.
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The 5w40 is the synthetic variation. We use it in our alky injected 420. It sees 7500 rpm regularly while pushing our 1700lb digger into the 7.7's. The engine looks perfect at the end of each year (~200 passes) when taken apart for inspection.

Scott

This was asked before by someone on another thread but not answered........Is there any reason we coudn't mix GM EOS with say mobil 1 synthetic or other off the shelf easy to find oils and get the anti-wear properties back to previous levels? seems like the obvious solution to me, but I dont know much about oil.Warren

2.2=8 wrote:This was asked before by someone on another thread but not answered........Is there any reason we coudn't mix GM EOS with say mobil 1 synthetic or other off the shelf easy to find oils and get the anti-wear properties back to previous levels? seems like the obvious solution to me, but I dont know much about oil.Warren

I can't give you an exacting answer, and neither can anyone else.

I have yet to see a fundamental agreeance on how much ZDDP or other additives are OPTIMUM for minimal wear on flat tappet engines. Which is also one of the reasons I disagree with using a specific brand of oil solely based on its additive package levels (the majority seems to assume that more is better). For a 1qt bottle of oil, the more additives you add, you're giving up something else.

The obsession of highly concentrated additive packages has been made a big fuss of by places like BITOG and the availability of cheap oil analysis tests that report the chemical composition of a sample of oil - without regard for the actual overall performance of that oil. Producing a good oil is much more involved than stuffing a load of calcium, moly, ZDDP or other magic compounds into the bottle.

Kai

wbclassics wrote: I have yet to see a fundamental agreeance on how much ZDDP or other additives are OPTIMUM for minimal wear on flat tappet engines. Which is also one of the reasons I disagree with using a specific brand of oil solely based on its additive package levels (the majority seems to assume that more is better). For a 1qt bottle of oil, the more additives you add, you're giving up something else.

The obsession of highly concentrated additive packages has been made a big fuss of by places like BITOG and the availability of cheap oil analysis tests that report the chemical composition of a sample of oil - without regard for the actual overall performance of that oil. Producing a good oil is much more involved than stuffing a load of calcium, moly, ZDDP or other magic compounds into the bottle.

Kai

Good post. There is a typical "more is better" mentality at work in this forum regarding additive amounts. As if 1200 PPM of ZDDP is inferior to 2300 PPM.

BITOG has a terrible S/N. I can recommend the posts by "drwebb" at http://www.eng-tips.com/ in the Automotive lubricant engineering Forum.

This year I got a case of Pennzoil GT Performance
Racing 25W50 for $53 12 quarts to my door from the oil store dot com


Was using Valvoline NSL but that was like $45 for 6 quarts.

I understand the 20-25w-50 is heavier than might be needed but haven't had no problems with about 25,000 street miles. Lifters don't chatter cold either.

I use K&N oil filter too.

Somethings I am cheap on but not everything.

I use the 20-50 pennzoil racing as well. Rotella is a low rpm diesel oil that will foam at higher rpms. Foam is not the best lubricant.

Having raced paved oval tracks since 1974, I've thrown every oil known to humankind at a circle-track race engine. Back in the 70's and early 80's, the best was Kendall. In the very late 90's, I went to Brad Penn. Got tired of hurting engines with Valvoline. Up until 3 months ago, I used a 50-50 mix of Brad Penn Partial-Synthetic 10W-30 and 20W-50. For an index of 15W-40. With 1546 laps on a Chev V-8 in 2008, the bearings look as though they just came out of the box. And Brad Penn now has a Partial-Synthetic 15W-40 so I don't have to mix the stuff anymore. Their zinc is a solid 1200ppm. The API, and others, have run tests and concluded that anything over 2000ppm in your oil is a waste of $$$ and displaced base stock. The 10% 'Partial Synthetic' in Brad Penn is there primarily to raise the temperature tolerance. One can heat the stuff very close to 300F before the lighter, outer fractions begin to boil off. Using Brad Penn, the lubricant is about the last thing I now worry about in the race engine. At $54/case delivered to the front door from Hill Petroleum in CO. -Dave-

the 20/50 pennzoil if not the same PPM as the 25/50 race oil
Check the bottle and you will see that the 25/50 is for "off road use only"
And the 20/50 is the street oil. EPA regs say street oil has to have the good stuff removed for cat. converter life and more energy efficiency.
Diesel type oils are more for break-in not racing use.
There are 15/40 race oils for that.

Brad Penn is a great oil. I will start using this 10W-30 Racing oil in my 468 ci Chevy. Talked to a represenative, i am sold on the stuff.