Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

Gents just need to know which oil you have found the best with high spring pressure on solid flat tappet cams, cam is comp and has been plasma nitrited and lifters are Ferrea Lightweight Pro Solid lifters tool steel. pressures are 175lb on seat & 425lb on the nose.We are still running the Joe Gibbs BR-30 some have suggested to still run the same oil to race with.

My engine machinist fills every complete engine he does with Gibbs BR-30 and also supplies the customer with a case of Schaefer 7000 15W40 or 20W50 para-synthetic when they pick up the engine. If you don't use these oils he probably won't do your engine… he has that much confidence in it.

Now I've have never used either of those oils before. I know guys who swear by Brad Penn… and Lucas. I used Amsoil the last five years I ran dirt cars… my co- driver broke an oil pump in the heat then ran a 25 lap main without any oil pressure and there was zero damage to the engine except for some piston scuffing… pretty minor.

I don't know what oils are available to you Down Under but I think that you could do a lot worse than Joe Gibbs stuff...

Torco tr1 with extra mpz has always worked well,,,also used alot of bradpenn on race flat tappets

If I lived in Australia, Penrite 10 Tenths would be at the top of my list.

clevo wrote:Gents just need to know which oil you have found the best with high spring pressure on solid flat tappet cams, cam is comp and has been plasma nitrited and lifters are Ferrea Lightweight Pro Solid lifters tool steel. pressures are 175lb on seat & 425lb on the nose.We are still running the Joe Gibbs BR-30 some have suggested to still run the same oil to race with.

You can run the BR-30 as your racing oil, just not the exact 6l you broke the engine in on. I have had good success with Joe Gibbs, and it's easy to get down here. I use the BR series all the time when I can't get the corresponding XP oil, it's the same stuff. People just get funny when you tell them you're racing on an "running in" oil, so they market it under a different name as well (smart business IMO).

Are you gents running similar spring pressures?

lorax wrote:If I lived in Australia, Penrite 10 Tenths would be at the top of my list.

I don't mind the Penrite oils. I use HPR 30 in my Cleveland and I have over 400 on the nose with a standard flat tappet and EDM lifters. So far , so good. Others don't seem to share the same enthusiasm for the product.

ULX oils are supposed to be great as well.

not a personal fan of penrite despite so many people here that love it.

i come from a circuit racing background, not really drag racing - seems to me that the drag guys like it and most circuit guys don't.

in my experiences it doesn't maintain good oil pressure when really loaded, even the thicker viscosity's. i have had customers tell me they ended up with better hot oil pressure after going to a thinner viscosity oil. the latest case was going from 15w60 to a 10w40, and gaining a hot 15-20psi.

this probably would be a non issue for most drag guys?? i.e. the oil would never get as hot??

I'm a agent for Joe Gibbs Driven Racing Oil and plus I build and rebuild race engines on Gibbs oils and other brands if the customer has a deal in place. Flat tappet wise you cannot go past using Gibbs, they are a Nascar team and they do have to work with flat tappets. If your happy with oil pressure with the BR30 you would use the Semi-Synthetic XP7 which is a 10w40 or Synthetic XP3 which is 10w30 or XP9 which is 10w40. Gibbs oils can stand up to some massive loads with no wear present. I have a Sprintcar engine that runs on XP6 15w50 that runs 1.75 rockers,0.450'' lobes and 280lbs seat pressure with no valve train wear, I've got a Sprintcar engine that uses Lucas with 1.65 rockers with 0.430'' lobes and 260lbs seat pressure and the pushrod tips and rocker adjusters were worn out and the needle rollers in the roller lifters were worn. I have been using Gibbs oils on my flat tappet engine for 6 years with great success. My number is 0409 012 854 if you would like to discuss more about your application.

Gary do you happen to know what oil company is refining the Gibbs oil, Because I don't think they own there own refinery(I could be wrong)just curious.

Meehan Race Engines wrote: Flat tappet wise you cannot go past using Gibbs, they are a Nascar team and they do have to work with flat tappets.

NASCAR hasn't ran cast iron flat tappet cams and iron tappets for over 20 years.
The Powdered metal cams and DLC coated tool steel lifters have little in common with what most racers know as a flat tappet cam.

The Gibbs/Driven oil comes from several places. The mineral base oil comes from ExxonMobil, the Synthetic base oil is made by Chevron and the additive package comes from Lubrizol.

I am a dealer for Lucas and Driven oil and they are both some of the best in the business.

The Lucas Racing oil has an additive package in it that is almost double most other HP oils on the market, including the Driven Oil. I dont think you could find one better for a flat tappet engine then the Lucas Racing Oil.

1972ho wrote:Gary do you happen to know what oil company is refining the Gibbs oil, Because I don't think they own there own refinery(I could be wrong)just curious.

Neither does Torco, Amsoil, Lucas, Royal Purple, Shaeffer, and dozens of others.
The buy base lube stock from the refiners and blend in the additives from places like Lubrizol. All Gibbs additives come from Lubrizol, as do the vast majority of the others, including those that do have their own refineries like Pennzoil/Shell and Mobil.
As far as lube stock, its all pretty much the same within the stock groups. Its a matter of how much group 3,4,and 5 is in your oil, not who refined it.
The number of refineries that refine group 1 and 2 is pretty large. Group 3 a little smaller, Groups 4 and 5 gets really small.

CamKing wrote:

Meehan Race Engines wrote: Flat tappet wise you cannot go past using Gibbs, they are a Nascar team and they do have to work with flat tappets.

NASCAR hasn't ran cast iron flat tappet cams and iron tappets for over 20 years.
The Powdered metal cams and DLC coated tool steel lifters have little in common with what most racers know as a flat tappet cam.

Camking you are right on the money, we are running a cast iron cam that has been plasma nitridied and Ferrea tool steel coolface lifters.
Pressures on the nose are 425lbs ,what oil have you found to be the best running these pressures

I see the nose pressure put up on threads like this like that the real issue. '
I'd like to know from some one like Mike, do you see more racing cams that fail AFTER break in, fail from the top down, or the bottom up?