Okay, so I've been told that to break in the motor I should use Rotella T, getting rid of the need for additives. This I understand, but should I use this Diesel oil in my car ALL THE TIME? Or is there another oil I should probably go with. If you are gonna say use regular and add additives, I think it would be the same as the Rotella T sooooo? I'm more worried about, the detergents clogging the passages up like we all know the Y has probs with....



So what's everyone's take on what motor oil to use on a DAILY DRIVER???



BTW, just spent $2400 on a complete rebuild, has the Clay Smith street grind cam...Reaaalllllll mild. Mummert Sells it. .30 over and gonna run a 450 CFM Holley, I think.

William



1957 Ford Fairlane 500

292 Bored .30 over

Fordomatic

Opinions are mixed about diesel oils.

I use Valvoline VR1 20/50 in my daily driver. I used regular Valvoline 20/50 in the previous build of the engine. No signs of abnormal wear on the cam or lifters after 11000 miles. Some oils are labeled as "for older engine" or something similar. They should work as well.


Lawrenceville, GA

You will get all sorts of opinions. I grew up in a family selling lubricants and I still do. Diesel oils are good, but they are designed to hold Diesel soot in suspension. All current production heavy duty engines have roller cam followers and scuffing is not a problem. I prefer an oil that is designed for a gasoline engine. Zinc was patented as an oil additive around WWII. My father sold a lot of oil because of the zinc additive. Modern oils have very little zinc to meet emissions standards. I use an oil designed for gasoline engines and add ZDDP. I am not a distributor for ZDDP and I am not trying to drum up business for them. I do however buy large enough quantities to get a decent deal and then sell some at retail. I would suggest going to the ZDDP website and arrive at your own opinion. ZDDP can be bought on the internet including eBay.

Kenneth

Fredricksburg, Texas

I guess i'll have to do more looking into..lol

If it helps anyone, i live in FL. So i'm not worried about cold start-ups 11 months out of the year

William



1957 Ford Fairlane 500

292 Bored .30 over

Fordomatic

Any 20-50 oil has the required amount of ZDDP. The current diesel oils have the required amount, even with the nre formulation. There is a lot of the old formulation around (Rotella T has the new formulation but some of the lesser known brands still have the old formulation) from my experiences at different auto parts stores. No one I have heard has said long term use of the diesel oil is bad.

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

I also read somewhere that the Rotella T now has only 1200 as opposed to 1400 of that stuff ya need for the flat tappets

William



1957 Ford Fairlane 500

292 Bored .30 over

Fordomatic

I use Valvoline VR-1.  It has all the ZDDP you need without additives, and is available in most any viscosity you like.

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

horsepower tv on spike tv had some good info on break-in oils while doing a pull on the dyno with a vintage olds engine done over by dr. olds himself and recommended using rotella t as the first break-in oil, but only through the first couple of pulls.they then changed it out to a conventional gas motor oil and added an additive of dr. olds recommendation stating it was not a good idea to run rotella t for extended periods of time.now i know this subject has been beat to death but the oil companys realize the is a demand for an oil with high concentrates of zddp and phosphorous.my understnding is most oils of 20/50 grade have enough to protect a flat tappet cam and there are some oils made specifically for older engines one being castrol syntec 20w-50 identified by "recommended for classic cars".hope this helps.jim

I'm thinking i'm going to use the Rotella-T as the break in oil....Then swap over to the valvoline VR1 20-50, as long as my searching shows it has what I need....



I was told that if I go VR1 I have to look for the label that says "NOT FOR STREET USE"...??????

William



1957 Ford Fairlane 500

292 Bored .30 over

Fordomatic

I agree with Charlie or use regular 30w oil with the addative.    'nough said.

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias