[HawkZ28]

Good read regardless of brand of car or oil.....good info for us flat tappet/hydraulic flat tappet guys.....I have the original from Rocky on PDF if anyone wants it.

http://highperformancepontiac.com/te...oil/index.html

[sbchevfreak]

Interesting read, thanks.

[78 monte]

Interesting I allways thought oil was oil as long as the grade was the same.
Now a Q. When I broke in my motor I used whatever 10W40 I had around and prolly used multiple brands.I didn't use any breakin additive.
Think it would be a wise choice to switch to a commercial grade oil or additve now??Or is like,what ever damage that is going to occure to a cam would have allready started during breakin and progressively get worse??

[glen242]

I used Castrol 10W-30 and CC cam lube when I replaced my cam with a 268H about 5 years ago. No problems.

When I built my 383 last year, with a CC XE274 cam, I used moly cam lube, GM EOS, and Valvoline racing oil, for the break in.

1st change, after cam break in, was Valvoline Racing oil 10W-30. Changing the oil tomorrow, after 500 miles, will use Valvoline racing 10W-30.

[KULTULZ]

Any comment regarding the use of SHELL ROTELLA 15W-40 (higher zinc content) during engine break-in? Its' use seems to be popular.

[powerrodsmike]

It says in the article that the pontiac wiped a lobe in 10 years and SEVERAL thousand miles. And they think it is from the poor quality oil??
If it was from the oil quality then I would think that the whole cam would be wiped out, not just one lobe. And not in only several thousand miles. I am thinking that they had a faulty cam. I heard in another post where some group of guys lost like 5 cams in the space of a year. And all of them were comp cams.

In '89 I built a 302 for my 72 f100. I used a whole tube of stalube assembly lube on the bearings. I put the moly lube that came with my 278 crane cam all over the lifters and lobes. I packed the HV oil pump with stalube assembly lube. I dipped the pistons and rings in ATF before I put them in.
I ran the pump with a drill to prime the system right before I started it. I broke it in with 30 wt straight. Castrol I think. Started to beat on it from the first time I started it. First oil change was at 500 miles and I put 20-50 castrol in it.
I changed the oil every 5000 to12000 miles and never used anything other than petroleum based 20-50. no synthetics and no additives. One time I went 16000 miles before i changed it.
Today that truck (Old yeller) has 138000 hard miles on the motor and it has 80 psi cold and 40-50 psi hot oil pressure. I never had to fix anything mechanical on my motor build. It burns 1 qt oil every other tank of gas and would pass smog if it wasn't exempt.(No lie, the next door neighbor put it on his smog dyno, and it ran clean). What does all that mean? I don't know.. Maybe proper break has more effect than what is credited to it.. But, I have absolutely no idea why that truck hasn't crapped the bed. I wouldn't recommend that anyone even consider being that neglectful to their car. But, it's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Mikey

[HawkZ28]

Originally Posted by KULTULZ

Any comment regarding the use of SHELL ROTELLA 15W-40 (higher zinc content) during engine break-in? Its' use seems to be popular.

I was talking w/ Rocky at a show, and he said it's one of the higher content ZDDP oils on the market.....even Comp's website recommends it. I am going to use a mix of it, Mobil dino oil, and GM EOS when I break mine in, and EOS at every oil change when I convert her to Mobil syn.....I'm not only worried about the cam lobes, but piston skirts as well.

Originally Posted by powerrodsmike

It says in the article that the pontiac wiped a lobe in 10 years and SEVERAL thousand miles. And they think it is from the poor quality oil??

As far as wiping only one lobe, how many people have wiped all the lobes on a cam when it went bad- some lobes will wear quicker than others for a variety of reasons, and he really can't throw anybody (company, industry, etc) under the bus, but if I am recalling the conversation correctly, about the time Comp had came out with the Xtreme Energy line and the rumors of bad cam cores from guys wiping lobes were flying, it was shortly after the industry reduction of ZDDP in the oil. Granted, part could be attributed to higher spring pressures required and more radical profiles in the cams (another reason to use break in springs or 1.3.lower ratio rockers...). But, to wipe one or multiple lobes on a cam that was properly broke in, is 10 years old, for no apparent reason, is very suspect.

[78 monte]

Another problem with Comp cams is also prolly the cheap crap lube they supply you with.Its red liquid and drips off the cam.There tech told me cuase I wouyldn;t be installing my motor for a awhile that the lube would be all dripped off by the time of start up.
So I used Crane cams moly graphite paste stuff.
I think Comps lube is part of the failure rate.Figure allot of use take our time with our hotrods and may not make the first fire for weeks/months after the engine is built.So were breaking in a cam with no assembly lube on it other than the motor oil.

[HawkZ28]

That could very well be....I had some Blue Racer crap like that I had picked up at the parts store a few years back....still have the bottle, but I was planning on using the lube that my machine shop provided....if it's good enough for the bearings, it's good enough for my cam.