your favorite oil weight/filter combos???

[mike]

This may or may not be on topic but what are the benefits/drawbacks of the thicker weight oils.

[datsunaholic]

Higher-viscosity oil is useful in 3 instances:

 

1) You run a very high-temperature, high RPM engine. We run 70-80 Weight oil in raceboat engines.

 

2) You have an engine that has a lot of "seeping" leakage and are trying to keep the oil in it (doesn't work great, but works a little)

 

3) You are trying to get by with overly loose bearing clearances (it may extend the life a LITTLE. Not a permanent fix).

 

 

High viscosity oils have these drawbacks:

 

1) Lower fuel mileage.

 

2) Longer time for oil to reach everything on cold start up (this is less of an issue with multiweight oil; 10W30 and 10W40 perform similarly in weather below freezing at startup)

[Fineline]

I use OEM filters only. Nissan filters on Datsuns/Nissans Toyota filters on Toyotas. Motorcraft filters on Fords, AC/delco/ filters on GM.

My reasoning is this. The car manufacturers have spent literally millions of dollars on oil filters for each engine. They will have to replace the engine under warranty if the engine blows up, or wears out due to an oil filter failure. They may cut costs on many things, but not oil filters.

A modern oil for our older engines is not a good thing. The camshaft to rocker arm interface on a L-series is a critical wear point. You want an oil with high ZDDP levels to protect this area of your L-series engine.

Many modern engines have roller interfaces on the camshaft, and the oil is not as critical, because the engine no longer has a metal to metal straight wiping type interface on camshaft and other parts.

ZDDP is being removed from many oils because on high mileage engines, with catalytic converters, it can poison the catalytic converter.

My oil of choice is Valvoline VR-1 racing oil, in whatever weight the engine is recommended to use. I prefer to use straight weights, and let the engine warm up a little before driving off, and driving gently at first, until the engine starts to warm up, and the oil pressure drops slightly. I do not run and engine at WOT for the first 15 minutes of operation.

Avoid orange filters with grip things. It exists only to fool you into buying a cheaply made piece of junk with a bare minimum of filtering media inside it. Fram makes oil filters to make a profit. They do not care about your engine.

 

 

I use Mobil_1 15-50 with the Mobil 1 filter. This is of course after breaking it in on dino oil. Before making the switch I researched it and fount that you ar ecorrect. Synthetic oils are not recommended for older design flat tappet motors because of the lowered zinc and phosphorous levels. As you said above its not a big deal in the newer cars because everything has been rollerized.

 

In talking with my cam grinder (schneider) they said you wanted nothing under 1200 ppm zinc/phosphorus in the oil you run on a datto motor. Mobil 1 has 1200ppm in their 15-50 but not in the lower weights. The reason they can get away with this is because there is not a manufacturer out there that recommends this weight for OE use. Most manufacturers use 10-30 or 10-40. Those weights have about 600 ppm zinc/phosphorous.

 

The main reason for the lower levels is as you said for emisions reasons. These oils without the zinc and phosphorous are cleaner.

 

Oh yeah. Most of the other synthetics I looked at had a max of 800 popm zinc/phodphorous no ,atter what weight. The only one I couldent find was Amsoil but I read that they were having trouble meeting the new standards because of just this? I couldent confirm it though.

[bonvo]

i use castrol high milage 10w30 with whatever filter i can get my dad gets i think wix from work for free dont quote me on that

[scooter]

the idle turnin down was on the datsun..

i didnt notice any more power but it does run cooler with the synthetic in it.

 

in my old race car i ran pennzoil 50 wt racing oil.. thick shit... kept it from hammerin when it got hot runnin on those summer days.:fu:

[hessianben]

Royal Purple 10/30 and a K&N...

 

... with just a dash of Lucasoil...

 

 

deeeeelish!

[BRE_dAtSuN]

royal purple 10w30 with KNN filter... the fram filters are not recommended for synthetic oil

[datsun510]

Depends on the car.

 

My wifes 2005 Maxima runs Mobile 1 10W40 and a Fram Filter.

My Suburban runs Mobile 1 10W30 and a Fram Filter,

My race 510 runs Kendall 40W and both an Oberg filter at the dry sump tank in the back of the car and a FRAM HP1 up front.

My street KA24DET will be running Motul with a factory filter.

Never a problem with Fram filters and the suburban has over 140,000 miles.

 

Seth

[thisismatt]

Depends on the car.

 

My wifes 2005 Maxima runs Mobile 1 10W40 and a Fram Filter.

My Suburban runs Mobile 1 10W30 and a Fram Filter,

My race 510 runs Kendall 40W and both an Oberg filter at the dry sump tank in the back of the car and a FRAM HP1 up front.

My street KA24DET will be running Motul with a factory filter.

Never a problem with Fram filters and the suburban has over 140,000 miles.

 

Seth

I've never had a problem with a Fram filter either. I've also never had a problem with a Ford Aerostar, but I know for a fact they're pieces of crap. A Walmart filter made by Wix is superior to Fram and costs less, and a Mobil 1 or Bosche filter hardly costs any more, and over the lifespan of a vehicle is a drop in the bucket. I just don't understand why anyone would use Fram.

[rusty510]

i use castrol 10-30 and a wix filter. quite a bit cheaper than the high priced stuff but works good for me.

[a.d._510_n_ok]

Synthetic oils are not recommended for older design flat tappet motors because of the lowered zinc and phosphorous levels. As you said above its not a big deal in the newer cars because everything has been rollerized.

 

hmmmm, didn't know that. I run three quarts of straight 30 (usually O'Reilly's), 1 quart of Mobil Fully Synthetic 10w-30 and top it off with part of a bottle of Bardahl NO-SMOKE (also from O'Reilly's).

 

1. I just don't like multi-viscosity oils and I don't think even a straight forty would be too heavy for this high-revving, heat generating four-banger.

 

2. The Fully Synthetic is a little gift I give all my engines. It is some slick stuff and I think it gives me a little extra insurance on cold start-ups.

 

3. The Bardahl NO SMOKE. I first bought a bottle of this stuff when I was daily driving my '68 Dodge crew cab that was using about a quart every 500 miles.

 

The Bardahl is so freakin' thick it makes STP Oil Treatment look like straight 40 weight.

 

The first time I used it I got some on my hands and noticed something. GOJO Hand Cleaner wouldn't take it's super slick residue off my fingers. Neither would two washings with Dawn Ultra dish soap. It is some slippery stuff that clings well to any surface it touches.

 

It slowed the Dodge's oil burning and seemed to make the engine run a lot smoother.

 

I'm running the 30, 10w-30 and Bardahl in my Datsun and I like it pretty good though I've only changed the oil it once.

 

Filter wise I've run Fram forever (that black "grip" is as addictive as crack) but I will be running WIX from now on. Like the 10w-30 synthetic, it's just cheap insurance.

Edited January 6, 2009 by a.d._510_n_ok

[zed]

I run Castrol 10w60 in my L18. Seems to burn a bit less oil than when I used Castrol GTX 20w50. I use Fram filters - cos that's all you can get here in a South African village...

[Mandingo]

20/50 Mobile one, Fram oil filter

[jrbd10]

I use Castrol 10w30 and K&N oil and air. I did a science project last year which was comparing stock intake; it had a Fram air filter I think. I was so old and hard to read what it said. Well we took the car to a dyno with the stock setup, which meant

Fram air filter (I considered it stock since it was at least 5 years old)

And the stock exhaust.

 

It ran an amazing 60 horsepower and 70 torque.

Then we took it too a smog test. I know my car is exempt but for science purposes we went. I failed smog. I was i think 5% above CA standards.

 

Then we swapped it for a K&N filter, new headers and new exhaust 1.5 inch straight pipe to my DC muffler. We did smog....I PASSED! My carbon emissions were so low the guy was in shock! My car emits .02% Carbon. That’s way below CA standards.

Then off to the dyno. Now I ran 69 Horsepower and 75 torque.

 

Well the project was a success. The point of saying this, I don’t know just something I'd like to share. And something interesting I think. My school liked it. I won second place. The reason I lost, (if you care) is because one of my friends made a Robot that identifies what it wants. It knows how to identify a pencil and not a twig. She had one slight advantage; her dad is a professor at UCLA for Robotic Engineering. I just wanted to let the science community know about DATSUNS and how they were building cars that with a few tools, you can run almost no emissions, like I do.

[hang_510]

The Bardahl is so freakin' thick it makes STP Oil Treatment look like straight 40 weight.

i used the no smoke-leak repair w/bad rings and the oil burning dropped significantly. dont try to add when its cold :eek:

best band aid ever!

[what]

I love chalet 10/30 high performance oil and a hector garcia brand oil filter.

[Bandit240]

Castrol 10w-30 and a Nissan oil filter for the 210. Ive heard people complain that Nissan wants too much for the filter. It was only $7 for me.

[KELMO]

Castrol 20W50 and a Nissan filter in an A12 motor

[HRH]

Valvoline VR1 20w50 (high zinc) and a NAPA Gold 1515 filter. (Our filters are made by Wix to our specifications.) This is on a high compression LZ20B.

 

FRAM sucks. I know of two engine failures due to filter element sucking out into crankcase. They do have the best marketing, but all you have to do to make someone a believe is cut them apart. Absolute crap.