Racing Oils

[slonomo]

I have been reading up on lubrication for high performance engines and I happened to find this nice video.

Our small engines are considered "flat tappet cam" engines. Which I've known needed special oils with zinc etc. It's nice to have it explained so well.

Now look, this video is LONG!!! It's 1:08:09, so make sure you have some down time when you watch this. This video is not one to skip around. Watch the whole thing. I learned a few things, very useful and no BS.

Grab yourself a cup of Dunkin Donuts high octane, or a glass of Woodford Reserve (depending on the time of day....or what kinda person you are lol) and enjoy this long azz video from a real pro!

If you're impatient, skip forward to 35:10, that's when he get's to the point.

You Tube

You Tube

[slonomo]

I tried to search to find out who the man is in the video with no luck. If anyone can confirm this, please post. I want to give him credit and thanks for the videos he produces. I have to be careful that I'm not doing any free advertising for his company though, so please name only, no company affiliation etc.

[slonomo]

My comments on the video:

Wow lots of good info. I know the information he's presenting is just his opinion, and that's ok, I'm going to assume he has years of experience with building and running racing engines, so I'll trust what he says since he knows more than I do.

So flat tappet engine oil should have a minimum of around 1200 ppm zinc, this is good info. And all zinc additives aren't created equal. He talks about how zinc additives to certain oils can react and cause negative effects on the performance of the oils. Things like "oil atomization", which I have never even heard of, but it makes complete and perfect sense. Things like "chemical reactions" that can leave residues and make solids in the oils. Interesting stuff.

So the basic idea of the video is to match the oil with your additive and your fuel type. So for pure gasoline fuel you would use one combination. For E15 fuel another....E85....E100....and Methanol.... they all react differently based on the amount of gasoline and type of alcohol used.

Another point is how much fuel is getting mixed with the oil. All fossil fueled engines have a certain amount of fuel that eventually gets mixed into the oil. He's saying that different fuels and additives in the fuel can react with the oil and the additives in the oil. Interesting. It sounds pretty complicated to try and figure out.

What he recommends is using a certain type of oil, additive, and fuel to eliminate those "chemical reactions" and without disturbing "oil atomization" in order to keep the oil on the internal engine parts as it was designed.

Very cool info.

[slonomo]

That video got me thinking and I did some more research.

Ever heard of "Tribology" ?

According to Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster

Definition of tribology

: a study that deals with the design, friction, wear, and lubrication of interacting surfaces in relative motion (as in bearings or gears)

Check this video out....once again....Slonomo learns some new stuff

You Tube

You Tube

[slonomo]

You may argue...."We aren't doing any racing, why do we need racing oil?"

Well, most of us here in the "Big Block" section put bigger more powerful engines in our "golf carts"....why? To go faster. I mean there's no other reason. Bigger Better Faster right? Some of us put rev kits and cams and carbs to get our rpm's up above 5000 to achieve those speeds and to, well, have fun.

So....if we are putting that kind of abuse on our engines, it's nearly the same as going racing. The load exerted on the engine during a 30 second backyard speed run isn't the same as a 5 minute all out race, sure. But the load for that 30 seconds is the same as a 30 second race.

Why not use the best oils with the best additives and more importantly the right combination of both for our application.

Never too old or too smart to learn more!

[raydhd]

Originally Posted by slonomo

I tried to search to find out who the man is in the video with no luck. If anyone can confirm this, please post. I want to give him credit and thanks for the videos he produces. I have to be careful that I'm not doing any free advertising for his company though, so please name only, no company affiliation etc.

He is Jody Powell from ARC racing.

[superpro56]

Yep, the oil discussion goes back pretty far with VW engines (another hobby of mine) as well. Those also incorporate a flat tappet design. The performance guys have even went so far as to recommend buying "matched" lifters and camshafts, typically meaning lifters and cams produced by the same people.

Modern oils have evolved, to better protect the more widely used hydraulic lifter design, which has basically removed the added zinc because it is unnecessary for that particular lifter design.

[Shepard]

Originally Posted by superpro56

Modern oils have evolved, to better protect the more widely used hydraulic lifter design, which has basically removed the added zinc because it is unnecessary for that particular lifter design.

Zinc die-phosphate was added as an anti wear compound way back when we had leaded gas. With the move to unleaded gas came catalytic converters and it was found that over time the converters would plug up. The zinc bonds with the platinum and plugs up he honey comb type converters. The oil makers lowered the amount of zinc so this would not happen - so we add zinc to our oils for more protection.

[BIKERMIKEYBLACK]

Jody Powell of ARC he makes a lot of good videos
I came to the conclusion years ago after losing a lobe on a flat Tappet Chevy Comp cam running mobile 1 that it needed zinc (zddp) and because of catalytic converters they don’t put in anything but Racing oil anymore so I recently bought some valvoline racing oil (Fossil) to run in my two engines with new cams but I add the zinc additive to synthetic if I run that comp makes it Lucas and several others

[slonomo]

Originally Posted by raydhd

He is Jody Powell from ARC racing.

Thank you sir. I did some searching and I couldn't come up with his name.