[izzy412]

A friend of mine has 82 Trans am with the 305 engine with crossfire injection. This car has sat in storage for 15 years and he is bringing it out again.A lot has changed in motor oils in the past 15 years with zinc being lowered so as not to foul the catalytic converter.He used to buy oil off the shelf at discount stores.He knows we can't do that anymore because he has a hydraulic flat tappet cam.So what kind of oil can he safely use and not worry about damaging the camshaft and not damage the catalytic converter thanks

[rexs73gto]

There are a few oils out there for use with a flat tappet cam that can also be used with cats. Joe Gibbs, Royal Purple has some , to name a few. Reg. oils like Castarol VR1 & then use an extra additive with the extra ZZPD in it. There are a few more but just make sure your useing an oil with the correct amount of ZZDP in it. 99% of the new oils don't have the right amount of ZZDP as the oil CO's have stopped putting it in a lot of the oils because it cost more , & they say it hurts the newer styles of converters that the real new cars have. Your 82 won't be hurt as it has the old pellet style converter. Just make sure you use the additive with the ZZDP in it each & every oil change or you'll be rebuilding an engine real soon because of a flat destoryed cam.

[Dens71TA]

I doubt you'll need to use any special oil on this type of engine. Despite what they were advertised as back in the day they are low-performance engines with low valve spring pressures and only a 4,500 RPM red line. My old '84 Trans Am daily driver that I finally retired last summer due to rust had 204,000 miles and I always used regular off the shelf motor oil. Engine still runs fine and idles smooth.

One thing about the CrossFire engines is to keep the oil frequently changed! The fuel injection system is calibrated on the rich side because of the rather poor intake design. The oil gets dirty a lot faster than a carbureted electronic Quadrajet engines.