[jhein]

Interesting discussion. So as I said, my last sample had about 2000 miles on it. The car was then stored for winter. I said 5-6 months but it was really 5 months. Then I drove it a few hundred miles before I changed the oil and sent the sample in. So it will be interesting to see what my next sample looks like with similar miles and use but no storage time.

[Dragncar]

Just pick a good oil and change it regularly folks and all will be well.

[mgarblik]

Many of us have had a great mentor or teacher to help us advance in the hobby. Mine was my High School auto shop teacher Mr. James Halderman. Some of you probably know the name because he went on to a full career as a College Automotive instructor and author of 19 Automotive Textbooks still in print by Prentice Hall/Pearson Education systems. He had a TON of sayings that I still use and remember. The one for this thread is: "Oil is cheaper than metal".

[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

Many of us have had a great mentor or teacher to help us advance in the hobby. Mine was my High School auto shop teacher Mr. James Halderman. Some of you probably know the name because he went on to a full career as a College Automotive instructor and author of 19 Automotive Textbooks still in print by Prentice Hall/Pearson Education systems. He had a TON of sayings that I still use and remember. The one for this thread is: "Oil is cheaper than metal".

Mike, that was pretty much both Bud’s and Mike’s take: clean oil is cheap insurance!

[Formulajones]

Agree. Oil is chump change compared to engine costs.

Has anyone even built an engine recently? I mean with today's bidenomics prices? I'm not talking about a quicky hone job either that you would do to a lawn mower engine.

Because my son and I just finished a little 327 sbc. Nice aluminum headed hydraulic roller setup and when it was all said and done it was $14,034 and that doesn't include the parts I donated to the project like the block, the forged crank, the $350 oil pan and $800 set of headers. All that was basically free.

Why would I not want what's best for the engine when it comes to oil?

I sure as hell am not going to let oil sit in it for years and it's also going to get an oil formulated for best protection I can provide, with regular OA's to start with just to make sure it's getting what it needs.

[78w72]

Thats all great advice and Im not trying to say that approach is wrong in any way, if anyone wants to change perfectly good oil just because it hit some calendar date thats their choice, but the reality is that CLEAN, LOW MILE oil does not go bad at 1 year or even a little longer.

Some have said they need UOA's to confirm that, i just posted one from older than 1 year and high miles on a high mile vehicle, along with some tests that show its perfectly good oil, and there are all kinds of other OA's of 1 year old oil with higher miles than the situations I mentioned proving its still good and provides protection needed.

Yes I have built an expensive engine recently, not during this administration but right before it and the price was about the same as FJ mentioned above... I use the oil type that was suggested by not only the short block builder but by SD who supplied the cam/lifters... i dont use additives or racing oils because its not a dedicated race car, its built to street tolerances and has excellent oil psi using 10/30 oil.

I realize some on here have a different sometimes alarmist type approach to things, nothing wrong with that. I prefer to be a little more optimistic & realistic in life. Until I see UOA's or other test data that shows oil in a healthy properly stored engine goes bad after a short time like 1 year, I will stick with whats worked for me for 35+ years.

And I never suggested letting it sit "for years", Ive always said 1 year maybe a few months more and the cars are driven some to burn off any moisture.

[Formulajones]

The only issue is we really don't know if it's perfectly good oil until an OA is done.
The "sit for years" came from other posters in the thread.
Me personally I'd like to see a comparison between something like amsoil zrod formulated for sitting, vs a conventional oil under the same circumstances. Chances of that are slim to none but I'd bet money you'll see differences. I'm not willing to subject my stuff to that kind of test so I'm just going to error on the safe side. It's not like we're talking a bunch of money. Besides the fact that my stuff don't sit like that anyway so I'm not worried about that aspect of things.

[78w72]

OA's have been done... i posted one with other real world tests from a guy thats tested more oils than anyone on here, and theres probably hundreds or thousands of OA's out there showing the same thing, all different oil brands, vehicles, mileage & age, almost all of them have comments from the companies saying the oil is healthy and has more life in it.

I mentioned the 700 miles/yr for 3 years is more than the examples Im giving of 1 year.

Id like to see comparisons between specialty & conventional regular & synthetic oils too, I dont doubt there would be differences... but this subject isnt really about differences, its about regular clean low mile oils "going bad" at 1 year like some are claiming. Seems like other situations or extreme what ifs are getting mixed in here. But even with differences, OA's showing regular oils are still ok at 1 year is what matters.

FJ's situation is different than many others on here that do store their cars for prolonged periods over winters or for other reasons and dont drive more than ~1000 miles in 1 year, regardless of price of oil, I see no reason to change oil in that situation and have yet to see OA's that support that.

[locomotivebreath]

How do you guys manage to drive your cars so little ? My car was ‘done’ in November 23 , I’ve clocked about 3,600 miles so far . I just cruise the Cincinnati tristate area .

[Formulajones]

Ive always wondered that. When I lived in Cincinnati even with the winter months and crap weather I still managed to put 5-6000 miles a year on the weekend toys. Had a beater classic I daily drove on the crappy days.

Now in Arizona there is no excuse, we just daily drive them year round.

[78w72]

Having multiple cars makes it hard to put lots of miles on just one, especially nice classics that arent daily driven or get driven in bad weather... plus northern states usually are stored 4-6 moths or more of the year... add to that doing work on them especially major engine rebuilds or paint etc....

On top of all that having a "normal" daily driver car for majority of errands or commutes to work makes the average classic car not see high miles... of course some do put higher miles on their cars in warmer climates with longer driving seasons or only 1 car or 1 driver, but I dont think thats the norm for most classics that live a garage queen fair weather only life.

Also some cars are low mile or rare originals that many people dont want to put high miles on for value or collector reasons.

When I only had 1 TA it got triple the ~1000 miles I do in a year, when I was younger had a TA as a daily driver, it saw 10k or more miles per year!

[Verdoro 68]

Tacking on my oil analysis to this thread. Low miles on this sample (600-ish), but I wanted a gut check on how things were fairing internally. There's about 2000 miles on the build in total. All looks good according to Blackstone.

I've been running 15-50 Driven HR1. When I took this sample I switched to 15-40 GP1 to lower the pressure a little bit.

[Verdoro 68]

Interesting. I didn’t know it was supposed to go for that long. I’m pretty conservative with my oil change intervals, I’ll usually go 2500-3000 miles because it doesn’t get driven a lot of long distances.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

Interesting. I didn’t know it was supposed to go for that long. I’m pretty conservative with my oil change intervals, I’ll usually go 2500-3000 miles because it doesn’t get driven a lot of long distances.

There was 600 miles on the oil when sent in for analysis...

[Schurkey]

Originally Posted by Jay S

HR1 is suppose to be an 8000 mile conventional oil

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

I didn’t know it was supposed to go for that long.

Originally Posted by 78w72

There was 600 miles on the oil when sent in for analysis...

"8000 miles" in a feedback fuel-injected engine with an overdrive transmission is a whole lot different from 8000 miles in a poorly-carbureted, lopes-at-idle, choke-doesn't-work hot-rod with 3.90 or 4.10 gearing.

[locomotivebreath]

So that’s the 15w50 sample ? What was your pressures with the 50wt ?

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by locomotivebreath

So that’s the 15w50 sample ? What was your pressures with the 50wt ?

Yes, 15-50. I ran it because that's what Butler recommended. I have a Butler 60 lb pump with a shim and I was seeing the gauge pegged to 80 while cold and while driving. At idle when hot it was 45. My clearances are .020 on the rods and .025-ish on the mains. Normally, I'd be happy with high pressure, but after reading a few threads around here I thought maybe it's unnecessary. I was also wondering if the high pressure was kicking in the filter bypass, but it looks like things were filtering fine.

The 15-40 I put in knocks the pressure down to 75-ish while driving and a little under 40 at idle when hot.

[Schurkey]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

Yes, 15-50. I ran it because that's what Butler recommended. I have a Butler 60 lb pump with a shim and I was seeing the gauge pegged to 80 while cold and while driving.

For reasons of their own, Butler wants molasses in the oil pan. I think they're nuts.

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

The 15-40 I put in knocks the pressure down to 75-ish while driving and a little under 40 at idle when hot.

Next time, try 5W-30. MAYBE 10W-30.

[locomotivebreath]

Are you using factory rally gauges ? I have repro rally’s and wonder how accurate they are but my psi with Mobil 15w50 seems about the same as yours .

[PAUL K]

I think a lot of engine builders recommend thick oil because it works. Hard to beat experience. I know one career SS racer that tried using thin oil and he had a rod knocking the following race. It may have had nothing to do with the weight of the oil. But if one races for twenty five years using thick oil and never has a bearing failure, then tries light oil and has a problem.... He's going to be hesitant to run thin oil. Butler's used to recommend straight straight 50.