[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!

[tjs72lemans]

Yes, having multiple classics to drive as well as a Harley I love to ride limits my cars yearly mileage. Plus the MN area!

[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.

[Jay S]

That UOA looks like new yet. HR1 is suppose to be an 8000 mile conventional oil, it has a ton of detergent in it.

[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.

[locomotivebreath]

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

[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.

[78w72]

Oops, early morning misread, thought he was replying to the UOA posted with 600 miles.

[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.

[Formulas]

In the fight of viscosity, ...one has to take in account the volume of oil that is passed through any given bearing surface gap, .... as oil has more than one function, .. parts? gotta keep em separated ( thick oil film ) .. parts? gotta keep em cool ( volume of oil, thin flows more from a thin gap )

as long as you stay away from either extreme for what we do you should be fine

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by Schurkey

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

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

That's in line with Driven's viscosity recommendation based on my clearances.

https://drivenracingoil.com/c-138953...viscosity.html

I started using VR1 20w-50 years and years ago as a crutch for bad bearing clearances and the flat tappet I was running. I just kind of kept with the heavy stuff after the rebuild, especially since Butler recommended it. Seemed like a safe bet but then I started doing some research and thought maybe it's more than I need. There was a recent Engine Masters that tested viscosity that was pretty interesting.

Originally Posted by 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 .

Yes, factory rally gauges rebuilt and calibrated by Pete Serio so I trust them.

[Dragncar]

Best of both worlds.
Shaeffers 5 - 50

Once the engine is hot 50 WT is not all that thick anyway. 5 WT when cold.

[Schurkey]

Originally Posted by Dragncar

Best of both worlds.
Shaeffers 5 - 50

Once the engine is hot 50 WT is not all that thick anyway. 5 WT when cold.

He says that 50-weight pegs his gauge when driving, and even 40-weight shows 75 pounds on the gauge when driving.

He doesn't need that kind of stress on the distributor drive or driven gears, or the oil pump. And he MAY need more flow through the bearings to carry away heat, which the thick oil is poor at doing.

There's just zero need to run oil that thick, and several reasons not to.

[Dragncar]

Originally Posted by Schurkey

He says that 50-weight pegs his gauge when driving, and even 40-weight shows 75 pounds on the gauge when driving.

He doesn't need that kind of stress on the distributor drive or driven gears, or the oil pump. And he MAY need more flow through the bearings to carry away heat, which the thick oil is poor at doing.

There's just zero need to run oil that thick, and several reasons not to.

You saying there is "zero" reason to run oil that thick is utter nonsense.
I ran 20-50 for 3 decades in my old 455 and I beat the snot out of it. Never hurt it, never spun a bearing in my life.
That engine had 78lbs when cold and the BOP gear was in such nice shape its in my new 461.
This engine has 80lbs cold and 45lbs at a hot fast idle. 65lbs going down the track.
It has .006 piston to wall because of block fill so the 5-50 weight high end oil is a good idea.
This 5-50 oil is not really all that thick, its fantastic stuff.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by Dragncar

This 5-50 oil is not really all that thick, its fantastic stuff.

Try pouring any motor oil when it's zero degrees and when it's 200° and one will learn about advertised viscosities really fast.... But it makes for an entertaining Internet discussion.