Ed, this is my opinion.
I have never used oil analysis on a race motor because the purpose of analysis
is to
give you a fair to good picture of what is going on in an engine without tearing
down. I always did a tear down after each Bonneville or USFRA meet. Tearing
it down gave me a perfect picture of what happened. Now if the oil ever came
out of the motor looking like Plum pudding, then I would get it tested.
As far as what oil to use, that depends.
If you have an excellent 5 gallon dry sump and are running gas, NA, the oil you
run won't mater. Just run over to Walmart and get 10 or 20 gallons of SuperTech
10W-40 at $0.87 a Qt. If you have a turbo, I'd suggest a REAL synthetic (Group
4)
to deal with the higher temperatures inside the motor.
Wet sump is a very different situation. Here your oil pump will be suppling the
motor with 60 to 90% oil and the rest entrained air by the time you reach mile
4.
In this situation we need low viscosity oil, air loves thick oil, and
protection from
poor oil film situations (oil + air).
This normally comes in the form of Phosphorus and Zinc additives.
Two widely available oils that have the highest P&Z levels I've seen, are the
Mobil1
motorcycle oils. One is MX4T a 10W-40. If your motor can keep the main bearings
in a straight line so you can run 2-2.5 thousands on the mains and rods that
will stay
round on the big end, this is the oil I would use. If It's a fairly stock motor
or a
Buick straight 8, I'd run the 20W-50, Mobil 1 V Twin oil. With a heater in the
pan!
The only engine problems I've seen, anywhere, that are "caused" by oil, aren't
caused
by oil. They have been caused by air or an assembly error. (the shop forgot to
torque
the rods, oil line came off, etc.)
Remember Ed, this is just my opinion,
Bryan
OBTW - I have Blackstone test all the oil from my '99 4 cyl Ranger and '01
Honda
3.5L V6.
In last test for the Honda with Mobil1 5W-30, SuperTech filter 9 months,
8238 miles they said:
At 71,250 total miles, we think this engine is
doing well. Try 9,500 miles on the next oil.
The last test on Ranger with SuperTech 5W-30, SuperTech filter, 18 months,
5999 miles they said:
The low insolubles show good oil filtration as well. At 74,164
total miles, we think this engine is still doing very well.
And some people are still wasting money and oil with the
oil industry's 3 months, 3,000 miles lies.
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