What oil to use? Zinc?

[Truckedup]

The vintage bikes I race and build for the street have non rotating radius surface tappets. They and the cams can have wear problems. If the bike has a wet clutch, most use Mobil1 V Twin oil with about 1600 ppm ZDDP, and it lacks friction modifiers so the clutch won't slip. I'm not convinced these old lumps need a synthetic oil. I found clutch plates tolerant of some friction modifiers and use Valvoline VR1 conventional with 1400 ppm ZDDP.
In cars I have used Brad Penn and VR1.
But without back to back testing in real engines who knows if one is better than the other...

[Kevin Johnson]

I believe we have had commentary in the past from a SwRI tech. The information is available but someone paid for it ergo proprietary.

[Nut124]

Thanks for all the informative replies.

Where do you get the exact additive content of each oil? I could not find such info for many oils.

What about Rotella T1?

[Truckedup]

Thanks for all the informative replies.

Where do you get the exact additive content of each oil? I could not find such info for many oils.

What about Rotella T1?

Bob is the Oil Guy forums. Members post results from new samples of lab tested oil.

[Truckedup]

Thanks for all the informative replies.

Where do you get the exact additive content of each oil? I could not find such info for many oils.

What about Rotella T1?

Bob is the Oil Guy forum. Go to virgin oil lab tests

[DJ58]

Go to Lane Automotive in watervliet get some Brad Penn brake in oil run it for 200 to 300 hundred miles and then after that put in Valvoline vr1.
your good.
40 miles away



Dan
S. W. Mi

[RDY4WAR]

RDY4War:
Thanks for your lengthy, well thought out responses. I'm definitely more gear oil conscious as a transmission design firm; but I had an interesting conversation with one of the senior tech guys at a boutique oil firm. He said that even though they sell the zinc additive bottles; that he really prefers to purchase the correct oil rather than mix a cocktail. Reason being, the zddp-type package is homogenous in each bottle of oil, and his belief was that you run the risk of damage before the engine finishes mixing/distributing the concentrate.

What are your thoughts?

That is correct. The issue he referenced is called additive clash. Engine oils are a carefully balanced formula to ensure no single additive overpowers or hinders another. When you dump a foreign additive in the oil, you upset that balance.

[RDY4WAR]

Thanks for all the informative replies.

Where do you get the exact additive content of each oil? I could not find such info for many oils.

What about Rotella T1?

There's a number of labs across the US that conduct engine oil, trans fluid, gear oil, and coolant analysis with varying costs for their kits. I use ALS labs out of Atlanta since they're close, and the kits can be had for <$20/ea. If I need particle counts, acid number, oxidation, or nitration analysis, I use Polaris Labs. I can't stand Blackstone labs and don't recommend them to anyone.

Here's a recent analysis I did through ALS on my wife's 2012 Mustang V6 daily driver as an example. They screwed up and put "unknown" for the oil which was Pennzoil Syn-Blend 5w-20. This was a used analysis taken at ~6,800 miles on that oil change. All wear numbers in single digit range which is excellent. Ford's 3.7L V6 doesn't wear much anyway though.

6-18-2020 - Pennzoil Gold Syn-Blend 5w-20, 6800 miles.jpg