Oil / Additive Recommendation for SBC Flat Tappet Cammed Engine

[Kenny Bee 194]

I have a 400 ci Small Block Chevy that I am getting running after it sitting around for 3+ years. I got it from a friend a while back. It’s a mild build: 4 bolt mains, cast crank, Chevy Bowtie Phase II cast iron heads (PN 14011034), Weiand aluminum 4 bbl manifold, and a mild hydraulic flat tappet cam of unknown origin. Approx. 10k miles on the engine. This is a street engine that won’t see any drag strip time.

After reading the posts on this forum about oil selection, for choice of oil & additives to protect the cam and lifters, I am thinking of using the following:

Shell Rotella synthetic T6 5W-40 diesel oil
Marvel Mystery Oil (not sure how much)
ZDDP Max oil additive (2 oz. per vendor’s recommendation)

For a more serious build (ie: high HP), I would use Valvoline VR1, but I thought this mixture would be fine for the street.

Note that I live in southern CA, where the temperature rarely gets below 40°F.

What do you all think of this combo? Do you have any better suggestions? Thanks for the help!

Kenny Bee

 

[Grumpy]

you should be fine with
Shell Rotella synthetic T6 5W-40 diesel oil
Id suggest you pour a full quart of MARVEL MYSTERY OIL in the engine, and a couple cans of two different brands of injector cleaner / solvent in the fuel tank and let it run for an hour , or drive the car a day or so,
before you do any parts swap, as the stuff really does loosen stuck lifters rather frequently at times
obviously the oil supplement/crud solvent/additive blend can't repair worn or broken or miss adjusted valve train components but it does dissolve crud and loosen stuck parts most of the time

ZDDP Max oil additive (2 oz. per vendor’s recommendation)
BTW a single quart of MMO added is fine

Id point out that the vast majority of oil now for sale is a huge improvement,
over most of the oil that was available even up into the 1980s,
yes the reduction of zinc and some other wear additives in oil designed to reduce wear,
in flat tappet valve trains is not helping older cars, but you can still purchase those extra additives or blend several oil types,
Ive used mobil one, MMO, SHELL, VALVOLINE and several other oils with zero issues.
the key seems to be in replacing the oil and oil filters on a,
REGULAR AND SEMI FREQUENT BASIS, OR ID SUGGEST AT LEAST EVERY 7k-9k MILE MAX.
as oil does wear out ,
use proper oil and filters and damn surely use high temp magnets to trap fine metallic abrasive crud

SmCo 13.8 LB Pull Disk Magnet Dia 1x1/4" Samarium Cobalt 608 F Working Temperature

CMS Magnetics offers the best samarium cobalt 1x1/4" magnets online at at www.magnet4sale.com. Buy now from CMS Magnetics to get the best quality SmCo Magnets.

www.magnet4sale.com

epoxy in place as ceramic magnets are brittle and can't be drilled

SmCo Magnets 1 in x 1/4 in Samarium Cobalt Disc Magnet - Applied Magnets - Magnet4less

www.magnet4less.com

https://540ratblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/motor-oil-wear-test-ranking/

 

[FishFry]

After digging a bit deeper into this a while ago, I'm not so sure anymore, if I would add any ZDDP additives.

It's much more complicated, since there are different kinds of ZDDP and it's easy to mess up the balance in the composition of your oil.
I think, going with a high ZDDP content diesel oil like Rotella is good enough. Also ZDDP isn't the only anti wear agent, there are lots of other components in modern oils.

A bit of MMO is never a bad thing though.

Frank

 

[Grumpy]

yes the more modern oil formulas are all designed for the now more common roller valve trains