Break-in Oil


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By Ol Ford Guy - 14 Years Ago
I was watching one of the car builder TV shows today.  They were going to fire up a newly rebuilt engine.  They filled the crankcase with Royal Purple break-in oil, which they said had a high zinc content.  They said they would leave it in for 500 miles.  Anyone familiar with this product? 
By RTCLASSICS - 14 Years Ago
You probably know the Royal Purple is synthetic and that's a good thing. Royal Purple is a very good and very expensive synthetic oil that can be used for engine break-in. Most machine shops will tell you to use a straight 30 weight with a special cam break-in like Comp Cams break-in additive for the first 500 miles. Then change to 10W-30 WITH a zinc additive. THEN, once the engine has at least 1000 miles on it, you can switch to synthetic oil. Normally synthetic oil prevents proper ring seating but apparently Royal Purple has the right stuff to "git 'er done". 10W-30 because with new tight clearances on a rebuilt/newly machined engine 10W-40 or higher would be too much. SOME machinists build their tolerances "looser" so you can use 10W-40. One of the reasons to use 10W-40 is I understand they did NOT drop the zinc level on oils ABOVE 10W-30. So most people recommend using Shell Rotella T 15W-40 because it has plenty of zinc. Using 15W-40 is fine for older engines that have plenty of bearing clearance at that point in their service. Again, newly machined/rebuilt should usually use no higher than 10W-30.

Best Regards

RT
By Big6ft6 - 14 Years Ago
I used it on my rebuilt SBC in my suburban.  Was expensive, but cheap insurance for the flat tappet cam.  I have a couple thousand miles on the truck (don't drive it much with 11 mpg).  I obviously can't see inside the engine, but hasn't caused any problems.
By Don Woodruff - 14 Years Ago
Annother alternative is Penn grade1.  Biggest worry is wear on flat tappet cams due to the removal of zinc anti scuff additives. It seems the zinc and catalyitic converters do not get along well.
By PF Arcand - 14 Years Ago
Don: I wonder if the zinc alloys vs catalytic converter issue has been over exagerated?. As we all know.. if bureacrates & politicians can get anything wrong, they will! As an example; a family member owns a 1980 G.M wagon, with over 300,000 KM on it. It is subject in our area to an emissions test every year. It has never failed. It has the "original" catalytic converter on it. The oil used in it for years is a 10-40 grade, not one of the low emisson grades. You gotta wonder sometimes about the crap we get from the regulators...
By LON - 14 Years Ago
Paul ,

I couldn't agree more . Check out all the BS about "Climate change " .One report said that the sea level will rise 4 ft??? How come Al Gore bought a multi  $million apartment in San Fransico bay ????. Then again how lucky are we ??? Wasn't the world going to end last Friday ???

Lon

PS . I do believe in "Climate Change " .About every 3 months ,it changes ,Spring,Summer,Fall,& Winter !!!!!!!!!!. Its been doing that for millions of years .

By Ted - 14 Years Ago
Actually the problem with the catalytic converters is with the phosphorus content in the oil.  The phosphorus and the zinc do work together though as the phosphorus is what’s attracted to any high heat generated from a friction point and the zinc tags along and transplants itself at those high heat locations as the anti-wear part of the combination.  When the government mandated a higher mileage life on the catalytic converters, the phosphorus content was reduced which in turn reduced the amount of zinc that goes along with it.  The only way phosphorus is going to make its way to the converter is past the rings and with ring seal being what it is today, I too suspect that the reduction in ZDDP that was seen recently in the SL and SM oils has been taken to the extreme.  At this point, I’d be more concerned about contaminates in the gasoline degrading catalytic converter performance than the phosphorus amount in the oil.  That’s my two cents worth on the subject.
By mctim64 - 14 Years Ago
My thought is the reduction in ZDDP is a way our Gov. can get the old cars off the highway, just destroy the engines. Tongue

On a serious note, I've been using Brad Penn oil for the last few years and been very happy with the results.  I have looked inside a few of the engines that have used it for break-in and I really like what I see.  Just last week when I was swapping engines in Elwood I decided to put the cam from the 322 into the 338 (with corresponding lifters too of course) both cams looked beautiful, and that is with pretty heavy valve springs.