Oil in Comp Motors

I agree with their choice to thin it down. Years back on a cold morning at the track I had to deal with a number of split filters on the Vintage Ferrari race cars. We had to run them on the quick jacks just to get the 300w tar in the diff's to start to flow. Old technology, no reason to stay with that.

What does surprise me is their choice to use a fully synthetic on a new engine. Unless they made some changes to the liner spec's and ring package, usually the fully synthetic oils are too slippery to allow proper ring seat in. When seasoned pro's such as you dealt with do something it is rarely by coincidence, they know something we dont about how the engine was built.

No leaks using a synthetic oil simply means they repainted the interior of the engine castings, a sign of quality workmanship and part of what you paid for.

 

That's a practice I highly recommend on any competition car, its especially easy to do on a dry sump system.

The one I put in the Brabham cost all of $39.00, its a no-brainer for me.

 

Be careful with oil heaters though. I think they are a very good idea but remember the oil is not circulating and some of the heater elements get very hot. I have seen cases where the element would cook the oil in contact or close proximity to it.

With large race engine oil pumps 0-60 isn't a bad idea. The oil cooler that you save from blowing up might be your own.

 

This is my neighbor’s 2003 Ferrari Enzo with a total of 8,800 miles on the left column and my 2003 Enzo with a total of 3,000 miles on the right column. Both cars had 1,400 miles on the oil. His obviously had more break-in time. (And therefore the wear at this time in his engine should be less than in mine with less milage- still breaking in). He had the oil changed by the Ferrari dealer using the required 10W60 Shell Helix Ultra Racing oil. I ran 0W30 Castrol GC.

The recommended interval is 5,000 miles, less if on the track. This is strictly off track use in town and on the highway, probably 50-50 for his car and 90 percent city for me.

His oil was tested by: www.youroil.net, while I got the full, total evaluation from Terry Dyson at www.dysonanalysis.com.
................................................................................................................

_____________Shell....GC
Iron___________ 32...11
Chromium _____<1...0
Nickel _________ 2...1
Aluminum ______11...3
lead __________ 16...0
Copper ________25...8
Tin ___________<1...0
Silver ________<.1...0
Titanium ______<1...0
Silicon _________ 7...3
Boron __________ 1...3
Sodium ________ 8...3
Potassium ____<10...0
Molybdenum __ <5...1
Phosphorus __1026...935
Zinc ________ 1135...1228
Calcium _____ 1454...1671
Barium _______<10...0
Magnesium ___1219...526
Antimony _____<30...0
Vanadium ______<1...0
Fuel %Vol _____<1...1.2
Abs Oxid ______34...10
Abs Nitr _______11...8
Wtr %vol ______<0.1...KF=247 &#8220;nice dry fluid&#8221;
Vis CS 100C __ 15.8...11.8
Vic CS 40C___not done...66
SAE Grade ____40...30
Gly test ______NEG...0.37 &#8220;not antifreeze&#8221;
TBN _________not done...7.9


aehaas


The above is from an old post on BobIsTheOilGuy web site. What we saw here is that with hardly any use the 60 grade Shell Helix Ultra thinned to a 40 grade oil. The way I figure this is that the engine is running with oil that is a 30 or 40 grade most of its life shortly after the oil is changed with the specified brand and grade.

With this in mind and the fact that most wear occurs not while the engine is up to full operating temperature but during the first 20 or 30 minutes of driving, I chose a 30 grade oil that is viscosity stable. We are neighbors and drive the same way and places. Although wear is "normal" in his engine mine is still much less, almost negligible.

I am currently using the biodegradable Renewable Lubricants Incorporated, RLI, in all of my cars. The Enzo has the 0W-30 and the others have 0W-20. I do not race the car on the track with oil sump temperatures at 300F. My oil actually never gets above 180F. These engines cool well and there is little internal friction it seems.

aehaas

 

Jim, it would not hurt to send an oil sample to Terry Dyson from any or all cars. He is a formulator and has a long history of helping all sorts of people/companies with their oil needs. If you talk to him on the phone I think you will be impressed. Sometimes he is limited in what he can tell you because of NDA/corporate secrets but again it is worth the small effort involved.

aehaas