Best Gear Oil for 512TR: Still Redline?

Lately I've become a devote of Ravenol VSG (gold) full-synthetic 75W-90 Gear Oil:

Ravenol J1C1109 SAE 75W-90 Gear Oil - VSG Full Synthetic API GL-4 / GL-5 Spec (1 Liter)

It's performed better for me in my TR than the Royal Purple for cold-shifting behavior and with no diff chatter at all, and it's the only GL-5 rated gear oil that I could find where the manufacturer specifically claims "for use in synchronized and non-synchronized manual transmissions". Wouldn't use Red Line MTL (a GL-4 oil) in a car with a hypoid differential gear set -- JMO.

 

I have it from a very trusted source within Ferrari that AGIP LSX is the best thing they had found. My car has Redline in it and he drove it once. Told me if I went to the Agip it would be better. I have never used it because the US Agip importer seems very under motivated to make it available on any kind of regular volume basis. You might look around and see if you can find a few gallons of it.

Never had good experience with Royal Purple. Redline NS typically results in little to no diff chatter but some cars are exceptions.

The chemical reaction with syncros that is warned about in many places on the net with GL5 oils are not an issue on the Flat 12 cars. That concern is with brass syncros that most cars have. The Flat 12's all have iron syncros. The concern with GL5 is the fact that they have additive packages of various types that reduce friction to achieve the GL5 rating. A syncro is nothing but a metal to metal brake. Friction reducers inhibit that braking action. All that having been said different brands seem to inhibit the syncro operation to different degrees and it becomes a matter of experimentation.

 

Forgot to add. Have not tried Mobile 1 but have 5 gallons of it here to try in my car.

I am more than a little disappointed though, it is made in China. I really try and avoid that like the plague.

 

MT 90 was not good in the BBI.
I put redline GL5 in the and BBI worked really well. Maybe the synchros are different to the Tr.

 

No syncros are the same.
MT90 is a GL4 and not meant for a BB transmission. The problem is no one oil seems to work universally. If every one was disassembled and I lapped the syncros to the gears that might not be so but it is an extreme measure to make them shift well. With a brass syncro it breaks in very quickly but not so with iron syncros. The acting surfaces are conical. Take a new gear and a new syncro and test the contact area and it is typically far from total contact. At the rate they wear that can take a very long time. That is at least one of the issues. I have rebuilt quite a few and hand lap the syncros. It makes a huge difference.

 

I put Ravenol in my mondial t coupe after Steve mentioned it in another thread. It gave the best shifts out of 4 different brands I have tried.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Anyone else who's tried the Ravenol please also give your result -- even if not good (I won't be insulted ) -- as Brian is right in that the frictional behavior of these gearbox elements varies a lot even for "identical" gearboxes so we need a distribution of the results for all types/brands of oils in each of the models.

 

I have driven Steves with Ravenol. It was good but I would not say it was better than others I have driven with other products in them.

Still would like to find a decent source for Agip.

 

in my competition and also my BB I only use castrol 75w140 synthetic- have wne cold some problems with shifting but when a little warm the ok

 

Currently running Mobil 1 GL5 75w-140. Shifts ‘ok’ but not a panacea.

 

Any particular reason that you are using 75W140 and not 75W90? That higher hot viscosity of the 75W140 would be like having "coldish" oil all of the time.

 

Sorry... my bad. Looked on my shelf instead of my notes.

The 75w-140 goes in my F250 differential. The 75w-90 goes in the TR.

Same comment though.... shifts ‘ok’, but not great.

PS: temps in the F250 axle (10.25 Sterling) got hot enough to burn the paint off the cover.

 

OK, thanks for clearing that up (75W140 in a tow vehicle differential is commonly used for the higher loads and temps) -- will be interested to get Brian's report for the Mobil1 75W90 in his TR. One point I'll add is that it's really impossible to get it all drained out so everyone has a little bit of the old stuff mixed in when they make a change (which is just another factor unless they did two complete changes in a row).

 

And that can cause some surprises with the positraction. You really need to put some miles on it to see if it is going to chatter or not with a new oil. The posi clutches are porous and seems to take a while to wash all the prior gear oil out of them. Same with adding posi additive. Can take some time to see the real or full effect of it. A GM dealer told me that many years ago when I had a new car in for the posi noise. Service manager told me that and I thought "Yea sure, I've heard that before". Its true.

 

I made in my competiton very good experiences because on curvy streets the temperature gets really high, even with gearboxoilradiator. and I thaught what is good for my competition may be also good for my BB. but next time I will try in my BB 75W90 for to test.

 

Last time I tried to purchase 75W90 LS in Europe I couldn't find it anywhere on the internet.

The only oil available with the mandatory Limited Slip additives (LS) was a 75W140 LS.

I've used Castrol Syntrax 75W140 LS to full satisfaction on my 89 TR with upgraded differential..... and we have a lot of twisty roads here in the alps

 

Has anyone tried Motul Gear300 75W90? It has high reviews and places high on oil tests.

https://www.motul.com/us/en-US/products/gear-300-75w90

 

It has no LS additives, if I understand correctly. Thus it is not suitable for limited slip differential.

 

Neither does the one I have been using in customer cars for years as well as both of my cars. Once in a while one of the cars makes some noise and I put in some additive.

The additive inhibits syncro operation so the less the better.

 

Have you tried the red line 75-90ns. Ready to do the 512tr and debating on that. I have that in the 360 and feels great but my 360 is a F1

 

Been using it for a lot of years.

 

I tried redline mt90 which caused diff chatter after awhile
. Redline GL5 shifted better still and no chatter. In all the years (28) this is the best shifting.

 

I had Mobil 1 syn and now shell tf 1055

I can't say there is any difference
...second gear is still a little hard when cold

I have lsx for my scud but never tried it on the 512tr

I have been suggesting the ravenol as well on other posts based on research i did for soft synchros which the scud has but not the 512tr

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