Redline 10w50 synthetic Oil

Too much zinc is bad for cat converters.

 

i went with 10w60 redline in my 1977
No problems or issues

 

Beware of oil threads, but my Ferrari-trained tech said just use a high quality conventional 10W40 oil (I live in PA) like Pennzoil or Castrol in my QV. He said no concerns with valve trains.

 

I use and would recommend Amsoil Signature Series 5w-50. The lower ‘w’ number will give you better startup protection. Zinc not really an issue in these engines if you look into it. Ferrari actually recommend Shell Helix Ultra 5w-40 which is a low zinc API SP grade oil (max around 800PPM from memory). Just stick with the Redline 5w-50 if that’s been working for you. A better option in my opinion than the 10w-50.

 

I use Mobil 1 0W-40 in my 328 because of the slightly higher zinc for the “Euro” cars. 1100ppm
https://www.mobil.com/lubricants/-/media/Project/WEP/Mobil/Mobil-RoW-US-1/Files/mobil-1-racing-product-guide.pdf

 

+1 use it in 512 TR as well ..think it has enough zinc and other ingredients for wear protection

Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

 

The best oil for these 3x8s is Valvoline Racing 20/ 50 Mineral oil with Zinc additive, My 328 has 104 k miles, full compression all jugs, Ive used this oil since I bought the car with 20 k miles. I have never used synthetic oil , I know Ferrari specified synthetic with a different weight, I ignored that, and Im glad I did. My thoughts are the lighter weight oil in SO CAL, will break down sooner because of the heat .I dont think my motor would have lasted as long as it has, I do know many 3x8 owners have had to rebuild their motors with a lot less miles, I wonder why ? I tried using synthetic oil in my Hyabusa, and my oil level went down in 1000 miles, I have also heard from other folks that syn oil tends to burn up , or lets say, it gets used up somehow, without smoke appearing out the exhaust. My Ducatis use 15 /50 Full syn oil, it seems to work as its suppose to in all three, but these are new / modern engines, same as my GMC., so I will stick to syn, but not in an 80s Ferrari .

Thank you,

 

It's a huge variance by year of course...

My older carbed car was built for 10/50W, and in Texas a modern 20/50W has been fine.

But the low number is cold flow, so I think any of the modern 5/50W or even 0/50W, but in my car it's a noticeable fall in oil pressure, to try a 40W.
I drive it very little during the colder months

 

I have used Mobil 1 0W40 in my 328 since I bought it in '08. FWIW, I used Mobil 1 - straight 30W- in my 1968 340S Plymouth Barracuda for 20 years with no issues at all. After buying the car and overhauling the engine it went well over 100k miles and no oil burning, including two trips up/down the Alaska Highway when it was still a gravel road the entire way! Changed oil every 5000 miles.

IMO, it's a myth that syn oil is not appropriate for old cars.

 

Bear in mind its not just the zinc, but modern formulations have much higher strength base oils and other additives in balance as well

If you think about zinc – adding more doesn’t increase the protection, but in effect makes the protection longer lasting. To use a simple analogy – imagine the ZDDP as thousands of tiny firemen floating round in the oil – as long as the oil does its job and keeps all the metal components apart, they are not needed, so it doesn’t matter how many firemen you have. However, if you get a break in the oil film which allows metal to metal contact – a fire starts and the firemen all rush to put it out ( the zinc activates and creates a sacrificial non weld surface at the point of contact – so protecting the metal ) during this exercise, some of the firemen are lost, but there are still plenty of firemen in the oil to last the service life of the oil. So, having more firemen doesn’t mean its more protected, just they last longer in service ( if they are needed at all ) Actually having too much zinc is worse than not enough as it can create pitting on certain metals.

For old classics you do need to carefully consider not only the viscosity etc but can the oil pump cope with thinner oils!

 

"For old classics you do need to carefully consider not only the viscosity etc but can the oil pump cope with thinner oils!"

FWIW, the typical engine oil recommendation in the owners manual for old US v8's of the muscle car era was typically SAE 30 - lower viscosity than any of the 3x8 series Ferraris. One would assume that a 1980's Ferrari engine was manufactured to a much closer tolerance than a 1960's Ford/Chevy/Mopar et al but the oil viscosity recommendation indicates otherwise, as does Ferrari's "spec" for excessive oil consumption...which allows more oil consumption per miles than did the 426 Hemi Mopar - an engine with nearly 3x the displacement!

 

Im using shell Helix Ultra 5-40 in my 328 with 53,000 miles on the clock. Shell confirm that this oil is totally acceptable and that the ZDDP content of around 1000 is adequate for good protection.
Hot or cold the car runs just shy of 85 psi with a healthy idle pressure. They also told me that 10-60 is another option if oil leaks are an issue.
What Ive always found a bit different with this car compared to other makes I've owned is the hot and cold above idle oil pressure - its almost the same regardless of oil temp. Is this because the oil pressure relief valve is constantly lifting, even when the oil is warm?

 

Yes.

 

nominally 1000 ppm is plenty in my opinion for motor oils, In the UK I use a Millers 20w/50 mineral oil in my 246 & 10w/60 in the 308

 

I suspect there is no "proper" amount of zinc because the entire oil additive package works together. IOW, one oil might have more or less zinc than another and provide the same protection based on the interaction of the additives. Keep in mind that the whole zinc frenzy is based on flat tappet cams (OHV engines), with their huge (relatively) valve train load compared to OHC engines.

 

Ding ding, winner. IMHO, at least. The specs an oil meet are more important than the makeup of the oil. M1 0W-40 meets a lot of very tough specs; for example, it passes Porsche A40. Viscosity can matter, but really it's a bit overblown... manufacturers change the recommendation globally for the same engine, ie an engine in the US may be specced for 0W-20 and the same engine elsewhere may be specced for 10W-40. I run M1 0W-40 in everything I own.

 

modern synthetics, particularly the thinner one ( 0W-30 ) in the US in particular suffered a reduction from around 900 to 6-700ppm. Of course all the owners of flat tappets had a panic attack thinking their engines would weld up instantly. Interestingly the panic was unfounded as these oils you wouldn’t use in that type of car anyway – and in Europe most motor oil formulations are all similar around 900 – 1100ppm. Obviously its not just the zinc, I was asked a specific question relating to ZDDP, but modern formulations have much higher strength base oils and other additives in balance as well so the oils are better than they ever were anyway.

 

And it is now known that the cam/tappet problem was when flat tappet production left Michigan for Mexico and elsewhere is when the problem arose. Not the reduction of ZDDP.

 

ZDDP content is not really about how much protection it offers but more about how long the protection lasts. There is a minimum level required for protection. Over time the ZDDP breaks down. So the higher the initial concentration the longer it takes to decay to the minimum level. With the limited mileage most 308s get between oil changes it's just not a problem with any modern oil. I had a nice research paper on this which I would post but, unfortunately it's on the hard drive of a defunct PC and I can't retrieve it.