Which Engine Oil?

[356Monkey]

Hi, apologies to ask a question that probably pops up monthly but I’m trying to figure out what engine oil I should run in my car. It’s a 356c and has just been fully rebuilt. There are various threads on the 356 Registry but they seem to go on about various letters and codes other than the weight such as ZZDP. I plan to change it regularly (roughly every 1500 miles so a synthetic is probably a waste of money.

Thoughts?

[barryb]

Miller's Classic.

Barry

[Ashley James]

Anything for either racing or old engines will have high anti wear addictive ZDDP. I use Mobil 1 10W60 in my 356C.

[Hendrik Moulds]

I use 20-50 Silkolene Classic mineral oil.
Have bought it from Opie oils (Oilman on here I think) in bulk in the past.

[Kenyon]

I use Halfords Classic 20 / 50. Seems to have been fine for me.

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/engin ... l-20w50-5l

Phil

[Hugo 356]

+1 for Millers Classic 20w 50 mineral

Cheers

[Lightweight_911]

.
I used Castrol GTX 20w/50 in my 356C

.

[neilbardsley]

VR racing 20w50 is the choice of many specialist. PRS etc

I've starting using semi synthetic 10w40 X flow . It has 1200 zinc content

PS Have a look at this web site. £70 isn't cheap but 2200 zinc!

https://www.classic-oils.net/Penrite-10 ... -Racing-10

[Kenyon]

JAZ used Valvoline VR-1 20w-50 when they serviced my 356. If PRS use it too, probably tells you all you need to know.

You can spend a long time on 356 Registry reading about zinc content. Which I suppose (to a certain extent) is part of the reason people enjoy classic cars - the variables, the trial and error.

Phil.

[Mike Smith]

For all the Road engines we build and for service we have, for many years, used Valvoline VR-1 20w-50, unless a customer prefers another oil (that is always his or her choice)


For Race Engines, or for anything with a really wild cam, there are a number of options (all from USA producers) and our recommendations would be Gibbs - Millers or Kendal
US Oil producers face less government restrictions, than they do Europe, and thus have more to options to play with the Oil additives

I ran both my Roller Bearing Carrera Engine and my Plain Bearing Carrera Engine on 30 weight Kendal.
Neither engine ever gave any trouble under street or race conditions (however, the cams I used were very standard)

[mycar]

Silkolene Silkolube because it sounds like something I used in the seventies which gave tremendous results.

[Burma-Shave]

Saucy!

I use VR1 20w50 in the 356, 928, SC and 964.

I like to dab a little behind each ear of an evening also.

[neilbardsley]

I wonder if Mike, and the other experienced mechanics, would agree that although oil choice is important. Perhaps more important is frequency of change, taking the slump plate off to get rid of all of the oil and sucking out the dirty oil out of the filter cannister?

[mycar]

I would agree, that is a very good idea.

[Ashley James]

As I explained in an earlier post, when Shell X100 appeared in the early fifties, mechanics quickly realised engines lasted much longer if you used it. Racers were persuaded to switch from vegetable oil like Castrol R too.

It’s probably thirty years or more since manufacturers endorsed fully synthetic oils and now lots of cars come with it from new. Porsche put Mobil 1 in my Boxster for example. However most wont keep their cars long enough to see the benefit and lots are still sceptical. Yet older and more highly stressed engines benefit most.

Regardless, it is important to change oils at least as per manufacturers recommendations.