Recommended Oil Grades for the Air Cooled 911's
05-17-2007, 01:58 PM
#17
Rennlist Member
I believe I am very impartial and try to be as thorough and honest on the topic as I possibly can. I am continuously testing oils and purchasing various texts and SAE papers to help shed light on the topic.
I recommend the Brad Penn, because it works and they actually care about our older cars, but really the only useful grade is the 20w50. Same goes for Swepco 306 15w40, which I am also working on getting for my customers. The reason why I offer them is that these oils are relatively hard to find and I want to give my customers the choice of one of these specialty oils versus what they can find at their FLAPS.
It's worth noting I also recommend quite a few other oils. Selling oil won't make you rich. It allows me to take my wife out to a nice dinner from time to time or to try to recoup the thousands I have spent on testing all these oils on my dime (and the cost of all the oils).
I recommend the Brad Penn, because it works and they actually care about our older cars, but really the only useful grade is the 20w50. Same goes for Swepco 306 15w40, which I am also working on getting for my customers. The reason why I offer them is that these oils are relatively hard to find and I want to give my customers the choice of one of these specialty oils versus what they can find at their FLAPS.
It's worth noting I also recommend quite a few other oils. Selling oil won't make you rich. It allows me to take my wife out to a nice dinner from time to time or to try to recoup the thousands I have spent on testing all these oils on my dime (and the cost of all the oils).
05-17-2007, 02:23 PM
#18
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Charles,
I am new to the aircooled world but have been very happy with Amsoil products. Since you have been involved enough with oil products to do testing, what has been your experience with Amsoil? Looks like many are favoring the 20w50 as well. I'm working with a customer on a '70 911T 2.2.
Thanks,
Eric
I am new to the aircooled world but have been very happy with Amsoil products. Since you have been involved enough with oil products to do testing, what has been your experience with Amsoil? Looks like many are favoring the 20w50 as well. I'm working with a customer on a '70 911T 2.2.
Thanks,
Eric
05-17-2007, 02:54 PM
#19
Rennlist Member
I have personally used their Harley V-Twin 20w50 and was very pleased with it. In my opinion, it is interchangable with Mobil 1 V-Twin 20w50. I'm sure Amsoil also makes a 10w40 motorcycle formulation that is close to Mobil 1 MX4T 10w40, which again is a great oil.
05-17-2007, 03:45 PM
#21
Rennlist Member
None taken. I just wanted to make it perfectly clear I wasn't in this for the money, but more or less as a courtesy to my customers and to our community. I would have been better off fiscally putting the money into my 911 for upgrades than testing oil :-)
05-17-2007, 04:24 PM
#22
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Another note of interest: Valvoline has a line of "Not street legal" racing oils out that they sell through NAPA. I haven't looked at them for price, but the specs seem good. Check them out at http://www.valvoline.com/products/Sp...ing%20Oils.pdf. Also, Doug Hilary has made a bunch of good posts. I think his comment that goes something to the effect of "When was the last time you saw a motor blow up becuase of using a factory recommended oil" is pretty good. I don't think you can go wrong with a Porsche approved oil.
05-17-2007, 04:57 PM
#26
Rennlist Member
I use Mobil 1 V-Twin 20w50 in my lawnmower. I can almost run with the mower it cuts so much better. Great time saver!
If you can get the non-street legal VR-1 at your Napa (mine does not carry it), it's a good choice. Being that you can't run it very long, I would say to just use the non-synthetic over the full-synthetic, or blend it 50/50, which is what I did when I used up the case of each I had left over from oil testing in my 911.
If you can get the non-street legal VR-1 at your Napa (mine does not carry it), it's a good choice. Being that you can't run it very long, I would say to just use the non-synthetic over the full-synthetic, or blend it 50/50, which is what I did when I used up the case of each I had left over from oil testing in my 911.
05-17-2007, 05:21 PM
#28
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When I switched from dino to synth, the case leaked slightly (1 or 2 drops after being shut off) at the seam. Never got worse, never worried about it. That was 7 years ago. I prefer to think of it as the car marking it territory.
YMMV
YMMV
05-18-2007, 03:12 PM
#29
Rennlist Member
My bone dry 45,000 mi 91 c4 cab, which had been run on Castrol GTX 20w50 its entire life before I purchased it began to leak like a sieve after being switched to M1. My guess is that there were leaks and they just got gunked over, and stopped leaking. The syn cleaned out the gunk. Valve covers, cam tower, oil returns, oil lines... you name it, it leaked. A few thousand $$$ later, it's nice and bone dry. Your mileage will vary... I have an old fiat with a billion miles on it and it leaked and smoked horribly with non-syn VR-1 and is now totally dry running Castrol TWS 10w60 full-syn (I had a case left from oil testing to use up - another plus is that the engine doesn't smoke anymore).
