lee4him

So I've searched Rennlist, 6speedonline, Renntech, Pelican, and Google and there is very little info on Brad Penn Racing oil for our 996s. The Air Cooled Porsche owners seem to love it but very few water cooled (M96) owners have used it. My dad runs Latemodel Dirt Track and swears by the stuff (20w50 racing oil). I've read a few water cooled Porsche owners who only run it (20w50 for track use & 15w40 for the street). Also read the LN Engineering oil page and they don't mention using it in the modern water cooled motor but rave about it in the air cooled motors. So, is there a reason why? Is it because of the ingredients in the oil are known to clog our cats? Thoughts. BTW, I'm not looking for a debate on which oil is best. Just interested in what the deal is with BP and our M96 motors.

nick49

Brad Penn formerly was Kendall Oil. It was made by Witco Chemical Co and was one of the finest oil in the world. Harley-Davidson, Honda Motorcycles and several others has it branded as their own oil. I raced at Bonneville (LSR) and road raced Suzuki GSXR Superbikes for a decade and always ran Kendall. At last 50% of the racers at Bonneville Speedweek ran Kendall Oil. It was the creme de la creme, peroid.

Sadly, Conoco Phillips bought the name Kendall, cheapened the product using an inferior base stock and put in fewer and less pricy additives and started mass marketing the product. It's now a chain store oil. The original refinery in Bradford, Pa still makes the original Kendall oil and has renamed it Brad Penn.

It has high levels of ZDDP and other sacrificial alloys that can damage the catalyst in time. You could probably mix it with 50/50 an energy saving oil and still get most of the benefit.

02TX996Cab

Three primary issues:

1. BP oils are dino oils--refined from crude--not synthetics. Regardless of the quality of a dino oil, it will exhibit poorer thermal stability than will a synthetic.

2. BP oils are made with loads of ZDDP--far greater levels than in the oils specified for your car when it was new. If you car burns any oil (which it will...they all do), over time the ZDDP will kill your cats. That's a $2000+ repair bill when it occurs.

3. 20W50 is way too thick to use in in a Porsche water cooled motor. Factory fill is 0W40, and for warmer (little/no freezing weather) you could use up to a 5W40.

That's not to say BP oils are bad--they're probably the McDaddy of all dino oils. But they, and all other dino oils, are simply not appropriate for our water-cooled Porsches.

LexVan

Incorrect. Most of the Brad Penn offerings are partial synthetics. They are blended oils. The one in question by the OP 20W50) is certainly a blended partial synthetic oil.

lee4him

The BP 20w50 I was referring to was the weight my dad uses in his race engine and its the weight used by some who track their car (most likely running catless exhaust). I understand a lighter weight oil would make more sense for a non track driven car. I am just looking for some thoughts on why such a popular oil is not being used in our cars. Hurting the cats over time is a good reason (assuming you're still running them ;-) What else?

relinuca

Racing oils are typically "?"/50W and contain higher ZDDP additives than non-racing variants, and ZDDP will damage cat/converters over time.

Several reputable sources including Allen Caldwell, Panorama's long standing Technical Editor, have repeatedly stated that such racing oils are NOT recommended for daily drivers, and that Porsche's factory recommendations for nearly all 911s to use 0/40W full synthetic should be followed, excluding only early flat tappet non-cat models; i.e., pre-911SCs.

As always, owners may do as they wish.

relinuca

KrazyK

For all there is to know about what type of oil to use for the M96 engines, just read Jake Rabys findings. No nonsense, no BS, no advertisements. Just the research and straight facts from the man who knows everything about these engines and why you should use only two different oils. One for street use and one for track use. It doesnt get any simpler than that.

Read through all the complete nonsense posts on which oil to use by everyone under the sun who has never even seen the inside of an engine then read the facts from Jakes research. The decision will be much easier and your engine will love you. I would drink it if it wouldnt kill me.

http://www.lnengineering.com/joegibbsracingoils.html

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...ibbs-dt40.html

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