Oil for AE 82 4age

[dj345]

Hi I was after some recomendations for oils to use in my AE 82 Twin cam.

Thanks Damian.

[Dimmy]

I've used Penrite HPR30 since i got mine put in and it has been the best oil so far. It's a 20w-50 equivalent

[The Witzl]

depends how thrashed the engine is.
If it's like most AE82 twinkies.... then its severely thrashed and will need a nice thick oil, along with some stop smoke.

If its a relatively fresh engine, then some 15W50, or 20W50 will work well. Keep it mineral or semi-synthetic. Avoid full synthetic oils on a 4age

[rob]

. Avoid full synthetic oils on a 4age

whats your reasoning for interests sake Karl?

[dj345]

Im going to do some circuit sprints in it so the slightly heavier oil will help.
Also how much do they take.

[The Witzl]

whats your reasoning for interests sake Karl?

most full synthetics are too thin for an engine that was designed and built back in the early-mid 80s. Also, unless the engine is has been run on synthetic its whole life, you are likely to get the "removal of deposits" problem that can occur with changing from mineral oil to synthetic oil.

Also, we all know that natural lube is better. Having to use synthetic substitutes means she's just not that into you.

[xdave]

i'm using Penrite HPR15 15w/60
works good for me

whats the deal with everyones obsession with thick oil
"throw a couple bottles o' 75w/90 in there!!"
hahaha

[TERRA Operative]

I use Royal Purple 10w-40 in my AE101 4AGZE. It's a group 5 full synthetic and I'll never go back to a dirty mineral based oil.

Synthetics have much better low-temperature flow properties. They will flow at much lower temperatures than conventional mineral-based oil. Synthetics generally have lower volatility too, so the oil won't vaporize inside the engine as it is operating as quickly as a mineral oil will, meaning synthetics have better high-temperature protection.
Synthetics also have better antiwear characteristics as well due to their better film strength.

Viscosity Improvers (VI) are specially formulated polymers made of long chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms. At extremely low temperatures, they curl up in a little ball.
As the temperature increases, the balls of atoms expand, straighten out, and become longer. At high temperatures, these long polymer chains spread out through the oil and basically thicken the oil.

Multigrade mineral oils have to use VI's improvers to thicken the oil as they heat up. Synthetics are designed from the ground up and as such use hardly any VI's at all, because they have a naturally high VI by design.

The problem is the VI polymers tend break down or are sheared under stress and can no longer increase the viscosity of the oil. They break up as the oil flows through the engine and squeezes through 0.002-inch bearing clearances and they pull apart when sucked through the oil pump etc. The oil can start as a 20W50, but over time it could degrade to something like a 20W30 because the VI polymers are physically broken down and can no longer thicken the oil.

Synthetics are also dyno proven over minerals of the same weight to give you more power to the wheels due to the lower friction that synthetic oil affords.

I personally woulld skip the dino juice and go for a synthetic of equal or slightly greater weight than you're using.