57 Fairline 292 y block engine oil

[chapingo17]

Around 2 years ago I rebuilt my y block engine. I'm currently running zinc addivite + 10w30 oil. What type of engine oil should I run on this engine? Not sure what engine oil Ford originally ran on these engines. 30W?

[Tom S]

Around 2 years ago I rebuilt my y block engine. I'm currently running zinc addivite + 10w30 oil. What type of engine oil should I run on this engine? Not sure what engine oil Ford originally ran on these engines. 30W?

I wouldn't run what was used in the 1950s.  We have much better choices for oil these days.  Full synthetic oil is the only way to go if you want your engine to last a long time.  I've been putting Mobil1 full synthetic 5-30 in all my cars for decades.  All my motorcycles also run full synthetic oils.
Oh, yeah, assuming you have a screw on oil filter do not use Fram, they are the worst. A good Wix or NAPA gold filter are much better choices.

Straight 5, 10, or 20W? No way would I use those.

[Swank]

Thats a nice lookin glovebox door, ...haa.

[chapingo17]

Thank you. I will probably be running 10w-30 in the winter and 10w-40 conventional oil in he summer. What is very one else is running?

[fdlrc]

10-30 conventional in 302, year round.

[Ford Blue blood]

10 - W30 with zinc additive year round in my old stuff.  All the new stuff has 5 - W20 Mobile 1 except the Shelby GT500, I run 5 - W50 Castrol fully synthetic in it.

[Tom S]

Why would you guys here chose conventional over synthetic oil?
Just curious about your reasons to keep running conventional oil after engine break in.

[Tom S]

Thats a nice lookin glovebox door, ...haa.

Yeah, you better like it. 
Your stickers held up a bit better than these. Got that same rust spot at the bottom. (These aren't mine either, somebody painted over 'em.) : (

[fdlrc]

I tried Amsoil many, many years ago. They said it would be cost effective since you only have to change it every 8-10k miles. Just drop a new filter in at halfway point and top it off. I didn't care how good the oil is, it still looked dirty. I just didn't want to keep it in the pan past 5k miles. So I just change oil when it doesn't look clean or at 3k. It would be a different story if I had very cold weather starts or extreme heat, but I don't.

[Tom S]

... I just didn't want to keep it in the pan past 5k miles. ...

I agree, that's not a good idea. But there's nothing to stop you from changing synthetic oil at ~3K miles. That's what I do.
Synthetic does cost more but compared to engine rebuild $$$ it's nothin'.   

[thomasso]

78 yrs old. Never used synthetic oil.  Never had an engine failure because of oil.

[59meteor]

I don`t really buy into all the hype about synthetic oil myself. I have been a dealership mechanic for almost 35 years now, and I have seen numerous 300,000 k engines that ran perfectly and were spotless inside (while changing valve cover gaskets, or re sealing an oil pan or timing cover), that had been well maintained using conventional oil, usually from our bulk oil tank. And I have seen just as many late model cars with 1/2 that mileage, that were poorly maintained, and badly sludged up.Even when these cars were using synthetic oil since new. Personally, I think all these new vehicles that claim to be only needing oil changes every 12, 16, or even 24,000 is a bad idea. Especially on modern engines with variable valve timing and very long timing chains with oil pressure controlled tensioners. In normally use 10-30 conventional oil in everything, and change it every 3 or 4000 miles. That said, I do run Mobil 1 synthetic oil in my 99 F350s V10, but only because the original owner, a friend, used Mobil 1 in it for 15 years, before I bought the truck. I use the truck about 90% for towing my 9000 pound race car/trailer, and change the oil every spring, rarely more than 2500 miles a year. On my old flat tappet cam V8s, I normally use Brad Penn 10-30 oil, which has higher levels of zinc/ZDDP than modern oils including synthetic and diesel oils.

[djfordmanjack]

Tom, might your oil choice have something to do with the generally lower temperatures at your degree of latitude ?

Not living so much further down myself, but still some. I use HD 20W50 mineral oil with 1240ppm zinc. rather local company from southern Germany ( Liqui Moly) because I cannot get US oil over here. thicker viscosity adds some safety in oil pressure and prevents storage leaking. I haven't had any hard starting problems even below freezing temps. Also have it in my daily driver in winter.

[hiball3985]

I use 10-30 Vavoline conventional and have used Gibbs HR 10-30 in all my early engines and change at 3,000 with Wix filters. I don't use synthetic because some of the additives are bad for old style seals, some harden them, some soften depending on what brand. Most people don't even know what synthetic oil is.

[Ford Blue blood]

Tom, might your oil choice have something to do with the generally lower temperatures at your degree of latitude ?

Yup, a few years ago while up north in WI for our Christmas visit with family we had the conventional vs synthetic challenge.  My 3.8 L 90 T-Bird with Mobile 1 vs an 85 350 Suburban with 5 - W30 in -15 degree cloudy morning.  The Bird spun over without a hitch and fired right up, the Suburban on the other hand didn't turn over.  After several tries it did turn but so slow it would not fire.  I BELIEVE!