I am starting to rebuild my engine that I had bored .40 over. I can’t figure out what kind of oil to use as I have seen many threads of people just arguing about different types of oils. What I think I have learned is that I need to use conventional 10w-30 oil with zinc. Is this the right oil to use? Will I need to use different oil after break in because I live in the Midwest?

 

Yes, 10w-30 does it take 5 or 6qt's ?

After the engine has warmed up and the cam break'in is done, if new cam, change the oil and filter, change oil and filter again at 100 miles then again at 500 miles more.

If you can find conventional oil that will work. I like Castrol GTX. Used that to break'in my turbocharge Subaru back in 2012, when I installed a new OEM shortblock. Did the GTX until the oil change at 2500 miles then went to Amsoil, products. For your truck unless you drive it real hard, Castrol synthetic will be fine forever.

You can call the bearing MFG and ask them too. The machine shop you used may have thought's too.

 

Yes on zinc. My experience on 2 remanufactured engines:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...brication.html

Long thread, but worth a read. After learning my lesson with the first engine, I used a special break-in oil from Comp Cams for the replacement. I then switched to Valvoline VR1, advertised as specifically formulated for flat tappet cams. Been fine ever since.

Supposedly modern low zinc oil is okay once the cam is broken in, but after my experience, I did not want to take any chances.

 

Always best to ask the machine shop what they want to see used.
Yes on the zinc
Now as for the synthetic oil I would not use it till I knew the rings were seated good as the synthetic coats too good and will not let the rings seat.
Depending how you drove it during break in I would think after 2500 to 3000 miles would be ok to run synthetic if you wanted to.
Dave ----

 

New cam producers recomend a high zinc, break in oil for the first 2-3000 miles. After that what ever you prefer.

 

I rebuilt a 2004 4.0 Jeep Wrangler engine several years ago and at 125K miles the cam and lifters were wiped out. The cylinder bores were OK, so we must reason that a lot of modern oils do not have the additives (zink) to prevent wear on high friction items such the cam and lifter surfaces on our beautyful old engines. The oil producers don't care because all vehicles are now produced with roller cams, rockers, or in the case of direct cam to valve tappet in double overhead cam engines.

I currently own a 2013 Lincoln MKT with the whiz bang 3.5 Eco Boost twin turbo engine. The climate control failed first by atomatically turning the heat up all the way. Then the Sync II Info screen is bad and reboots every 10 minutes. And then the water pump goes out and leaks, it leaks out the side of the block when it goes bad. Why you ask because the water pump is used as an idler for the timing chain buried in the engine. Having been an automotive machinist for 30 years, i replaced the water pump and the chains, and the chain guides (not an easy job) and now the cam phasers are making noise, possibly the cam phaser oil control solenoids. All of this at 120K miles? Junk!

Would I rather drive a Bull Nose and add some zinc or use ZR 1 oil, yup, you better believe it!

 

Realize, the world we live in now is different. Most things are made in China, and the quality of parts is way down. People do everything right and still get cam lobes wiped out. It's a very common problem lately, even with name brand camshafts, I suppose they are contracted and built overseas also.

 

So I plan on using Valvoline vr1 racing oil for the break in as they have zinc and a conventional oil variant

 

Having too much lift causing the rapid acceleration of the lifter and a steeper angle of contact with the lobe would also cause more break-in wear. Plus higher rate valve springs to cause a little extra friction on an already small contact point. The cam and lifters must be made with compatible materials and surface finishes, get it wrong and its a quickly worn out cam and lifter. The factory cams in our 1980's engines can have built in EGR dialed in during the overlap period of the cam. This is why 1960's engines had a very high vacuum reading at idle and we don't in the 80's. An old Buick with a 425 Nail head engine will idle at 25 inches of vacuum, in the 80's your lucky to get 17. So would I use an aftermarket cam in our engines, hell yeah!

 

I recently rebuilt the 7.5L (460) flat-tappet cam engine in my '95 F250. The machine shop recommended Driven break-in oil https://www.drivenracingoil.com/coll...Tx6HxHxgOaaqQI , as well as Driven camshaft/lifter assembly lube. That oil is still in there, since I very infrequently drive the truck (less than 200 miles since rebuild last year). At 300miles I'll change it again, and go on my usual 3000-mile oil change interval, using a high-quality synthetic oil and also add some CamGuard https://aslcamguard.com/product/camg...-single-bottle since this truck is driven very infrequently - sometimes months between use, and NEVER driven with snow/salt on the roads.

FWIW, I do the same with the Wife's all-original 23k-mile '70 Mach 1 351C-4V. I doubt her Mach gets driven 200 miles/year, so it also got Driven HR2 high zinc oil and CamGuard added.

 

I'll remember that, Driven. Thanks.

 

I have plastigauged all of the main bearings and it has showed that it is around .002 is that good enough for an engine that has a .10 undersized crank and bearings

 

Undersized or not, the clearance is the same as the factory specs.