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Anyone using Valvoline VR1 racing oil?

Re: Anyone using Valvolene VR1 racing oil?

Well this VR1 is 20W50 - and they specify on the lable it has ZDDP and Castrol does not.

Todays Castrol isn't the same as it was in times gone by. It is formulated for new engines & for the EPA.
 
Re: Anyone using Valvolene VR1 racing oil?

There are soooooooo many opinions as what is is the best and what is the worst oils for our cars. Here's a no nonsense web site that tells it all. It's called "Motor Oil Myths and Facts" It's good reading and if your halfway interested, I guarantee you'll learn something from it.
cool0041.gif
https://www.nordicgroup.us/oil.htm Motor Oil Myths and Facts
 
Re: Anyone using Valvolene VR1 racing oil?

I wrote this for my local car club's website, it based on my real life experiences, it is my opinion but opinions based on my experiences on many race engine tear down inspections, not some engineeering study or hear say. In racing I've been dealing with cam and lifter hardness ratings and oil for longer than most of you have thought about zinc content in oil, so FWIW, here ya go.

https://www.fbccsc.org/tech/zinc.html
 
Re: Anyone using Valvolene VR1 racing oil?

Hap Waldrop said:
I wrote this for my local car club's website, it based on my real life experiences, it is my opinion but opinions based on my experiences on many race engine tear down inspections, not some engineeering study or hear say. In racing I've been dealing with cam and lifter hardness ratings and oil for longer than most of you have thought about zinc content in oil, so FWIW, here ya go.

https://www.fbccsc.org/tech/zinc.html

Nice article Hap, thanks! Long time experience is always the best advise!
 
Re: Anyone using Valvolene VR1 racing oil?

That again is excellent advise from Hap. Heck it is logical even.
 
Re: Anyone using Valvolene VR1 racing oil?

PAUL161 said:
There are soooooooo many opinions as what is is the best and what is the worst oils for our cars. Here's a no nonsense web site that tells it all. It's called "Motor Oil Myths and Facts" It's good reading and if your halfway interested, I guarantee you'll learn something from it.
cool0041.gif
https://www.nordicgroup.us/oil.htm Motor Oil Myths and Facts

Interesting site. However, I would be more ready to take him at his word if I knew who he was and what sort of credentials he carries. Posting all that information, referencing a few other sites and saying that he has advised on 'Usenet' for years is fine. Why won't he give his name? Modesty? To me, that indicates either credibility problems, uncertainty in his advice or just clueless to the issue of credibility. Without any of that, this seems like just another of the SOOOOOO many opinions out there. Even though most of it seems at least reasonable.

With Hap's article, we are not only familiar with him, but he states that it is his opinion based on experience. Not "fact" or "myth". A practice, that to me, makes Hap's advice more believable than the "the oil expert".

But that's just my opinion...

I tend to research many opinions, also known as points of view, and then decide for myself. Sort the wheat from the chaff so to speak.
 
Re: Anyone using Valvolene VR1 racing oil?

I use it in my MGC as advised by MG Motorsport. In my 4-cylinder cars, including two MGBs, I use DA Super Speed Sport oil in 20W-50. It's a semi-synthetic designed specifically for older engines.

I don't really believe in additives either. Motor oils are very carefully balanced so that all the agents in them work together properly. Millions are spent getting the formulation right. Dumping a bunch of whatever in them will upset that balance. Lemonade is yummy because it has sugar in it. Would you dump an extra three pounds of sugar in the mix? Just my opinion of course and I'm not a lubricant chemist.
 
Re: Anyone using Valvolene VR1 racing oil?

Valvoline VR1 Racing <span style="font-weight: bold">does</span> come in a 20W50 weight. It is priced similar to Castrol.
 
Re: Anyone using Valvolene VR1 racing oil?

Thanks for posting the article Hap, makes sense to me.
 
I wouldn't say those article debunk the use of ZDDP, unless you read something into that I don't, basicly the goverment has mandated most oil to reduce their ZDDP content by about 30%, thus extending the lifes of smog converters. Now our car are soild lifter, can we get by with 800ppm of ZDDP, probably, do we need a good 1200ppm ZDDP for a new engine break in with new camsahft and lifter, I say yes, do we need to buy better quailty camsahft and lifter over the standard vendor offering, I say Hail Yeah, but I do for living and pull race engine down periodly look inside them, where no one with a street car does this. For me , it's simple I go to the local parts store and grab the same VR1 oil I've been using for 20 year, and if happens to have the same 1200ppm ZDDP it always had, what the hey right?

Here's what I really think :smile: If you have a cheap non hardened camsahft and standard el cheapo lifter, run the cheapest oil you can get your hands on, because those parts are going to fail soon enough anyway.
 
<span style="font-size: 11pt">All good reading!

I have been using Castrol 20W-50 with no complaints.

But I had planned to switch to VR1.

To be honest, with either oil I'm probably OK since I change the oil (and filter) roughly every two hours of use anyway.

By the way, Valvoline makes three "racing" oils.

<span style="text-decoration: underline">Regular VR1</span>, a <span style="text-decoration: underline">sythetic racing oil </span>and a <span style="text-decoration: underline">"Not-Street Legal" sythetic racing oil</span>.

Here's something that I got from the Valvoline website:</span>

<span style="font-size: 8pt"><span style="font-style: italic">Which oil has more zinc/ZDDP: VR1 or "Not Street Legal" oil?.....
.....Valvoline VR1 Racing Oil contains .13% of Zinc and .12% of Phosphorus compared to the Valvoline "Not Street Legal" Racing Oil which contains .14% of Zinc and .13% of Phosphorus.</span></span>

<span style="font-size: 11pt">I'll probably just use the regular VR1 dino oil. Lots of vintage racers that I know seem pleased with it.</span>
 
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