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New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

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robdmau

robdmau

Senior Member
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New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

Doing my 1st ever oil change on my Healey this weekend. Went out and got the correct oil filter and bought some oil, went with royal purple. After getting home I thought maybe I should ask you guys. What oil do you recommend?

Is Synthetic ok?
Should I go cheap?

I don't have a book yet, it is in the mail so I hope I can answer some of these questions on my own once I get my book.

Thank in advance
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

For what it's worth, I use Chevron Supreme 20W-50 in my bugeye. You might want something thinner in the winter, since you live in Colorado. (I'm in Los Angeles.) Synthetic should be OK, myths about it notwithstanding, but unless you really drive a lot, it probably isn't worth the cost.
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

Great thank you, its more my wife's car and she plans on driving it just about every nice day... Just daily driving, no hard reving or racing around but ya. Its probably over kill to spend this much but I figure it won't take that much oil so I'll treat Ms. Mossey once :smile:

So royal purple synthetic wont hurt anything? The last owner said they rebuilt the motor about 3 years ago (he raced a lot of healeys)

Also, how much oil will she take?
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

here is what the website says - RE zinc and zddp, looks like you are good to go.

"Do your motor oils contain zinc and phosphorous?

Yes. All Royal Purple engine oils contain the zinc/phosphorous compound zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate (ZDDP) and are suitable for both roller and flat tappet valve trains.

Can your oil be used with flat tappet cams?

Yes. For stock or mildly modified flat tappet valve trains (<.525” lift), we recommend our SAE 10W40, 15W40 or 20W50 engine oils. In applications with flat tappet valve trains using high-lift cams and/or high RPM applications, we strongly recommend upgrading to our XPR line of engine oils as these have an even greater concentration of ZDDP providing excellent protection with the higher spring pressures. For a viscosity recommendation, contact our Tech Dept. at 888-382-6300."
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

wow, great info! thank you all for the great help!

Anyone want to do it for me now? lol kidding
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

Others will weight in here, but I'm mot sure I'd recommend synthetic oil. You'll likely get more leak than otherwise and the were not designed for that type of oil. Good quality conventional oil 20W/50, with an adequate amount of ZDDP as noted, is probably your best choice.
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

tdskip said:
Others will weight in here, but I'm mot sure I'd recommend synthetic oil. You'll likely get more leak than otherwise and the were not designed for that type of oil. Good quality conventional oil 20W/50, with an adequate amount of ZDDP as noted, is probably your best choice.
Click to expand...

hmm ok, thanks for the heads up

How much oil does a Sprite hold?
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

Haven't met a Spridget yet that didn't leak oil whether conventional or synthetic. Synthetic just seems to find the places it wants to escape from better than conventional. Has to do with molecule size.

I've been fighting rear main leakage on Spridgets for 35+ years. Nothing really works 100%. I'm now doing some machining in the rear main cap that assists the draining aspects back to the sump. Verdict still out on that one. Seems to me that most of the leakage happens on engine shutdown when the accumulated oil in the galley ways overwhelms the two small drain holes out the rear main bearing cap. Probably has to do with the off set nature of the drain holes and their size.

Use something 20w50 that has the ZDDP level close to 1200ppm. Off the shelf SM rated street oils from the big oil companies won't cut it. They are down around 800 ppm. You might have to use something specialty or dedicated for racing purposes. Zinc and phosphates level are being lowered to extend catalytic converter life. RP is fine, I'm partial to Valvoline products and use the racing oils. Need to be more frequent on changes with some racing oils since they don't have all the detergents and corrosion inhibitors. Check the product web sites to determine oil ratings, additives and ZDDP contents. You might also consider some of the 15w40 diesel oils. Most have ZDDP levels around 1100 and have some additiional additives that are helpful. Do some research. One of the ones like Delo, All-Fleet, Rotella or Del-Vac might be attractive.

As far as how much oil, The link will give a capacity figure, but what I like to do is to put in 3 quarts, start the engine, let oil pressure settle, run just a bit and then shut down. Check the oil level and top off. That way you aren't trying to measure a "dry" engine. That is oil hasn't puddled and accumulated everywhere it is going to. Also factors in oil cooler and lines if installed. Checking after shut down gives a better indication of a full sump. At least to me. Be sure to fill the oil filter first. Almost to overflow and then install. That way the oil circulation and pressure build up time is shortened.

HTH,
Mike Miller
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

Since your car is a '65- has it been converted to a "screw-on" oil filter or does it still have a hard steel can with no visible lettering on it? (cartridge filter)
BillM
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

robdmau said:
How much oil does a Sprite hold?
Click to expand...

6.5 Imp pints, 7.8 US pints/ 3.7 litres
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

Spridget64SC said:
Haven't met a Spridget yet that didn't leak oil whether conventional or synthetic. Synthetic just seems to find the places it wants to escape from better than conventional. Has to do with molecule size.

I've been fighting rear main leakage on Spridgets for 35+ years. Nothing really works 100%. I'm now doing some machining in the rear main cap that assists the draining aspects back to the sump. Verdict still out on that one. Seems to me that most of the leakage happens on engine shutdown when the accumulated oil in the galley ways overwhelms the two small drain holes out the rear main bearing cap. Probably has to do with the off set nature of the drain holes and their size.

Use something 20w50 that has the ZDDP level close to 1200ppm. Off the shelf SM rated street oils from the big oil companies won't cut it. They are down around 800 ppm. You might have to use something specialty or dedicated for racing purposes. Zinc and phosphates level are being lowered to extend catalytic converter life. RP is fine, I'm partial to Valvoline products and use the racing oils. Need to be more frequent on changes with some racing oils since they don't have all the detergents and corrosion inhibitors. Check the product web sites to determine oil ratings, additives and ZDDP contents. You might also consider some of the 15w40 diesel oils. Most have ZDDP levels around 1100 and have some additiional additives that are helpful. Do some research. One of the ones like Delo, All-Fleet, Rotella or Del-Vac might be attractive.

As far as how much oil, The link will give a capacity figure, but what I like to do is to put in 3 quarts, start the engine, let oil pressure settle, run just a bit and then shut down. Check the oil level and top off. That way you aren't trying to measure a "dry" engine. That is oil hasn't puddled and accumulated everywhere it is going to. Also factors in oil cooler and lines if installed. Checking after shut down gives a better indication of a full sump. At least to me. Be sure to fill the oil filter first. Almost to overflow and then install. That way the oil circulation and pressure build up time is shortened.

HTH,
Mike Miller
Click to expand...

Mike is 'On Target' again with this post!!!

Read and Heed!

Steve
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

Jack, tell us how it's done - Miss A doesn't leak a drop.
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

Billm said:
Since your car is a '65- has it been converted to a "screw-on" oil filter or does it still have a hard steel can with no visible lettering on it? (cartridge filter)
BillM
Click to expand...

You know, I have yet to look lol. I think it is still the old method. At least thats what I purchased.
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

Thanks for all of the pointers. I hope all goes well this weekend :smile:
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

well I learned a lot from you guys about the ZDDP today. So I did some google searching and I found an interesting post in a thread somewhere. Over all it does sounds like royal purple...


<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]

I wanted to let you guys know about a conversation I had with a tech at Royal Purple synthetics. This is not a thread to discuss to use or not to use, but a thread to let you know that they have an oil that meets/exceeds the old flat tappet wear additive requirements. I asked him two questions, one about the boat, and the other about my wifes jeep commander. I have been running Royal Purple in my diesel truck for years and love it. Here is his response to me asking about their oil having ZDDP in it.


Brad,

The RP SAE Motor Oils have not had any of the ZDDP packages reduced like many other oils. We are continuing to make the robust antiwear package.

The oils that are affected are oils that you would not typically run in your engine - those being the API SM rated oils in a 0W20, 5W20, 0W30, 5W30 or 10W30 grades. These grades are capped at 800 ppm of ZDDP.
The RP 5W20 and RP 5W30 and RP 10W30 are still made to the more robust API SL and contain 1100 ppm of ZDDP - the same as the reduced diesel rated API CJ-4 oils.

The oils that I would recommend for your Ski Nautique are the RP 10W40 or RP 15W40, which are still made to the more robust API CI-4+ / SL ratings meaning they have 1350 ppm of ZDDP.

Be careful of assuming that wear is a linear direct relationship - not all packages are created equal - it would be like buying beer or wine based solely on alcohol content!

For the ultimate - use our RP XPR 10W40 which has over 1500-1600 ppm of ZDDP.

The kicker is - we could take all of the ZDDP out of our engine oils and still have 4 times the wear resistance of even the VR-1 oil due to our Synerlec additive technology.

The M1 reference to Chrysler is a 'factory fill spec. Since RP does not go after price sensitive factory fills - pursuing higher performing oils, we have not applied with Chrysler for factory fill certification.
The RP 5W20, being an API SL has 30% more antiwear than the M1 5W20 API SM rated oils.

Cheers,

David

[/QUOTE]
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

I have alway been Valvoline guy over the years Valvoline VR-1 20W/50 Racing Oil is what I would run in your motor
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

Well, I sense a long "discussion" of the ZDDP issue coming up, so I'll make one posting and quit.

Here is my take on the subject, and here is another. I'm more than a little worried that overconcern about the ZDDP issue has caused people to use oils that have a high ZDDP concentration but just are not right in other respects. First, almost all the higher viscosity motor oils have Zinc in the 1000-1200 ppm range, which is more than you need, so it shouldn't be an issue at all (take a look at the data sheets for them; many are on line). Racing oil is expensive, and may not be appropriate for street use; there's a difference between what you'd use for an engine that is run very hard and torn down often, and one that has to go on for a long time in a dirty and thermally varied environment on a single charge of oil.

Just get a good quality 20W50 (or a little lighter for winter use) and you'll be fine.

Uh, also, it'll take about four quarts, plus or minus a bit, to drain and refill. Buy five; because of leakage, you'll need to add some periodically.
 
Re: New to a Sprite, oil change questions...

hooey said:
I have alway been Valvoline guy over the years Valvoline VR-1 20W/50 Racing Oil is what I would run in your motor
Click to expand...

great, it might be cheaper than the royal purple too lol
 
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