Oil

[Todd78d]

What oil do you run in your Bugeye 948cc engine and transmission?

 

[twas_brillig]

I tend to use Rotella 15W40 (cheap; lots of zinc) in the engine. I've got some 'classic' motor oil (stuff targeting our older cars; a number of manufacturers produce); also Castrol Sytech 5W30 or Castro GTX 20W40 or 20W50. I believe that these all have good zinc n them.
Redline MT-90-GL4 for the stock 4 speed transmission (smooth or rib case) and 75W90GL-5 gear oil for the differential. The steering rack gets Royal Purple Maxgear with Sythetic 75W-140 for no obvious reason that I can remember, and chassis grease is whatever I have (which is usually Quaker State).
The above is from a table i put together to summarize what to use in our small fleet. Zinc is important for your engine; I believe that Redline has a good reputation so default to it for trans and diffs.
Othes will have other suggestions. It's probably more important to change the stuff reasonably often than to identify the absolute perfect match. Doug

 

[Pythias]

Valvoline VR1 has the zinc, 20W50.
ALWAYS the same oil in the engine as the tranny.

 

[twas_brillig]

the Valvoline is great stuff - our son uses it in a turbo'd BMW 2002 with a later series six installed. The original factory recommendation was to use the same oil in both engine and transmission, but lubricants have changed since then and I"m comfortable going to an alternate for the transmission. Sure interested in hearing other thoughts, though. Doug

 

[PAUL161]

In the TF I use VR-1 in the engine and Redline 90 in the High Gear 5 speed transmission. In the MGB I use VR-1 in the engine and VR-1 in the 4 speed transmission. Never had a problem! Steering racks, they get Redline 90W. All GL-4 specs. PJ

 

[SaxMan]

I've used Castrol 20/50 in the engine and the gearbox. I'll add a bit of Seafoam each time I add a quart, and put a little bit of Seafoam in the gearbox, too. I blow through oil at a fairly prodigious rate -- usually about 1 quart every 250 miles, and probably more through leakage than burning. I know I'm due for a rebuild, but I'm trying to put it off as long as possible.

 

[Todd78d]

SaxMan
Thanks for a different thought