Update on Motor blow

[mwizard]

Delivered my old motor to Steve, my mechanic today. We took it part way apart. It appears that a cam failure was the cause of my problem as all the rods were in good shape. There were some signs of too much advance like a bit of melting on the edges of the piston crown, but I don't know how much time that takes so I may have dialed it back enough. I am beginning to see why some professional race cars get rebuilt after each race, more power may mean a serious reduction in motor life. There was a lot of metal debris, mostly cam lifters and a bit of piston skirt. New block going to mechanist on Mon. Wish me luck.
Mark

[brownslane]

Be sure and use oil that still has ZDDP in it....over-the-counter ASI-rated oils do NOT. There have been a number of cam failures specifically traced back to the lack of ZDDP.

The magic number is 1600 PPM.

There is a long list of reference links I could give you; here is one

http://classiccars.about.com/od/main...l-Additive.htm

Bottom line is that, in all the engines I build, I will not warranty anything if ZDDP is not used. And I can tell by tear down whether it was present or absent.

There are a few good ZDDP additives out there for use in our engines. I recommend ZDDPlus. I have been using their product since it was introduced and it works. They use the ZDDP produced for Shell Oil for the rest of the world; ZDDP is only removed from oils in North America.

Tom

[Brian C in Az]

Lucas Oil has several varieties from which to choose.
Their website has a .pdf chart showing all their engine oils and the amount of ZDDP and other important additives.

[TimH]

And of course there's this:

https://mobiloil.com/~/media/amer/us...pecs-guide.pdf

and you can download spec sheets here:

http://www.schaefferoilreps.com/racing-oils.html