Oil weight

D

dgraway

Guest
As a side discussion on oil filters i was wondering what weight oil owners are using in their tigers? Are you using a straight weight or a multi weight oil? are you using a synthetic? I remember that when I was younger we ran straight 30W in the summer and straight 10W in the winter (Minnesota).

I am starting on getting my tiger running (idle for about 10 years) and was just qurious what oil is being used in higher mileage tigers (my tiger has almost 100,000 miles).
 
Dan, without laboring on the point the W in the oil listing actually stands for "winter" not weight. It's the viscosity at a temperature that the oil is graded.

The Tiger manual called for 10-40W IIRC, quite surprising given the age of the motors. I know a lot of guys with stock engines running 20-50. I have a modern roller motor so I am running fully synthetic, i use MOTUL 10-30.

Another thing to consider is that if you are running a flat tappet motor they really need the ZDDP (zinc) to help maintain them, not many oils have enough of this now. Penrite here in AU does a classic car oil with a higher level of ZDDP.. IIRC our cars need 1400ppm or around that?

Buck Tripple posted about this on the tiger list a couple of years back, he had some good sources and recommendations for the oils and for break in oils too.

HTH
 
I run Castrol 20-50 in SoCal. I change my oil and filter every couple of thousand miles and make sure I use the car long enough to bring the oil up to temperature- no 5 minute trips to the grocery store. The heads that I had redone in 1989 have nothing deposited on them- clean as the day they were machined. I'll attach a pic from down the filler neck- you can't see much, but you'll get the idea:

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weight

a 10W40 oil is an SAE 40 with the properties of an SAE 10 at O degrees C. the word " WEIGHT " is used all the time when talking about oils. I have been an oil company rep for several decades and I hear it every day and use the word myself when dealing with customers. about the only over the counter conventional oil still having 1200 ppm of zinc is conventional shell rotella T3 15/40. other specialty blenders like brad penn, royal purple, etc also sell oils with zinc. there are several blenders selling ZDDP additive that can be added to conventional oils of brands such as Castrol, quaker state,pennzoil,etc. any of the auto parts stores sell it. if you have an engine with miles on it and you have used previous oils with zinc, you should still have the zinc in the engine. ZDDP is an anti wear additive to protect mainly heavily loaded parts such as the valve train parts ( cam and followers ) from a lot of wear. remember that all conventional oils that meet SN specs can be used in your engines but if it's a fresh rebuild of an older engine add the ZDDP for antiwear. I use whatever 10/40 that has the best price in my 302 which is a 1985 block.
 
No heavy metals?

My experience is if your flat tappet cam survives break-in? you are good.

The first thing that goes (down hill or fails) in oil are the viscosity enhancements that make a 10 weight a 10 30. Change it once in a while even though you drive less than 2000 miles a year.

I buy what is on sale and include some Syn in the mix with each oil change. 50/50 ratio.

Rick
 
Valvoline VR 1 straight 30 W. Has everything you need. None of what you don't. Wish it were in all my cars. Luckily, Tiger's had it throughout. Once started I never change. Post script If the engine is a very loose DD, default to Hot Tigr's Castrol 20-w-50 with a lil Motor Honey..
 
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