I just had my new 416 built this summer by Nick Wilson (RIP) and I am still putting on the 500 mile break in on it with the Brad Penn SAE 30 break in oil. I dont believe we discussed what oil I would run after the break in period. If I remember he didnt want a synthetic right away. I already changed it once along with the filter after the 2 initial 20min break in sessions per Nick. So what would you guys recommend, a good 30W or 20W50. It sees mostly street duty with a few times at the track. Thanks for any input. Greg

I run brad penn 10-40 in mine.

Do you know how tight the clearances are in the motor? Mine was built on the tight side so it was recommended to run 5w-20 in it. I'm not a fan of heavyweight oils.....

I will check what notes I have but I dont think it was that tight. A lot was lost with Nick's passing.

I have run every motor hard immediately after fire up........ Even going directly to the track, never heard of a 500 mile break in on a drag motor/ street strip motor.
Its never not worked out. I like thin synthetic, less drag, lasts longer.

I always run Joe Gibbs 10w40 conventional HP oil after break in. During break in I run Joe Gibbs BR40.

Rotella T 5w40.

I'm not an expert but I run 10w 30 valvoline VR1

I run 0W30 Royal purple with close to .003" bearing clearance. I've checked the bearings twice, 100 passes, 200 passes. Still look like new. The 0w oils are thinner cold during start up when most wear occurs. I see no reason not to run 0W30 unless it was a very high cylinder pressure motor, nitrous, boosted. My motor is 14.8-1
Doug

we run Rotella 15-40 in our iron head 360. The W8 mill was dynoed with Torco TR1 10-30 and that's what I continue to use, although I do have a case of synthetic PurOL 5w-30 that I might use in the future.

http://pur-ol.com/purol-elite-series/

http://www.torcousa.com/torco_product/tr-1.html

I like and use either 5w20 WT or 5W30 wt non synthetic oil in all my drag and street and strip motors with really loose clearances (.003+ on the rods and .0038+ on the mains)compared to some of the other posters on here Works good, last a long time

I have been using Amsoil Dominator 5w-20 in my race engines. The engine builder who built the 360 I just put into my Dart Sport had clearances around .003 all around. I was surprised that oil pressure has been higher than expected, but very good! Even hot after a run, it doesn't go under 40 at idle and not over 80 when warm. Standard volume and pressure pump.

For a dual purpose combo like yours, I'd suggest 10w-30. You want it to circulate as soon as you crank the engine. 20w-50 is just unnecessary. No straight weight oil.

Amsoil high zinc synthetic oil info and variety.

The only reason not to run synthetic is ring breakin and if they're not seated in the first 10 minutes they're not going to seat, ever. As yours have seated, switch to the oil you want to run. I like synthetics for their superior film strength and chemical stability.

R.

What exactly are people "breaking in" on a motor that takes 500 miles. Break in oil that people sell is strictly to help seat the rings and that should happen immediately. If the motor is tight, it's tight and will still be tight after 500 miles.

Back in the day Rotella is all I ever ran in my 440 and that's what I run in my diesels. I'll never use T6 5/40 synthetic.I was out of town and needed my oil changed bad and saw that they had a sell on the T6 so I bought it and changed my oil. By 4,000 miles it had already went through a little over 3 quarts and this truck only uses 1 quart every 5,000 miles. I changed quickly, drained it again and changed once more. I don't know where it went and don't care but when I freshen up my motor I think I will run 15/40 again.

Thanks for all the replies. Monte and Don, I guess I may have not stated the 500 miles correctly. I did 2 seperate 20 minute break in sessions at various RPM's. Then put the inner springs in and changed the oil. Then Nick told me to run it for 500 miles before the next oil change, still with the break in oil. All that was his procedure he wanted me to follow, and that unfortunately is where it ended. He was supposed to e-mail me the specs but never got to it, so I dont know all the clearances. I already took it down the track a couple test times and he was good with that after 50 miles. So the 20W50 is too heavy even for hot summer days and track time? It does hold good pressure, about 60. I do appreciate the help as I am just trying to keep the motor together for a long time.

i just read a post about oils on another forum. i found this interesting. i run Royal Purple 10w40. after reading this i'm glad i do.
http://www.animegame.com/cars/Oil%20Tests.pdf

That test is funny !!

Lots of good oils out there.
But from what you posted, I would run Brad Penn semi-syn with either 10W-30 or 20W-50 viscosity depending on how hot your oil gets. If the HOT oil idle (1000 rpm) is below 25 psi, then use 20W-50.

I have been using Brad Penn for many years.
10W-30 in my drag race engine, and 20W-50 in my 440 street car with a partial block fill (oil gets hot).