Lucas 5/50 in my T/A 392, Lucas 20/50 in my 512 Charger

It's not big cube but,

With the 20w-50 pressure seemed rather high.

1150 idle, 49psi

2000rpm 70psi

7600rpm 78psi


With royal purple XPR 5w-30 it's now

1150 idle, 37psi

2000rpm 65psi

7600rpm 71psi

VR1 20/50 in the 580 (clearances are on the loose side now) I'll be running a lighter oil on the 655, likely 10/40.

Best off the shelf oil that works fine for me that doesn't break the bank is the RED LABEL 15W50 Advanced full synthetic "Nascar" oil that Walmart sells. 850 hp 502 that gets pounded at the track weekly.

6.00 a quart and plenty of zinc.

20-50 or Lucas plus 50,I don't keep it in very long .0028 rods .0032 mains on the 514 wedge on the street.

It hasn't been in the car yet, but I fired up the 572 on 10w30 Rotella conventional.

On the high side it was fine, hitting the bypass 68-70psi like the other big blocks with M63HV pumps I have had.

On the low side near 1000 rpm when it warmed up it was safe pressure, somewhere in the 20s, which I'm sure is actually fine but it does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling like
a solid 40-something does on the low end.

I may or may not adjust it to a different grade when I start driving it, but at least know it's within safe reasonable limits now.
Rods and mains were all between .0032 and .0033.

And I should probably get over that warm fuzzy feeling thing.

This probably doesn't help answer the original question at all but just trying to participate somewhat!

When the oil gets up to temp and after it shears its going to get even worse at idle. With the 15W50 I have around 40 at 150 degrees oil temp. Hot lapping going rounds it drops to 25 or so at 200 degrees. You are going to end up with something more than 30 weight most likely.

Rotella is good just to fire it and break it in, but it's not a good full time oil for performance engines anymore. No way would I run it full time in a serious engine.

575" street/strip hemi, aluminum block, .0035" main clearance, .0025"-.0028" rod clearance, 7.5 quarts of 20w50 Valvoline VR1. Been running it this way for years w/ no issues.
I ran Mobil One 15w50 synthetic until, for some reason, it became near impossible to find several years ago. I went to the VR1 then b/c it was readily available.

Agreed, I will probably end up with a 15-40 or 20w50. I have always liked a 30 for initial fire up of most anything, though.

The Rotella I used is an older and more desireable specification that is no longer available off the shelf. I have close to 20 gallons of it do plan to use it, eventually.

Have large quantities of SAE30 straight weight, also older spec that nobody I know had problems with, to try out eventually.

It's big CI but is a low compression pump gas street engine, and beyond that pretty sure nobody besides me would consider it "serious" for no other reason than I built it myself.

This thread clearly demonstrates (again) that there are many, many modern oils that will satisfy the needs of our engines.

Obviously, some engines have different needs than other engines; wider or tighter clearances, turbos, primarily track use, etc. But the OP is asking about a specific application; his street/strip big inch Mopar. He does not need an overly expensive, difficult to obtain, or exotic oil for his engine. Many members on here prove that every day.

And for his application, why would the OP want any weight heavier than the guidelines that many of us successfully use in this application, which is; At least 15lbs at hot idle and at least 10lbs for every 1000RPM till about 60LBS max. Now, those are guidelines. Not set in stone. But, without some special oiling needs, what advantage would more pressure or a heavier weight oil provide the OP?

Now, it would be prudent for the OP to experiment with the weights to find the right one. Maybe start with a heavier weight like 20w50 or 15w40 and if everything looks good, try a 10w40, and then if all is good, 10w30 or a straight 30. That's the way I have done it several times and have ended up with 10w30 in both of my 500+ inch street/strip wedge and Hemi. They usually hold 20lbs or so at hot idle and usually hit 60lbs or so by 3,500. Been running them that way for years.

I have used 20W50 I have noticed my bronze gear breaks down fast and I believe the heavy weight if a culprit

i like and use Valvoline VR10x30WT in my race motors
No issues ever, even in my last 15.1to1 comp. ratio 517 C.I. bracket motor with a solid roller cam and lifters shifting it at 7300 RPM and crossing in the 1/8 mile around 6500 RPM, 7300 RPM in the 1/4 mile
That car ran 5.50 at 125 MPH in the 1/8 mile, 8.80 at 150. MPH in the 1/4 mile with out maxing it out

Well, as mentioned, many different combo's with many different oils but fairly similar weights. We find the Penn Grade 20-50 to be a very good oil, and based on the responses, probably about the right weights for us. I do like the straight 30wt idea, I was considering straight 50wt when I wrote this and it seems no one went that far, and in a Steve Morris SMX vid, I caught him saying they run straight 70wt in the SMX due to them running methanol and I thought maybe I should be running a straight one weight oil like 50wt. ......But none of you suggested anything that heavy.

But, in the Hemi, my issue, is probably more of a volume issue. Which brings me to my next question about cam bearings. I see Steve Morris running 55mm-65mm roller cam bearings on all his street engines and no oil feed holes, only splash oil....

So I do not have a raised cam block, but is that somthing I could do in the next tear down? Block off the oil feed holes for the cam bearings and go roller bearings? I never really thought you could run those on the street, but I am learning more and more about these high end engines, and what makes them live where traditional tech may not. I also know many Mopar builders won't build one of these without bushing the lifter bores....Another area I have not gone into...

What say you guys with after market blocks?

The low deck 512 in my Duster had roller cam bearings in it. It was built as a street engine and I never had any issues with the roller bearings. It changes the oiling for the top end so you have to sort that out. In the 512 we just drilled a connection between the main gallery and the rocker arm oiling feed.

I also run 55MM roller cam bearings in my 528 Hemi on the street with no issues. Yes, with modified oiling.

My KB block has no lifter oil galleys...splash/drainback oiling only. Possibly one reason my engine has never had any oiling issues even w/ only 7.5 quarts in the pan?
Mine still has typical cam bearings.
If you're running solid lifters and not pushrod oiling, no reason not to bush the lifter bores?

These are the kinds of things I should know about before building one of these....Now I am starting to see where my build might have gone off track and why others work so well.

Either way, the updates I did this year should work. You do not have to do this with a 800hp wedge engine, but god help you, if you want a big Hemi....

So let me ask this, on a Callies standard cam position block, can I bore it for a 55mm roller cam bearings and plug off the feed holes?

You mean sort of like this? Looks like they have been doing it for awhile now.

Was checking out a pile of used up $uper $tock blocks and they all had it done, but no idea on the cam dimension or oil feed situation.

The blocks did have R@y B@rton logo stamps on them if that helps at all.

Seems like a must do....

I may be wrong here, I'm certainly no Ray Barton, but the roller cam bearings in those blocks are for friction reduction due to insane spring pressures (and larger cam cores) moreso than oiling. Taking oil away from the lifters where it isn't really needed is more beneficial in your case than having roller bearings.