Chris we run 15w-50 in our 460 race engines. As far as wieghts go 15w-50 is good for hot weather. As a mechanic I think all oils are good, as long as you change oil and filter often you won't have problems. In my daily drivers I use Advance autu brand oil at $7 a case, but I change oil/filter at or before 3000 miles no exceptions. Todays new designs of oil come about due to people never changing oil. So they made oil that held up longer. It is still cheaper to just buy new oil and fitlter often then spend a bunch on an oil that can go beyond 3000

 

What, my 302 isn't "high performance" enough!?! Just kidding. I always have believed in changing oil on time. I was more concerned with giving more protection to my engine (like cold starts). I like preventive maintenance a lot and was just looking into another way to help protect my new baby. What weight oil would you recommend for my application?

Thanks for the response,
-Chris

 

If you want to protect on startup, go with a lower viscosity oil, like 5W-30. It's thinner at startup so it gets to the top end quicker. Another thing to consider is the drag on the reciprocating assembly that the higher weight oil makes. You can gain about .5% in mpg, which may not seem like much, but with gas being the price it is, saves you a few bucks per tank.

 

15w will be good. I f you want real great cold start prtection look at a
product you can get at PEP BOYS called ZMAX . it is an oil additive. I was
involved in some testing for slick50, and we found that that stuff was far
superior to any thing else we test IE duralube slick50 and such. if you are
not concerned about costs of oil changes castorol syntec did very well in
our tests. Which of course the engines were drained of oil, and you should
never drive with out oil. But I have drove a truck home after punching an
oil pan with no damage useing PEP BUYS ZMAX. Bottom line Zmax 15-50 changed
regular with filter and a 302 will run forever. Hope I answered your
question.