Royal Purple Synthetic Oil

[Zrush]

In speaking with all my motor head chevy/ford/mopar friends, all the rage in oil is this brand called Royal Purple 5W30. Their website royalpurple.com claims independent dyno test results. What is the choice opinion for oil in our Z cars? Should your oil type vary with a stock set up as opposed to a race prepared engine?

Vicky

[ChrisA]

Hey Vicky,

This seems like the Slick 50/Splitfire thread:cheeky: You're gonna find a ton of different opinions about oil I'll bet.

Personally I like Castrol. The BRE cars ran Kendall GT1 I think, or it might have been the Bob Sharp cars. I'll stick to the 10W weight just because the factory put it in.

If we had a really good engineer who could design us a crank counter weight slinger/scraper we could get 5 to 10 more ponies out of our Z engines no matter what oil we ran.

I'm always thinking!!

Chris

[CCC77]

I read an article in Compact Sport Magazine a couple of years ago that was titled something like: oil change adds 5 horse power. They had a car on the dyno and got a base hp rating. Then they changed the oil to Royal Purple racing oil.(dont remember the exact one) They put the car back on the dyno and what do you know, its got 5 more horse power. That said I have also read somewhere that the cleaning agents in Royal Purple damage a lot fo internal components of motors. Dont know if it is true or not, but it seems to have a lot of Slick 50 type hype about it.

Regards CCC77

[MikeW]

Originally posted by CCC77

I read an article in Compact Sport Magazine a couple of years ago that was titled something like: oil change adds 5 horse power. They had a car on the dyno and got a base hp rating. Then they changed the oil to Royal Purple racing oil.(dont remember the exact one) They put the car back on the dyno and what do you know, its got 5 more horse power.

There was a recent thread here about the effectiveness of a "grounding" system where it was pointed out that a 2nd dyno run often outperforms the first. You'd have to really be careful doing testing like this to prove the results. I wonder what would happen if you waited a day and made dyno runs before and after switching from Royal Purple back to conventional oil. You might see another 5 hp increase.

[gema]

Everyone knows the best way to make your car faster is GT-R badges at Pep Boys.

Slick 50, Splitfires, Royal Purple...just another way to take your money.

[sblake01]

Originally posted by ChrisA

The BRE cars ran Kendall GT1 I think

Chris

They ran Valvoline. Those cars were one of the major reasons I became interested in Datsuns. And I used Valvoline for years. Until I concluded that motor oil is motor oil. As long as it meets the manufacturers specifications and you change it often enough. There may be some type of benefit in using the 'special' oils in racing applications but for a street car the benefit is negligable. (and more expensive) At nearly 54 years old, my race car days are behind me.:classic:

[MikeW]

Originally posted by sblake01

And I used Valvoline for years. Until I concluded that motor oil is motor oil. As long as it meets the manufacturers specifications and you change it often enough.

I always find it kind of ironic when a stock car driver endorses motor oil for street cars. I suppose it all started with Richard Petty telling people to buy STP (perhaps it was earlier than that). After all, their goal is pushing the car as hard as they can hoping that it will last 500 miles. I wonder what they do with the engine after 500 miles?

That being said, I did put Castrol 10W40 Syntec blend in my 240Z after a 500 mile break-in period on the rebuilt engine. The fact is I'll probably have the oil changed every 6 months even if I've only gone 500 miles but I figured after spending a bunch of money on the rebuild I might as well not be cheap with the oil. Perhaps there's no advantage and I wasted a few dollars.

[Zrush]

Originally posted by MikeW

That being said, I did put Castrol 10W40 Syntec blend in my 240Z after a 500 mile break-in period on the rebuilt engine. The fact is I'll probably have the oil changed every 6 months even if I've only gone 500 miles but I figured after spending a bunch of money on the rebuild I might as well not be cheap with the oil. Perhaps there's no advantage and I wasted a few dollars.

That's my husbands scenerio exactly in his 280Z. Castrol used to run the adds with the "high reving" engines needing their brand to avoid viscosity(?) breakdown. Oil is the life blood of any car so I agree that you shouldn't skimp on the oil. Back in the olden days you didn't have much of a choice. But with the advanced technology in engines, it seems that oils would have to evolve with the newer type engines of today, no? Todays oils surely must be better for our Z's than what was offered back in the 70's.

Vicky

[240ZX]

I have to agree with Mike....for that matter, everyone. I am a fan and user of Mobil#1 syn. Been using it for over two decades.....

Just like what someone said in an earlier post...."If marketing folks say it enough, it just has to be a fact!!!" Yah right!!!

[sblake01]

I never suggested 'skimping' on motor oil. There are a lot of top quality brands out there. It comes down to personal preference. I think synthetic is overkill but that's just my opinion. I have never had a vehicle break down due to an oil related failure. And I've been driving for almost 40 years.

[beandip]

A while back , maby 2 yrs ago , I was surfing the web and looking up all sorts of things . I came accross an independant resurch site that had tested about 10 different brands . Some I had never heard of . Some I remember were Quaker State , Penzoil , Castrol with gtx , Kindel , Royal Purple . There were others but these were the ones that showed toward the top of the "pile" . They went in to the contents of the oils , both good and bad , the temp breakdown the amount of ash in the oil , the lubercating quality the different detergents , a whole battery of tests and compairing of products. The results was a suprise to me and the two that were at the top and both were almost the same was # 1 Quaker State 2. was Castrol GTX they were clearly at the top and 3. valvoline . They did test a blended sinthetic , honestly I dont remember how it rated. I do remember it was not at the top. I have been driving my own cars for over 49 years and for ablut 40 of them I have been using Quaker State and still do. This research site remember was INDEPENDANT. I know this will sturr up a hornets nest of posts form members . I am just passing on some informaton, by the way . During the years of driving some of it was on the drag strip so no all was on the streets. My 2c Gary

[MikeW]

Originally posted by beandip

I have been driving my own cars for over 49 years and for ablut 40 of them I have been using Quaker State and still do.

Fair enough. People are loyal to various brands of everything. Ford vs Chevy vs Dodge. My father has only purchased Amoco Ultimate gasoline for the past 40 years and swears by it. Others stick to Exxon or Texaco, etc. As Stephen said the real key to oil is getting the right grade and changing it often enough. I suspect there are plenty of fools out there who buy Mobil One and are convinced by the marketing that they can go 15,000 miles between changes on that stuff.