Switched from a conventional 5W30 to Royal Purple Racing 21. Picked up 7hp/9tq average from 3500-6300 RPM and a peak increase of 12hp/13tq. Both pulls were made at 160* oil temps, same sweep time, same load, same air conditions and correction factor. Only change was the oil.

 

This at the crank or rear wheels. I will be making the same change.

 

Flywheel on a Hoffman dyno with Stuska brake and Depac data logging system.

 

I was watching speed channel and it was like a trucks episode or something anyways they were talking about royal purple and they said how they change all the trucks fluids with royal purple and it reduced drag on the motor by something I think like 15-20% and they dynoed out a gain over 10-15+ more rwhp (I know its very close to these numbers). How true would this be. I was thinking of switching over all my fluids to royal purple ive already done my motor oil.

 

Half a page down...

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=339829

 

Anyone know how RP compares to Mobil 1. I heard its better but by how much?

 

I see that but I am not ONLY talking about motor oil.

 

There was an old CHP article posted on the web that documented a full 10HP gain by switching to synthetics, but this was on a B-car and treadmill dyno. IIRC, it was using Red Line products, and included the transmission and axle. Personally, I'm not sure there's that much to be gained in an automatic transmission, but rear axles and engines can really benefit.

Firebat,

If you're really that curious, contact Royal Purple and ask them where they are getting their PAO base stocks.

 

I have nothing bad to say about any synethtic, especially after breaking down my motor which had 5-6,000 street miles and over 1800 passes on it going down a race track...found all my main and rod bearings still had the teflon coating on them and looked like the motor was just put together that day. I had many car friends and racers stop by to look after the carnage (broke end off my crank snout) and nobody could believe the shape of the bottom end-even with the force of the crank snapping and everything still looking brand new. I chaulk it upto a good oil and a great engine builder.

On the other hand, I also spent $58 per oil change for the oil and filter so it's spendy-in my application it's worth it though obviously, a street car that's daily driven average out number of oil changes per year and unless you have coin to blow, finanically I dont know if it's worth it. 10-15hp sounds like a good increase just from fluid change, but in the real world even a gain of 20hp is never noticed on a race track for the typical bracket style racing (or stop light to stoplight) so being realistic about the cost to gains you must really think of the big picture. Your not hurting anything but your wallet.

I've talked to and heard many racers....RACERS....haveing a common problem when switching to syenthetic rear end lube..they start breaking ring and/or pinion gears. This has been a very common story and the masses have hypotenized the synthetic does'nt have the buffering/shock resistance that dino oil has. This is from guy doing A-B-A testing, being going from dino diff lube to synthetic and back to dino oil. The dino oil has never been a cuase for shock related problems that the synth. has succombed to. Reason I state this is most of the kids/young guys that have these kinds of cars drive them-hard so it might be in the best intrest to keep dino oil ouot back since the typical spin the tires and then hit pavement that hooks is one heck of a load/shock to the system.

Tranny fluid that has been switched from dino to synthetic at the track has shown NO power increase anywhere, but lower operating temps averaging from 10-20* depending on application is a consistant result. If one is running a stock set-up and minimal tranny cooler swicthing to synthetic is a good way to help cover a problem, but if everything is in working order there wont be a clear cut and dry increase of performance.

These are my opions based off seeing almost everything first hand and/or trying it myself. Racing dyno's is fine, but in the real world if you "feel" an increase it's going to be a "percevied" increase to justify the large expense you just paid out for all the expensive fluids. Many thing magazines state have absolutely NO bearing on a car that hits a race track, when I was younger i used to get sucked into that mentality "magazine said this or that" but it only took the first year racing to figure out even though math may say one thing, in the real world the result will be different (and everything the guys at the track have told me came true)...been that way ever since too. Mags are good for reading, but dont take them too serious-especially when you want to go fast...listen to them and your handicapping yourself.

Think you'll see a 10-20hp increase by switching to synthetic...do this experiment: Race tracks have plenty of waste oil barrels, go to the track and make 3 runs on your dino oil, come in and change oil/filter to sysnthetic and make 3 more runs-keep track of weather also to keep testing baised and I promise you'll be surprised Gonna have to make sure you have sticky tires to since any wheel spin will vary results...u need to have everything the same as close as possible to validify the testing.

 

I couldn't locate the specific article I recall, but this one lists similar dyno results:

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/79838/index.html

IHI,

All good information. From a real-world racing perspective, I can understand your experiences and conclusions.

Dyno numbers that show an increase in output power can be analyzed in more depth and interpreted to mean something other than more power. That extra power is likely the result of lower friction. 3-5% lower friction at peak power probably translates to 3-5% lower friction across the board, or even more. That can imply that the fuel used to produce that power is not wasted, and the metal that translates that fuel to rear wheel power is going to experience at least 3-5% less wear (likely more).

From a daily driver wear perspective, there is no doubt in my mind. I have had similar experiences on tear-downs of street driven engines and transmissions. At over 100,000 miles, finding no measurable wear over original production tolerances makes a pretty strong case for PAO lubricants in all types of engines.

I also doubt the benefits of synthetics in an auto trans, but a manual may gain some life from synthetics. The biggest killer of an auto trans is usually neglected service and high operating temperatures. The factory still doesn't provide adequate transmission cooling on most vehicles, and most owners ignore changing transmisison oil until it's already too late.

As for the axles, I'm not so sure. Because of the contact path of a hypoid gear set, there is always sliding friction. Anything that reduces friction is a benefit. I know through personal testing that industrial worm and helical bevel gear boxes require lower input power and generate less heat (more efficient/lower friction) when using synthetics. I can only assume that the same traits would be exhibited in a hypoid gear set. This is aside from the taper bearings used in the axles, which are doubtless going to be more efficient when bathed in synthetics.

The shock loading wear and problems you experience at the track are no great surprize, since that's the nature of the activity. Considering that the synthetic gear oils that are commonly available may not have the same levels of EP additives that are heavily blended in mineral oils, that may explain your experiences. The EP additives that are necessary to make mineral oils suitable for the task are not as necessary in PAO fluids for normal daily driving. Under extreme conditions, they may be more necessary. I know from personal experience that cone-clutch Posi units running synthetics still require the friction additive to keep them quiet.

 

What would be a better royal purple application for my camaro. I would love to get some HP outta it, but i drive it daily in the spring/summer.

Should i go with the racing 11 (or whatevers its called) oil or just the regular royal purple motor oil??

Oh, and BTW i will still be changing the oil every 2000-3000 miles.

 

the racing formulas are very expensive. You'll be ok with their 10w30 or 10w40, whatever you run. You wont notice as much hp increase though unless you run the racing stuff.

 

you have a pm dialed-in