i just put a flat tappet comp cam in my 92 camaro.. the intructions say use 15w-50 non synthetic oil and a zinc and phosphorus additive. i cant find any 15w 50 around my area and if i do its synthetic. so i called comp cams twice and spoke to two different techs. one said to use valvoline vr1 10w 40. i cant find that either. and the other tech said use 10w-30 or 15w-50 but use the additive and he also said every oil change use an additive also. that sounds a bit much to me every oil change. this is my first cam break in so thats why im not to sure of what oil and additive to use and i dont want to screw it up.

 

10W-30, 15W-40, 20W-50, or whatever heavier weight you can find should be fine for oil. Additive at every oil change is a good idea.

 

I was taught and have followed the practice of using straight weight engine oil SAE 30, SAE 40, with NO DETERGENT. It has always worked fine for me. The reason for the non-detergent oil (as it was taught to me) is that you don't want detergent to wash the assy lube from the parts, any sooner than necessary.

A zinc additive will help, both break in and life. Doesn't Shell Rotella (or other OTR truck oils) still have a lot of zinc in it?

I personally feel that if you use a zinc additive, the oil you use probably doesn't matter too much.

 

Pretty hard to find a non-detergent oil these days, but I don't see detergents having much of an effect on the break-in lube. Straight weight would be SAE 30 or SAE 40, there's no 30W or 40W grades.

Diesel oils supposedly still have more zinc than gasoline oils, but not as much as they used to.

Zinc tends to degrade catalytic converters over time, so maybe don't go too overboard with it if you still have one.

 

I used a diesel 15W-40 plus a bottle of the Comp additive both for break-in and every regular change. Oil choice was limited to what I could find locally that still has some zinc in it.

Had occasion to pull a couple of lifters after 1000 miles and 2 oil changes. Looked fine, nice even polished surface, crown radii were still as-new.

 

You're right on the SAE 30, etc. Thank you for the correction there.

I agree that non-detergent is hard to find...and also agree that the reasoning for using it is dubious...but posted b/c it has worked for me.

 

Joe gibbs BR oil is 15w50 with high levels of ZDDP on phosphorus.

 

I've used comp cams 10w-30 break-in oil on the last few flat tappet motors with great results. It is best to use an oil with the ZDDP in it already for break-in.

 

what brand of diesel 15w 40 did you use? i didnt think they use zinc in any oil anymore, itd be cheaper to use the 15w40 or 30w oil and some zinc additive. i found the break in oil and zinc additive at a local speed shop. but its 7.99 a qt of oil and 13.99 for the additive. but i cant see spending 50+ dollars on oil im only going to use for 30 minutes.

 

Spend the money unless you want to spend much more on a motor rebuild after you wipe out the cam.

 

Valvaline VR-1 specifically says on the bottle that it has high levels of ZDDP for flat tappet cams.

 

I cant find the valvaline oil

 

THIS!!

 

For the cam break-in:
http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/brk.aspx

After the break-in:
http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/zrt.aspx