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FE Power Forums => FE Technical Forum => Topic started by: CaptCobrajet on October 05, 2019, 09:00:22 AM

Title: Amsoil
Post by: CaptCobrajet on October 05, 2019, 09:00:22 AM
I am an old dog at this point, and I have been religious in my use of Valvoline VR1 for a long time.  We bought Valvoline racing oil way back when you needed a screwdriver to poke two holes in the top to pour it in.......unless you had one of those fancy pour spouts.

Amsoil was the required oil (and a major sponsor) for Engine Masters.  They sent us oil to test with, and furnished oil for the contest.  I was reluctant, but I used it from beak-in, to their synthetic......through our 24 test pulls.  We had to show up dry, and they gave us oil at the contest to prevent the possibility of performance enhancing additives. 

I looked at the break in oil and first filter pretty closely.  I also looked at the second filter and first oil change closely.  I liked what I was seeing. We made 9 or 10 more pulls in the 35 minute scoring window at the contest.  We had to pull a rod and piston for teardown at EMC.  My suspicion was confirmed.  The rod bearing litterally looked like it had not been run. There are of course factors of supply, clearance, and temperature that contribute, but the oil definitely did what it was intended to do. I have a very high opinion of the Amsoil now, and thought I would mention here that it is worth looking at for both a break-in and a "run" oil.  Very happy with it!
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: machoneman on October 05, 2019, 09:21:29 AM
Interesting!

I see that VR1 is available in dino oil form as well as full synthetic. Seems you got the syn. version.
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: Ford428CJ on October 05, 2019, 02:54:57 PM
And I’ve been using it for years and seen how it lowered my boat temps in my 390. To my 6.0 diesel and 2 stroke turbo sled and other sleds. I won’t go back! Enough said on my part LOL
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: Ford428CJ on October 05, 2019, 02:56:33 PM
And congrats on the win with the FE! Everyone that ran one made us proud!!!
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: Joey120373 on October 05, 2019, 11:16:31 PM
Ill give  a +1 for the Amsoil as well, Put some of their 10-50 weight race oil ( IIRC ) in my high revving 2 cylinder KTM street bike, in place of the $17-$20 a quart factory recommended oil, and i noticed a definite improvement not only in temps but in sifter operation. And after a a few months of riding it still looks as clean as the day i put it in, where the high dollar factory oil would be black after a season.

Great Job Blair! Hoping to read a detailed article about the engine soon if HR decides to write one.
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: Barry_R on October 06, 2019, 06:19:33 AM
Similar experience here.  Never cared for their marketing methods, but used it when they provided product as sponsorship for EMC.  Initially liked it that the red color left oil filter media light colored and easy to see and read.  Looked at bearings and such after running numerous pulls and everything looks very good.  Stuff appears to work very well.
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: machoneman on October 06, 2019, 09:12:14 AM
Do we think a full syn Mobil 1 oil would act exactly the same way?
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: Chrisss31 on October 06, 2019, 09:15:04 AM
We used to use the Amsoil premix oil in our 2 stroke racing engines mixed at 100:1 as opposed to every other oil at 32:1.  Worked fantastic.
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: Ford428CJ on October 06, 2019, 10:20:13 AM
Do we think a full syn Mobil 1 oil would act exactly the same way?

  No, I found out that oils are not equal! Been there before....
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: TomP on October 06, 2019, 06:27:52 PM
So it isn't just some multi level marketing scheme? That is good to know it actually works better than others.

Congrats on the win and I see one of your other 390's was going rounds in St Loo in George Warren's Fairlane stocker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az8A3i7jeB8
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: Gregwill16 on October 06, 2019, 07:39:54 PM
Congratulations on your well deserved win Blair! Also thanks for posting about the oil as I have a coworker who has been pushing me to get Amsoil from him for years but I figured it was a bandwagon thing.
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: Cyclone03 on October 06, 2019, 08:32:12 PM
Blair is there a recommended AMSOIL product for a hydraulic roller FE Morel recommends no more than 40w.
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: CaptCobrajet on October 06, 2019, 10:06:16 PM
Cyclone,  typically the Morel lifters don't like really thick, or really thin oil.  Your viscosity requirements will be determined by clearances and end use.  A person should design the engine with an oil in mind.......meaning in this case that something between a 5/20 and a 10/40 is going to work well with your hydraulic Morel lifters, so bearing clearance needs to be set up to work with your combo.  Amsoil has a 15/50 that could work, but I think it would be noisy in the lifters at idle.  There really are several factors that will drive the best selection in a specific engine.  Don't rush right into synthetics in a fresh engine.  Make sure you have ring seal before you put the slick stuff in there.
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: Barry_R on October 07, 2019, 05:10:38 AM
Agree with Blair's comments 100% - - Morels do not like to run on syrup

Something to think about...
At EMC my final pull had oil temperatures at 214 degrees.
Some folks thought it was getting hot.
Amsoil rep looked at it and commented that we were "finally getting there".
Stated that oils are rated at 100 degrees centigrade (212 F)
If your oil temps are not reaching that point, you might not have the viscosity you think you do.
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: blykins on October 07, 2019, 05:38:17 AM
Morels seem to be opposite from some of the other lifters.  Their close tolerances need a thinner viscosity.  I have ran 5W-20 in them and 10W-30.   All-in-all, you need to keep the kinematic viscosity in check as it can vary from oil to oil and there are some oils that will work with Morels at around the 15W-40 range. 

I'm not really an exclusive user of any particular oil.  I worked for a bit with the Valvoline engine lab, so I'm partial to VR1, but I also use Brad Penn quite a bit.  I think a lot of oils are really, really good, and just like anything else, there's more than one way to get to the finish line. 

I freshened up a pulling truck engine earlier in the year, that made over 1200 hp at 8500 rpm, and had a full season of pulls on it.  I thought really hard about putting the bearings right back in, but on a $45k engine, $300 worth of bearings is a drop in the bucket.  I use Brad Penn on that engine. 

Here's a set of 8500 rpm 351C rod bearings after some dyno thrashing:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/4509/37263736994_b255bfa252_c.jpg)

And the mains:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/4445/26197930569_d90bf15bcb_c.jpg)

This was ran on Valvoline VR1...bore mic tracks still intact.

I'm not saying all of this to say "my oil is better than your oil", but I'm just saying that I think there are a lot of really good oils out there......Amsoil, Driven, Brad Penn, VR1, etc.  I wouldn't mind to use any of them.



Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: Stangman on October 07, 2019, 06:17:32 AM
The rod bearings dont even look used. I havent had a roller cam so I stay on the high zinc side ( Brad Penn ) .
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: CaptCobrajet on October 07, 2019, 06:19:09 AM
I think the Gibbs oil is at the bottom of that list Brent.  I think it is marketed well, but I don't use it.  JMO.  I have always been a Valvoline user, and on flat tappet break ins, I still use Brad Penn (Kendall for us old guys).  This Amsoil just really surprised and impressed me.  When I read that we had to use it at EMC, I thought.....okay.......hoping it would work.  I came away from there after cutting two filters, looking at what I drained out three times, and looking at my bearings at the teardown with intent to use it more.
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: blykins on October 07, 2019, 06:38:14 AM
I will say this.....that Driven oil smells like poop water.
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: MeanGene on October 07, 2019, 11:13:58 AM
I will say this.....that Driven oil smells like poop water.

Some friends used to have a Texaco station in the late 70's- man, that Havoline oil was foul...
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: Cyclone03 on October 07, 2019, 09:47:01 PM
Thanks all for the responses ,great to have a resource as giving as the pros on this board.

Lance
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: 427HISS on October 12, 2019, 08:27:13 PM
I am an old dog at this point, and I have been religious in my use of Valvoline VR1 for a long time.  We bought Valvoline racing oil way back when you needed a screwdriver to poke two holes in the top to pour it in.......unless you had one of those fancy pour spouts.

Amsoil was the required oil (and a major sponsor) for Engine Masters.  They sent us oil to test with, and furnished oil for the contest.  I was reluctant, but I used it from beak-in, to their synthetic......through our 24 test pulls.  We had to show up dry, and they gave us oil at the contest to prevent the possibility of performance enhancing additives. 

I looked at the break in oil and first filter pretty closely.  I also looked at the second filter and first oil change closely.  I liked what I was seeing. We made 9 or 10 more pulls in the 35 minute scoring window at the contest.  We had to pull a rod and piston for teardown at EMC.  My suspicion was confirmed.  The rod bearing litterally looked like it had not been run. There are of course factors of supply, clearance, and temperature that contribute, but the oil definitely did what it was intended to do. I have a very high opinion of the Amsoil now, and thought I would mention here that it is worth looking at for both a break-in and a "run" oil.  Very happy with it!

Real curious about the "performance enhancing additives".

 What types of additives and how they work ?
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: 427HISS on October 12, 2019, 09:05:20 PM
When using hydraulic lifters (roller if it make a difference) what is the recommended viscosity, so the oil can go through the orifice that's needed ?
Because I assume, that a thick oil won't travel into the lifter as well as a thinner oil.
Title: Re: Amsoil
Post by: Ford428CJ on October 16, 2019, 07:00:38 PM
I run Hyd lifters from Crower Cam Savers is what I use in my 390. Not a Hyd roller