Questions, questions

[Brianc]

I have a tr7 v8 - what oil do i use for it??

Anyone got a picture of the boot struts in situ?

Brian

[bonnietiler]

I have to say I use Fuchs 20w50 Full Synthetic its a race oil so has very few additives.
Changed the oil when I bought the car over 2 years ago...I've done 6k since..I might have put a pint in...but probably less, just bought some more..it's still Golden by the way..Oh and no leaks. I have the struts fitted to mine, i'll try to get a picture for you tomorrow..they are tucked away top left and top right..quite small units really.

[FI Spyder]

It needs zinc. I believe most race oils have zinc. You can get oils especially formulated for older engine designs with zinc or you can get zinc additive to add separately. They gradually decreased zinc additive to extend the life of catalytic converters. They had to change the composition of the cam(s) to operate with less zinc. Most if not all over head cam engines (which are more modern engines) don't need the zinc because of the composition of their cams.

[saabfast]

Is fully synthetic good for it? Generally older engines are not good with it, or rather the seals are not good with it after running on mineral oil. If an engine is rebuilt with new seals its OK but old seals can leak with FS. FS is essential for modern turbo engines due to the temperatures the turbo reaches.

[bonnietiler]

Can only speak as I find...I've always switched to full synth if poss as long as the correct viscosity/additives or lack of is available.
As I say 6k no leaks..used no oil (to speak of)

[FI Spyder]

Newer designed engines have tighter tolerances so need lighter oil (which synthetic typically is) whereas older design engines have looser tolerances and need thicker oil. An example is my '88 Tercel 3A engine needs 10-w30 whereas my '91 Integra needs 5-W30. Synthetic typically isn't changed as often which is fine for modern clean engines whereas an engine like the Rover V-8 is a known "dirty" engine (it dates back to 1962) and the oil should be changed more often than a modern engine. That's not to say you can't use synthetic in it but it's kind of like using high test gasoline in an 8 to 1 compression engine, not needed. I've never used synthetic oil and all my engines have gone up to 180,000 miles (290,000 Km) before I got rid of them and none of them have burned/used any oil. Never had to add oil between oil changes.

[Hasbeen]

I use Penrite HPR 5 diesel. This is a 10/40 oil with high zinc & high detergent levels. This is in a young engine, I would use a heavier grade, HPR 15 on an older engine. Great as it is, our old Rover engines are dirty engines, & need high detergent levels to keep then reasonably clean internally.

I also add half a can of STP engine oil treatment, as it will never squeeze or drain out. You will never get that dry engine rattle on start up with it, even after years.

I used to use HPR 40, a 30/60 mineral oil with STP in my old 170 kilometre engine in the 7. With it totally new I now use HPR 15, a fully synthetic 20/50, but still with STP. She purrs on that.

Just for interest, STP offered bonus prize money for the 1968 Bathurst Armstrong 500 miles production car race, if you ran SAE 10 oil, with STP added. Our Hillman Imp, like 80% of the cars in the race did this. Not one experienced any sort of engine problem caused by lack of lubrication. The only car I have ever run since without it is the Honda S2000.

Hasbeen

[bonnietiler]

Cheers
Bonnietiler

[Brianc]

Thanks very much - that helps

Brian

[busheytrader]

I've always been advised that a Rover V8 should use a quality mineral 20/50 oil. As per previous posters it's an old design so the older oil favours the older tolerances.

I've been using Valvoline 20/50 since there's a local motor factors carrying it a decent price. The spec sheet shows it containing zinc compounds which floats Hasbeen's boat.

Adam

[X919]

The BL TR8 workshop manual supplement does include Mobil One as one of the listed recommended oils. However bear in mind that a lot of converted V8s may be using the older Rover P6 engine and I do not think that would ever have had a synthetic oil recommended.

[john 215]

Hi,

As my learned friend Adam uses I also use Valvoline 20/50 full of tappet friendly zinc, the problem with the Mobile listed in the TR8 manual is it 15W/50 viscosity,whereas the widely Mobile 1 available today tends to be of a lower viscosity, so if you pop into Hellfords to buy some check that viscosity. As important as oil is a quality oil filter, not a cheapo Chinese made rubbish. Personally I use K&N they claim to have superior filtering capacity down to 10 microns, plus a handy 1" nut on the end to aid removal.

Anyone who runs a serpentine front end with crank driven oil pump can get away with a lower viscosity due to a superior oil pump design.

Cheers John

[supercass]

John 215 wrote "pop into Hellfords".
There are far cheaper places to get quality oil from than Halfrauds!! I find Mick's Garage very good and far cheaper with free delivery on items over £30.00. Items often arrive next day . I also find The Range has a selection of oils at reasonable prices. I have no connection with any of these organizations. Even small local Motor Factors tend to be cheaper than Halfrauds. If you use a zinc additive it can be quite expensive as much of it seems to come from the USA but I did find an established U.K. supplier on EBay. I did use a high detergent 10w 40 diesel oil and zinc additive in my low milage engine for about 50 miles under gentle driving to give it a bit of a clean and was surprised at how quickly it turned black. supercass.

[Hasbeen]

Just a little on my desire of a lot of zinc in our oils.

In 1968 I was driving a BT24 Brabham Repco F1 in our Gold Star, F1 championship series. As many of you know the Repco F1 engine that won a couple of world championships for Brabham in the 60s, when it was for 3 litre cars, was built using the Buick/Rover V8 block as a base.

Yep a Rover V8, a little modified, revving to 97000 RPM won a couple of world championships. By then Rover were supplying a specially cast magnesium alloy block to Repco for these.

We had a BP contract, & they supplied us a "special" racing oil, BP corse newly developed at that time. However they supplied a little glass jar of a thick grey liquid to be added after the new oil was up to operating temperature the first time. It was some form of zinc compound which similar to my favourite STP was attracted to & plated onto the metal in the engine.

That's why the glass jar. Oil still came in metal tins & drums back then, & you would loose a lot of the zinc to the tin it came in if added at the refinery.

BP did once have a chemist explain some of this to us, but only at the surface level I've repeated above. We also had an STP boffin explain their technology to us too, & the two sounded remarkably similar to me, just no grey stuff in the STP.

I know these things worked on the race track, but don't know enough to really understand why or how. So if I don't know which is best, & they don't curdle when mixed, [they don't], I'll have both thanks.

Thus my desire for high zinc oil, with STP added.

Hasbeen

[john 215]

Hi,

I tend to shop around for oils, often use Euro Car Parts as ' being in the trade ' as they say, get a excellent discount or look on Ebay and see whats available on there, even brought some at shows when the price is right. I run my 4 cylinder on Hellfords Classic Oil, made by Comma I believe ??? and appears to be reasonable stuff, got a Professional Trade Club card with them that give loads off so also very cheap ,

Cheers John