Hello
My engine project is done. What kind of oil i should use? Synthetic or mineral? 10w30 or what? Engine is from 1978 Dodge Aspen.
Please help.

You wil get different opinions. Mine is 10w-30 mineral.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

10w-30 mineral is an excellent recommendation for your new engine's first oil. Try for an oil rated API SL rather than API SM.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

And 10w30 synthetic is good for the long haul I agree with Dan on the SL rating. The new Mobil 1 "extended life" oils don't qualify for SM because they have too much of several additives- which I think is a GOOD thing for older engines. Older engines have some critical wear items like flat tappets, gear-driven oil pumps, and timing chains or gears that don't exist in newer engines. If you look at a modern engine, say a Ford 4.6 or 5.4, Mopar 3.5, 4.7, or 5.7, or a Cadillac Northstar, you'll find none of those. They have roller-chain driven cams, oil pumps driven directly by the crankshaft, no distributor drive at all, and roller cams. High-pressure sliding/shearing contact like flat tappets and gear drives benefit a lot from some additives that slowly tend to poison catalytic convertors on new cars, which is why the API is reducing the allowable amounts of those additives in their newer oil ratings.

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I like 15W-40 Shell Rotella Diesel oil. I believe it has the ratings Dan and 440 talk about.

15/40 seems a tad thick for the first oil in a rebuild........

I love it for my kids oil burning 2.5's though

Thanks everyone. I think that I try that 10w - 30 mineral. I heard that if Camshaft is old, I should use mineral oil. There are lot of opinions, like Charrlie_S says. More comments?

There is no reason to avoid synthetic "because the camshaft is old".

Breaking-in a newly rebuilt engine on synthetic is generally considered unwise unless the engine has been specifically built with this in mind (which most are not).

It's really a lot more complex than it might seem. As I hinted and 440_Magnum explained, it's not necessarily the case that newer oil specs are better in every way than older oil specs. Certainly oil durability, viscosity stability, thermal stability, cold pour point, detergent-dispersant properties and resistance to sludging have all improved vastly and steadily over the last decade (let alone the last four decades!). But, some of the very newest oils are actually less suited to older engines for reasons 440_Magnum explains well.

You should be just fine with any reputable brand of 10w-30 conventional oil, preferably SL rather than SM. Use good quality oil filters!

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I like to break in on 5w30 or 10w30 dino oil (depending on how tight the
bottom end is) , then switch to syn. I usually run the dino oil for the first
3000 miles with about 4 or 5 changes during that distance.
I do think that the FILTER is more important then the oil on the first fire up
and during priming. (heck I change the filter between prime and fireup
at least once on a small block)

just my $0.02 worth, though I have never had parts "escape" a sb chysler

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85 D150 318
85 D350 360
85 Ramcharger was 318
77 Plym Volare 225 904 (derby car)
66 D100 225 3spd
64 D100 225 3spd
81 D100 225 727
90 shadow 2.2 5spd
92 shadow 2.2 5spd
http://www.freewebs.com/ramcharger/

I run Quaker State 10W40 in all of my stuff, except for my Chevy which requires 20W-50.

All of these additives that are good for older engines, which oils have them besides Mobil?

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

Shell Rotella Diesel oil or any other diesel/fleet oil. It has more zink and other stuff old engines like.

I think I need to pick up some Rotella T at my next oil change.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

Look in your local Sam's Club for the Rotella T oil.

I seem to remember seeing it in 1 gallon and 5 gallon containers.

I have been getting my Wolf's Head oil there and not having to
worry about sending in any rebate junk and waiting 12 weeks for
a check.

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67 Dart GT convertible
"225 Slant 6"
Super 6 and 2.25" exhaust.

I have used Mobil Agri motor oil 10W30. It's diesel motor oil for tractors. My slant has now 275000 km (172000 miles) and it seems to like that oil. Doesn't costs much, about 30 euro / 20 litres and I have changed oil every 5000 kilometres (about 3000 miles).

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Mopari on parasta mitä rahalla saa - Mopar is best you get with money