Reply to "351C lubrication system & lubricants"

Very interesting Rocky.
I did not think oil would flow that bad at low temps. Of course you did not in anyway influence her choice of project?
George, fortunately I have a solid roller (non-needle roller) cam and lifter bushes, no restrictors in the passages but heavy spring pressures and an aggressive cam grind. I wanted to follow what Jim Kumtz, my engine builder, recommended for oil. He is one that experienced flat follower failures using some of the modern API certified oils and recommended the Joe Gibbs, Redline, Amsoil or Royal Purple high zinc blends. In a push he said I could use Mobil 1 10w30 if I really wanted, the API certified oils he said were xxxx. This is what started my search. There are many reports of early cam / engine failures and people switching to high zinc oils, would that have happened if they used any of the top 10 rated oils?
Certainly the zinc had to go from oil as it damaged catalytic converters.
Doug, I remember changing my parents car oil in the UK many years ago and used 20w50, maybe it was necessary because of 'loose' machining tolerances, maybe poorer materials for block - pistons - bearings etc or lower quality oil.
I had intended to use Castrol 15w50 Syntec, which would have been a poor choice, so I am glad did some research. I went with Joe Gibbs HR4 10w30 which rated as moderate in the report but recommended by Kuntz. Hopefully this will help keep the dreaded distributor split pin problem away as well.
As a side note, have a read of February 2014 Hotrod magazine about the 10,000rpm Nascar Chevy engine. I am more of a F1 guy but the technology interests me. "Oil serves new purposes, we are using oil to cool and dampen parts where back in the day it was only used for lubrication". "Oil fills the insides of the valve covers, completely submerging the valve springs. The crew must drain this oil before removing the valve covers". They take 6 gallons of oil though, it is dry sumped.