Oils for Dry Sumps

[Rob Comer]

We've been having a discussion within our team about what type of oils to run in our new drys sump system for an f4i. I know a lot of it is just personal preference; I personally like Mobil 1 and Amsoil for synthetics and Mobil 5000 for general multi-grade oils. I was thinking on running the regular for break in and synthetic 10w-40 mobil 1 or Amsoil for driving/ race. What do you guys think?
-Rob Comer
Clarkson FSAE

[Rob Comer]

We've been having a discussion within our team about what type of oils to run in our new drys sump system for an f4i. I know a lot of it is just personal preference; I personally like Mobil 1 and Amsoil for synthetics and Mobil 5000 for general multi-grade oils. I was thinking on running the regular for break in and synthetic 10w-40 mobil 1 or Amsoil for driving/ race. What do you guys think?
-Rob Comer
Clarkson FSAE

[exFSAE]

Do you have a dyno? Try two ends of the spectrum, see if there's any difference at high rpm. Torque and temp maybe? Not sure. I'm not an engine guy.

Other than that, the amount of engine time you put on a car in a season is so small...

[VFR750R]

First thing to decide is what your operating temps are going to be. then test several oils at those temps. the one that makes the most power wins. With a dry sump I wouldn't be afraid of the 0-30 or 10-30 oils. And most likely they'll make more power then the 10-40s or 20-50s at any temp, and they typically run slightly cooler as well.

The only way to know how thin is too thin or how hot is too hot is to up the temps until power starts to fall off. This testing can be difficult without oil temp control on your dyno, but it is the best way.

[Marshall.Hagen]

Cosworth 5w-30
Torco SR-5 5w-30 or 10w-30
Amsoil 5w-30

Honda 10W-40 is always a consistent performer, but is meant for a wide temperature range. You typically won't need a 40 weight motor oil for a f-sae car.

Haven't been happy with how Royal Purple performs on the automotive side of things, have yet to try it on a motorcycle engine. Probably wont.

Kendall Racing oil is also very good. As well as Pennzoil's racing formula.

Best idea is to get on a dyno and test, there are a number of good oils to choose from!

[VFR750R]

There are some oils sold by cv products called 'Joe Gibbs Driven' racing oil. The XP3 and XP1 are excellent racing specific oils. Better then some exlusive racing oils we've tried. The best oil i can suggest other the Pennzoil racing, which you probably can't get, is mobil 1 'pache blend'... which you probably can't get. Probably half the nascar field runs the pache blend.

[kapps]

What about the wet clutch setup in the f4i? Will any of these lighter oils cause clutch slippage?

[VFR750R]

Lighter oils won't, if anything they will be better but the additive packages may or may not effect holding torque.

If it's an issue I would recommend barnett carbon fiber clutch disks. They have worked superb for us at way higher then stock torque levels. We had issues with the Kevlar disks. They are probably fine for NA use, but FI they didn't cut it.

[Rob Comer]

i picked up some amsoil 10-40 and 30 synthetic. our dyno setup so well, but we can monitor temperature. We tried a kevlar clutch last year at Cali but due to people slipping the clutch it got roasted. When we pulled of the side case there was little piles of kevlar everywhere...after about 2 hours at most of driving. This is prob mostly due to our drivers but we don't have any professionals anyhow. Now we're going to stick with stock disks with aluminum hyperplates as they seem to work really well and are reliable.
-Rob