Bob,
The conventional and current wisdom is to use only regular mineral oil
through the break-in period. Usually considered to be about 1 to 3K miles.
How about the new Corvettes or BMW Z3's that come from the factory w/
synthetic oil? Well, now, those would be horses of a different color. A
lot of new vehicles are coming on the road with a synthetic blend oil from
the factory. Many new Fords and a lot of new Hondas. Is there a controversy
here? No, your TR engine is something entirely different. I firmly believe
that most mechanics are a bunch of die-hard analog guys in a digital world,
that would rather go to their grave believing something they heard 30 years
ago than to actually experiment and find out new things. You would no more
want to use a synthetic in your 1952 Packard, which BTW had no oil filter,
than to put a straight 30w non detergent in a new Corvette. You'd just be
asking for problems in either case. 20w50 Castrol has been the norm since
TR6's were new.
I wish to state that in no way have I attempted to contradict anything Mark
Macy has said about the subject.
30w ND in your TR- why not? It's break-in oil only. My point is that a
synthetic may not allow everything to seat properly.
Just my 2 cents,
Jeff Johnson
for what it's worth, no warranties expressed nor implied, YMMV, we hold
these truths to be self-evident, taillight guarantee only, to each his own,
blah, blah, yada yada.
At 01:49 AM 3/1/02 +0000, pmmacy@att.net wrote:
>Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 20:51:57 -0500
>From: "rmf3860@erols.com" <rmf3860@erols.com>
>Subject: Break-in oil
>
>Williams' book recommends mineral oil for initial break
>in of a new engine. For
>those with the book, is he suggesting mineral oil for
>each of the oil changes
>through 6,000 miles? (see page 94). I really don't think
>it's clear.,
>
>What have other members used for initial break-in of
>their rebuilt engines? I'm
>planning ahead; I should have my engine back from the
>machine shop in a week or
>so.
>
>Thanks
>Bob Fabie
>'75 TR6
>
>Bob:
> I've always used a non-detergent oil for break-in of
>car engines, and mineral oil (also non-detergent) for
>airplane engines. The concensus of opinion within my
>circle was that the detergent kept the cylinder walls
>too clean and slick while the presence if some
>microscopic "grit" would help to seat the rings. I
>don't know if this is an old mechanics' wives tale or
>not, but I have never had problem with numerous engines
>broken in this way. Also, 1000 miles (auto) or 50 hours
>(airplane) has always been adequate.
>--
>Mark Macy
>New Carlisle, OH
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