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Best oil for a 280Z?????


jackwashere

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Hey guys

 

I have a 1972 Datsun 240z. Now i know i know, i said 280z in the title. That is because the car got an engine swap with a 280z from the previous owner. The chassis has a little over 60,000 miles on it, and the engine has roughly 100,000. I was wondering what brand, oil weight, oil type (synthetic/conventional/semi-synthetic) that you guys would prefer for this mid to high mileage engine. Im sure a lot of people would benefit form this thread. Any sort of input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

 

-Jack

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Hey guys

 

I have a 1972 Datsun 240z. Now i know i know, i said 280z in the title. That is because the car got an engine swap with a 280z from the previous owner. The chassis has a little over 60,000 miles on it, and the engine has roughly 100,000. I was wondering what brand, oil weight, oil type (synthetic/conventional/semi-synthetic) that you guys would prefer for this mid to high mileage engine. Im sure a lot of people would benefit form this thread. Any sort of input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

 

-Jack

this topic i am sure has been covered you can search around but you will find that it comes down to personal opinion. In my 76 280z i only run Mobil 1 10w30. but you will find 50 others.

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this topic i am sure has been covered you can search around but you will find that it comes down to personal opinion. In my 76 280z i only run Mobil 1 10w30. but you will find 50 others.

 

Thanks for the info. I searched for a while and couldnt find anything specific to oil types. Do you use synthetic or conventional?

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+1 for Rotella T. I got a look inside my friends stock 350 in his 3500 4x4 Suburban, the trucks 345K miles had all been on Rotella T. This guys a Diesel tech and had used the Rotella since the truck was new, he swears by it. Hands down the cleanest interior of any high mileage truck engine I've ever seen. He inspected everything and put it back together. The next week he packed his family and drove from Atlanta to California all on NO rebuild. I figure if it does that AND keeps a lot of high performance high boost high mile diesels together its good enough for my punny L28et. Not the most scientific of reasons and I don't even have a picture of it but it is why I run it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

While any oil today is better than anything yesterday, you could be loosing up to 5% hp with anything higher than 10/40 and gunking up the engine if you are running conventional oil...I use 10/30 Mobil 1 syn on my stroker turbo and just got done pulling it apart after 30K miles (busted block) and the internals are cleanier that what they were when I assembled it a few years ago; all look like new parts...rods, pistons, crank, head, timing chain assembly, you name it.

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While any oil today is better than anything yesterday, you could be loosing up to 5% hp with anything higher than 10/40 and gunking up the engine if you are running conventional oil

 

The detergent package in the oil and how frequently the oil is changed determines how clean the engine internals are, not the base oil stock. You can develop just as much "gunk" in your engine by not changing your synthetic oil as not changing your dino oil.

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I use conventional oil in my NA Z cars, but that's simply because I'm cheap. If I paid over 3k for one or rebuilt an engine myself I'd consider running synthetic. For a completely stock L motor I just don't see the point. Now, my current DD is a 280zx that I got with 200k on it and BAD oil burning on engine braking and even keeping it in neutral while braking I'd still go through almost a quart every 500mi. So my cheap ass started putting in 20-50w. I've received flack for that here but guess what? The engine now has 245k, runs as good if not better than when I got it, and has no indication of getting worse. Is this from my oil choice? No, but I'm pointing out that oil weight is only a small aspect of engine health.

 

In a perfect world I'd figure out if its a leak in the head or rings, and just fix it. But why would I do all that on a car that's been fine for over 40k that I got for FREE??? :-D

 

Now, my turbo motor always gets synthetic and I run 10-30w. But I'm a firm believer in synthetic for turbo motors and choose weight base more off of what temps are where I live than anything else. Also, I add a zinc additive in most cases because most oils are low on zinc since it's no longer as needed in modern engines. But I'll be the first to admit that's more of a "well it can't be bad so why not?" kind of thing.

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And some of us wonder why the OP couldnt find an answer using the search. diesel, 30W, 20w50, 10w30, syn, ect... ROFL!

I only use good oil in my more built engines/modern engines.

I could see using some of the diesel oils in the older stockish L series. Why not.

I have to agree with John about syn oils and gunk. Ive worked on enough BMW's with synthetic oils. Driving styles and intervals kill those engines.

 

My RB25 is picky about its oils. It tends to burn some synthetics like royal purple 5w30 but not redline 5w30 or Mobile 1. My L series will take about any oil I stick in there. Even the Turbo engines. If the engine is high mileage I add Lucas stabilizer.

 

In my 2L roadster I run Kendal GT1 synthetic as it has the additives needed for older valve guides and such. I really like Kendal GT1 for my older cars, but its slightly more spendy than conventional oils and is harder to get my hands on locally or Id run it in my nicer L series as well, but it doesnt seem to make much of a difference as some of these L series havent seen the additives in hundreds of thousands of miles at this point and havent killed the valve guides or valve-train. This seems to be a testament to Nissans manufacturing and choice of materials way back when they made the good stuff though. BB chevy heads would have sucked a valve long ago.

 

I dont know what your going to pull from this thread other than the Lseries is pretty stout no matter what oil you dump into it. If you find something that works well like the diesel stuff mentioned post back. Im not sure your gonna find some short term benefit from one vs the other though on a stock 100K mile L28. 100K miles on an original L28 is not much. Id bet your gonna find perfect cross hatch marks on the cylinder walls still.

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