[quote]Not trying to steal the microphone from EB, but I have lots of experience with SYN lubes.....Overall, they are better.
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>>>*Heck, I invite comment, the whole point of starting the thread. GOOD tech piece, Keith!
*Synthetics are better simply because they will withstand more heat and loading. In most situations, regular Dino oil is more than adequate. In my Motor Home and Corvette, yep, synthetic. In my Camaro, good old valvoline 10W-30W. Same with the ranch rigs, *Yotas, good old Dino oil.
The BIG word in there is "balance", that is right on and it is the key. Too much pressure just robs power and heats the oil, not enough creates spectacular demonstrations of mechanical force.
Both can cause the same end result...Big cloud of smoke....
I do mildly disagree on one small point, once we had some really GOOD crankshafts to work with, we started to REDUCE crankpin diameter. We had plenty of strength, and reduction in size reduced bearing surface speeds, the difference between the surface of the shaft and the surface of the bearing was lower. This lowered friction, reduced heat buildup from hydraulics, and reduced the amount of pressure required. That meant more power left over to use to go fast.
Towards the end we had a Smallblock with a wet sump that we couldn't get the oil above 180 degrees on a hot day. Well, that one was a tiny Chevy V-8 (it had Toyota pistons, long story...) 3.1" stroke by 3.50" bore, yep..20R..In a 1980 267" V-8 case....The rod journals were only 1.970", mains spaced back to 2.970". (350 CFM 2BBL rules...)
Won the season with that one. You should have seen the tech official's faces when we got accused of cheating (again) and they pumped the engine for size, everybody else had a 355"....heehee...*EB
