# Oil for breaking in a freshly built vrt



## CerealKiler (May 10, 2011)

Hey y'all! I have a built 2.8 12v with wiseco 82mm pistons and IE rods. I'm just about ready to break it in and am wondering what oil to use... Should Lucas break in additive be used?


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## PjS860ct (Dec 22, 2002)

No lucas stuff... 

Normal dino oil or check out Brad Penn break-in oil:beer: 




My opinion of course


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## 'dubber (Jun 15, 2004)

Lucas break-in has a lot of zinc in it, which is great for running-in.


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## thegave (Dec 22, 2008)

The cheapest mineral you can get for the first 50 miles


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## CerealKiler (May 10, 2011)

I've heard mineral oil several times. I'm hoping I can find some stuff at autozone or advance auto. I'll take a look there. I was a bit sketch on the Lucas additive to begin with so ill stay away from it.


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## PjS860ct (Dec 22, 2002)

Brad Penn or Joe Gibbs break in oil (check amazon or ebay) 

I actually just used Napa's non synthetic 10w30 oil. Then changed to my normal oil (Brad Penn 20w50 racing oil) after I felt it had enough break in period.:beer:opcorn:


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## CerealKiler (May 10, 2011)

PjS860ct said:


> Brad Penn or Joe Gibbs break in oil (check amazon or ebay)
> 
> I actually just used Napa's non synthetic 10w30 oil. Then changed to my normal oil (Brad Penn 20w50 racing oil) after I felt it had enough break in period.:beer:opcorn:


 Fair enough, I may just use that then! Is brad penn better than royal purple?


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## PjS860ct (Dec 22, 2002)

Royal purple is a good oil brand but its all what you prefer to run.:beer:


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## 2.0 Ho (Sep 27, 2006)

By far the cheapest place I have found and I believe they have free shipping on the oil. I bought 7 quarts for my vr and it arrived in a couple of days. But I would say you use the Brad Penn break in oil. This stuff looks damn near black when your poor it in. Freaked me out initially. 
http://www.littlepowershop.net/servlet/the-3489/Brad-Penn-Racing-Break/Detail


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## Norwegian-VR6 (Feb 6, 2002)

Oslo cylinder service here in Norway builds Top Fuel engines and alot of other serious race engines. Done for for 30 years. They bored and put my bottom end togheter in 2009. Wiseco 82.5mm with H-profil rods. 

I asked them about break in oil. He said : Buy a cheap mineral oil and take it easy for around 1000km. 
Why mineral oil? Because synthetic oil lubricate to good so it takes longer time for the piston rings to settle propperly. 
They used semi synthetic Valvoline VR1 oil on the drag engines by the way.


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## PjS860ct (Dec 22, 2002)

Vr1 oil is a great racing oil :thumbup: 

Both Brad Penn and Joe Gibbs are also a semi syn racing oil with lots of zinc :beer:


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## dub_slug (May 12, 2008)

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm


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## CerealKiler (May 10, 2011)

dub_slug said:


> http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm


 
I know, I know lol! There weren't any recommendations for which oil to use in there. I'm not sure ill be able to follow the break-in process though. It'll all depend on how the car acts at first startup since the Ecu had a general tune on it.


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## thegave (Dec 22, 2008)

I think it does mention mineral oil in there somewhere, that's how I heard about it.


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## sTT eV6 (Oct 26, 2010)

I used Millers running in oil on mine and i wasn't aggressive enough for the first 50 miles and i ended up not bedding the top ring, so i ended up replacing the rings and trying again. 

Hard or slow break in..that should be the next debate.. 
Steve


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## 2.0 Ho (Sep 27, 2006)

*Re: Vrt fueling setup question*



mdlite said:


> Any opinion on a good adj fpr?


 I'm curious what the manufacture does because I'm willing to bet they throw it on the dyno once and call it good lol

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2


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## CerealKiler (May 10, 2011)

I've read through that entire web page twice and I never saw any recommendation as far as brand. I did see them mention mineral oil... Not sure if there is a brand for it or not but autozone didn't have any in stock. Lame... I'm out of town so I figure ill just order some and have it shipped while I'm out.


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## thegave (Dec 22, 2008)

I think the take home message was that it really doesn't matter, and I'm kind of guessing the cheaper the better you want something that's going to allow the rings to really bed in and for that the lube can't be too good at its job.


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## CerealKiler (May 10, 2011)

Yup, for sure. Might as well start it for 30 seconds dry! Lol just kidding.  

Cant wait for the little issues to begin after the first startup!


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## JettaG60MK2Rider (Feb 13, 2005)

I have heard/use the cheapest thin 5-30 convention oil(make sure you use a zinc additive for flat tappet) for the first 20mins at 2500 RPM. then drain, go to royal purple break in oil for 500 miles. doing a series of heat ranging. then drain, replace with your choice of synthetic. this is what they do at my cousins dealer on all of the mustang race cars they build(well know large ford dealer in RI)
this is how i will be doing my 16V turbo i am very close to starting
:thumbup:


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## thegave (Dec 22, 2008)

The 15-20 minutes at 2500rpm is only for breaking in new cams and I am not sure it's good for the block.

You know the starting with the plugs disconnected trick right? Gets the oil circulating first.


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## JettaG60MK2Rider (Feb 13, 2005)

yeap! i actually prime the pump manually via IM shaft. but in a vr thats perfect


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## CerealKiler (May 10, 2011)

Just a little update... I used a non synthetic oil from Walmart. It's been a little over 1000 miles and running strong. Strong as it gets... No burning oil, nothing. It wast easy, but it's almost reliable to drive now lol. 

I plan on doing an oil change today and was wondering what you all think I should do. I was thinking of going with rotella but what should I do when going from mineral to synthetic? Half and half or what?


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## 'dubber (Jun 15, 2004)

I've been running the non-synthetic 15-40 Rotella, or Delo, whichever I can get cheapest, for years now, with no issues. All year round, daily driver. I can usually find it for under $15 a gallon.


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## CerealKiler (May 10, 2011)

Legit. I think that's what I'll go with. Do I need to go half and half for a while or just switch 100%? 

Off topic... Anyone experience running a stock clutch on 12 lbs of boost? I've been doing it for a while now with no issues... Yet!


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## dub_slug (May 12, 2008)

Just go to regular oil. I use the shell rotella 15-40 in my Nissan  always loved that oil. It's so cheap and good there's no reason to not change your oil all the time.


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## CerealKiler (May 10, 2011)

dub_slug said:


> Just go to regular oil. I use the shell rotella 15-40 in my Nissan  always loved that oil. It's so cheap and good there's no reason to not change your oil all the time.


Lol love your vehicles... "dirty jap slut" 

That oil pan had a crack in it so I just pulled it off last night and welded it up really quick. Good as new! :thumbup: I figure the oil is pretty dark and I don't want to put it all back in, so I guess I'll just go with Rotella. Do you need to slowly introduce synthetic after a non synthetic break in? I'm hearing mixed results.


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## 'dubber (Jun 15, 2004)

I would just go with non-synthetic Rotella or Delo 15w-40, put in a new filter, and call it a day. The stuff is made for turbo diesels, so it has zinc & good detergents in it. You will save a ton of money over running synthetic.


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## CerealKiler (May 10, 2011)

'dubber said:


> I would just go with non-synthetic Rotella or Delo 15w-40, put in a new filter, and call it a day. The stuff is made for turbo diesels, so it has zinc & good detergents in it. You will save a ton of money over running synthetic.


So you are saying to run non synthetic for the life of the car?


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## 'dubber (Jun 15, 2004)

Yeah man, the delo 15w40 or the rotella 15w40. 
The only time you might want to go with the 5w40 synthetic is if it gets below 20 deg F. Then the 15w gets a little thick on cold start.


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## CerealKiler (May 10, 2011)

Oh okay I didn't know rotella was non synthetic! Looks like I'll be picking some up today. Any reccomendations on an oil filter? Figured I'd see if there's one you prefer.


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## 'dubber (Jun 15, 2004)

Well you are right, the Delo and Rotella 5w-40 is the synthetic, 

but the 15w-40 is not. 

For filters, I usually go with the MANN filters, but if I need one locally, I have no problems with going down to the local store and getting a PUROLATOR regular kind **without the teflon impregnated BS**. Just the regular kind in the red, blue & white box. 

I'm pretty sure that BOSCH is OK, and maybe the HENGST and MAHLE are OK too. 

But the MANN and the PUROLATOR definitely have the built-in check-valve flapper thing, which you want, and their paper elements can both stand up to the higher start-up pressures with no problems. 

Also you want to make sure you get the proper model year filter, the obd1 cars have a slightly different one compared to the obd2 cars.

If anyone disagrees or has anything to add, feel free to constructively criticize.


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## VEE-DUBBER (Nov 22, 2000)

CerealKiler said:


> Off topic... Anyone experience running a stock clutch on 12 lbs of boost? I've been doing it for a while now with no issues... Yet!


I'm at 16 pounds and no slippage YET. I have a clutchnet setup ready to go in so I figured why not see what the stocker will hold. My turbo doesnt spool till around 3800 though.

Regarding oil, I run Liqui Moly 5w40 synthoil and add their friction modifier.
For break in run whatever is around and cheap. I drove mine like any other day. No special treatment. After 500 miles I changed to my regular stuff and 0 problems.


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## CerealKiler (May 10, 2011)

VEE-DUBBER said:


> I'm at 16 pounds and no slippage YET. I have a clutchnet setup ready to go in so I figured why not see what the stocker will hold. My turbo doesnt spool till around 3800 though.
> 
> Regarding oil, I run Liqui Moly 5w40 synthoil and add their friction modifier.
> For break in run whatever is around and cheap. I drove mine like any other day. No special treatment. After 500 miles I changed to my regular stuff and 0 problems.


Thats pretty much exactly what I'm at right now.  What turbo are you running? I'm on the GT35r.

I'll go grab some 15w-40 tonight and hopefully build up my new coil bracket and drive it around tomorrow. It's so fun and now that it's running right, I'm able to do upkeep and make the beast of a car look half way decent. The PO wrecked it, blew a head gasket, somehow got rear ended by a fork lift (my assumption), and just plain out didn't care... 

I feel pretty confident in the rotella 15w-40 as I hear a lot of other people on it. :thumbup:


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## dub_slug (May 12, 2008)

Ah **** a crack? My bad Its been maybe 3 years since I had that car together and running. Glad you got her fixed up. Hope the new oil pan and drain setup are working for ya :thumbup:

But yea bro just run the non synthetic shell rotella T. It's the only oil I've found to actually cool down after a good heat soaked high speed pull. I'm running the 15-40 rotella in my Nissan now and she loves every bit of it. 

I would highly recommend getting the BOSCH oil filter at the very minimum! the wix filters aren't bad. I've found the k&n filters to be the best tho. With Bosch and wix at a tie for second


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## blowndub (Mar 27, 2007)

I blew my first try and didn't get the rings seated because I took it to easy for 200 miles. Tried again with new rings and Dino 10w-30 oil, pulled a IC pipe and ran N/A for 50 miles or so ripping it every chance I could. It's really good to seat the rings in on the decel after a hard pull. Don't push the clutch in and let the motor slow you down. Seated my rings in just fine this time on the same cross hatch. Boosting 21psi now with no issues.


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## CerealKiler (May 10, 2011)

Nice! Yeah I tried to follow this mototune article the best I could. I drove it like any normal day and used the breaks as little as I could. I've got about 2k on it with no issues so far  the only current problem is the battery... It keeps dying on me and I'm currently stranded lol. Time to take it and get a new one!


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