I have been running Royal purple 20-50 and have good results, but I think I could gain a little more power running a lighter weight oil like a 0-20. What's the lightest oil we can run in a high reving rotary and still have the protection needed for drag racing? What brand and weight oil have you guys had success with and use?

 

20-50 is used better sutied for turbo cars...

i have always used 5w30 royal purple in my all motor cars. did you port the oil galleys and do any other oil upgrades when you rebuilt the motor? this has always been more important to me than my oil choice. and also depends on how tight or loose your bearing clearences are.

 

using total quartz racing 10w50

 

i use castrol 20w50.. runs sooo perrty

 

I have not done any major porting of the oil gallies, just cleaned them up a bit and did the oil pressure mods to raise oil pressure to about 100 psi.

I know all the regular oils will work and be ok. I guess my main question is what is the best racing oil for maximum hp for a rotary engine with stock oil clearances?
I've heard of pro stock and professional drag racers using very light weight oils like 4 and 6 weight, but I think they are running very tight bearing clearances. Does anyone know what the lightest weight oil you can run with stock clearances and not worry about spun bearings?

 

probley not much lighter than 5-30, i know on some of the big money cars the motors are kept warm and fed warm oil and water intraveniously (spelled right?) or the motor will lock up because the tolerances are so tight. (atleast this is how piston engine are done)

but im no pro, so maybe some more NA power house players will chime in... every horsepower counts when your not using power adders.

 

The important question is what are your oil temps?

 

10w40 with a bottle of lucas oil stabilizer

 

Allen, I don't have an oil temp guage as I thought it uneccessary in a drag car. I'm not even running an oil cooler. I would think the oil can't get too hot running a 7-12 second pass?

 

try some thin oil and let us know ok jay......

 

torco sr5 used it on the world challenge car , drift car and drag car , its almost as good as wesson

 

As awkward as it is to say I think that is the best post I have seen in the last year. Think people really need to understand how their oil reacts at various temps to find the best. Personally, I think for where I live 20w50 is too thick (Northern temps)

Brad Penn 0w30 and 10w30 here.

 

castrol 20-50, refreshed the engine and bearings were looking great. as far as power is concern, i don't know if i gain power from it. i've also tried valvoline vr1 racing oil, 20-50. what i normally look for is which breaks down faster under the same driving condition. just my opinion if i see my oil pressure drops 10 psi lower than normal, after a drive on highway, time to change that bitch. oh i'm also using two oil coolers, i think that plays a part too in cooling the oil.

 

Man, I know rotary racing secrets are tight but c'mon guys we are talking about oil here for crying out loud, not tuning.

 

**** that. If I test and find that 4 weight oil gains 20 horsepower, I ain't telling you guys ****!

 

talking about different oils, i spoke to an Amsoil dealer recently, i got a catalog and they have an oil that protects against cars that run rich/different types of fuels, it's suppose to prevent the oil from breaking down not as fast as other oils would; gonna give it a try

 

If it were me i would use 5W30. As far as the brand, i really don't think it matters. If you were trying to get every ounce of power out i would say go with a 20W or even a 10W but the shock loads are not as good so you may have issues with a motor that doesn't get inspected often. There are really too many variables to say "use this oil". I would say that it would be more important that your coolant and oil temps are up before making a pass than the oil you use. Now if you were running a turbo motor forget everything i said Come to think of it, when is the last time you heard of an oil related failure on a rotary?

 

doh!