Oil change / Royal Purple?
Oil change / Royal Purple?
I'm about to do an oil change for my 1990 RX-7 GXL and I'm wondering if Royal Purple is good to use. I heard that you shouldnt use synthetic oil for your RX-7 but is Royal Purple an exception?
Waste of money that ****. Synthetic oils don't burn as well as mineral. This might be hard for you to believe but your RX7 will prefer it if you feed it crappy oil. 20w50 and it will keep loving you. Given the price of royal purple buy yourself some floormats or something with the change, you'll appreciate it more.
Mobil1 runs well in rotas, i have been lead to believe from some reputable sources. HOWEVER, that is just 2nd hand info.
An Engine builder i know here, and a couple other builders i dont know personally, all recommend Penrite Mineral.
If you are pre-mix, go with synthetic.
An Engine builder i know here, and a couple other builders i dont know personally, all recommend Penrite Mineral.
If you are pre-mix, go with synthetic.
Royal Purple is good stuff, it's throughly tested in Rotaries [one of their top guys runs RX-7s], it will burn clean, it will reduce wear on your stationary gear and rotor bearings.... but it's not worth the price difference - the parts it prolongs the life of are relatively low wear parts to begin with, and relatively cheap to replace when they are worn.*
The general consensus is to run mineral oil in all but *extreme* race conditions. Castrol GTX 20W-50 is usually cited as the preferred mineral oil, but it's up to around half the price of Royal Purple around here...
Personally.. If I can't get a deal on Castrol, I usually grab Chevron.
Also, buy high quality oil filters: Mazda [surprisingly cheap!], WIX, NAPA Gold, etc..
*While you're doing an engine rebuild. You wont even be able to detect any wear on them until then anyway.
The general consensus is to run mineral oil in all but *extreme* race conditions. Castrol GTX 20W-50 is usually cited as the preferred mineral oil, but it's up to around half the price of Royal Purple around here...
Personally.. If I can't get a deal on Castrol, I usually grab Chevron.
Also, buy high quality oil filters: Mazda [surprisingly cheap!], WIX, NAPA Gold, etc..
*While you're doing an engine rebuild. You wont even be able to detect any wear on them until then anyway.
Waste of money that ****. Synthetic oils don't burn as well as mineral. This might be hard for you to believe but your RX7 will prefer it if you feed it crappy oil. 20w50 and it will keep loving you. Given the price of royal purple buy yourself some floormats or something with the change, you'll appreciate it more.
1/2 the junk are additives left overs. try it in a lab and burn the oil at 1200 celsius you will know what I mean.
and are you trying to tell me a Group II (which most mineral-based engine oils are) is more purified than anything in the higher group ? Hydrocraked/Poly/Ester ?

the "is it worth it" is just an opinion. Just like most of us like Rotary more than piston engines.
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FC3S Pro v2.0:* FAQ, Synthetic Oils in the Engine quite good info on the subject here.
Last edited by FCSLIDE; Aug 21, 2012 at 08:58 AM.
I do not have a lot of knowledge about the topic, but i do know and use Idemitsu synthetic oil as it is safe to use for rotaries. It's made specifically for them. The negative being that you can't get it at any local store. I have thought about switching my girlfriend to Royal Purple in the future for convienence and to eliminate shipping costs.?
Are you using the omp or premixing?
Are you using the omp or premixing?
Last edited by tuscanidream; Aug 21, 2012 at 10:05 AM.
I run castrol because thats what previous owner ran an its a good oil. When i put a new engine into it, i will run only synthetic. I've had people say that synthetic is bad for rotaries and that it will ruin stuff ect ect. But the engine builder i know showe me some rebuilds he was doing and i was able to compare standard oil and synthetic sode by side. At 200k the synthetic engine looked significantly cleaner and showed less wear than the standard oil engines. Everyone will tell you something different. We tested a bunch of oils and RP was not that great, but it was purple...Amsoil is my oil of choice but is pricey. Find what works for you an go with it
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From: So Cal where the OC/LA/SB counties meet
Interestingly, the cost of dino oil has gone up so much there can be little difference between the cost. For instance, I just purchased a bunch of Royal Purple on sale at Autozone for $6 a quart. GTX regular price is a little over $5 a quart.
Bloody hell that's cheap. Over here in aus I think that gtx retails for about 30 for 5 litres and royal purple costs 99 for 5 litres.
I've gone with a 50/50 mix of Castrol GTX 10w30 and Mobil1 for years. The engine's never been out of the car, so I can't comment on how clean it's staying, but given my compression has dropped on about 5psi/rotor and is still well within stock specs, over the 14 years I've owned and bagged the car, it seems to be working.
Probably not - 20w50 is more a choice for hot climates - like the US "sand" states in the south. You likely never see higher than 25C ambient in PEI, I'm guessing. Heavier oil is only a benefit if you are seeing high oil temps with lower pressure due to heat-related thinning - and in your climate, and presumably relatively short trips, heavier oil is just going to cost mileage, and possibly lubricate more poorly, especially at start up and short trips. If you track the car (autocrossing doesn't count, runs are too short to significantly heat-load oil), 20w50 might make sense.
I've gone with a 50/50 mix of Castrol GTX 10w30 and Mobil1 for years. The engine's never been out of the car, so I can't comment on how clean it's staying, but given my compression has dropped on about 5psi/rotor and is still well within stock specs, over the 14 years I've owned and bagged the car, it seems to be working.
I've gone with a 50/50 mix of Castrol GTX 10w30 and Mobil1 for years. The engine's never been out of the car, so I can't comment on how clean it's staying, but given my compression has dropped on about 5psi/rotor and is still well within stock specs, over the 14 years I've owned and bagged the car, it seems to be working.
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SPUD's Drag Strip!..has a ring to it!
Royal Purple is good stuff, it's throughly tested in Rotaries [one of their top guys runs RX-7s], it will burn clean, it will reduce wear on your stationary gear and rotor bearings.... but it's not worth the price difference - the parts it prolongs the life of are relatively low wear parts to begin with, and relatively cheap to replace when they are worn.*
The general consensus is to run mineral oil in all but *extreme* race conditions. Castrol GTX 20W-50 is usually cited as the preferred mineral oil, but it's up to around half the price of Royal Purple around here...
Personally.. If I can't get a deal on Castrol, I usually grab Chevron.
Also, buy high quality oil filters: Mazda [surprisingly cheap!], WIX, NAPA Gold, etc..
*While you're doing an engine rebuild. You wont even be able to detect any wear on them until then anyway.
The general consensus is to run mineral oil in all but *extreme* race conditions. Castrol GTX 20W-50 is usually cited as the preferred mineral oil, but it's up to around half the price of Royal Purple around here...
Personally.. If I can't get a deal on Castrol, I usually grab Chevron.
Also, buy high quality oil filters: Mazda [surprisingly cheap!], WIX, NAPA Gold, etc..
*While you're doing an engine rebuild. You wont even be able to detect any wear on them until then anyway.
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