Lotus 51 Crankcase/Gearbox Lube

[Mrkszoo]

Greetings all,

Suggestions what to use in a Lotus 51 FF with regards to engine oil and gearbox lube. Brand, weight, that sort of thing.

Thank you in advance for any and all assistance.

Sincerely,

Mark Patterson
Hesperia, Ca
1968 Lots Mk 51 Formula Ford (Dad's car is almost done...)

[Steve Demeter]

For the box, red line shockproof, probably light would be about as good as it gets.

For the engine, any well known brand of racing oil would be fine. I use Valvoline in my FC.

[Mrkszoo]

For the box, red line shockproof, probably light would be about as good as it gets.

For the engine, any well known brand of racing oil would be fine. I use Valvoline in my FC.

Thank you Steve. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Mark

[LFFR]

I run Valvoline Racing 20w50, the high zinc stuff, in the engine. If you want to run something else, consider one of the ZDDP additives.

I am assuming you have a Hewland and not a Renault; I run the Redline lightweight shockproof, the blue stuff, in the Hewland. It has worked well. I've had reports of the synthetics not working well in syncro boxes, too slippery.

BTW, I don't see your name in the Lotus Formula Ford Register. http://www.lffr.org Has anyone ever registered your 51? Check out the discussion group on Yahoo, too. Link is on the LFFR site.

John Mihalich, Jr.

[Brian]

For the engine, I would start with full synthetic racing oil, 15W50, with ZDDP above 1000ppm. I used to use Motul. Another good alternative is 15W-40 diesel conventional oil, Rotella or Delo are common brands. Don't use current gasoline engine street car oil or your camshaft and lifters will see the light of day far sooner than you would like... For vintage cars I like to see the higher viscosity, unless your engine builder recommends something lighter.

Brian