Penn vs Valvoline test results..Ed Wright

[Ron Gusack]

Earlier I started a thread that morphed into oil comparisons. I had been using Brad Penn 10-30 and tried some VR1 straight 30 with test results for both. Ed asked for me to post results back then so here's where I am so far. Here's the original thread http://classracer.com/classforum/sho...ght=ron+gusack.

Testing is from Blackstone. I put 9 runs on fresh 10-30 BP with a new Wix filter and 12 runs with fresh VR1 straight 30 and a fresh filter. I sent both samples in at the same time to eliminate Blackstone's machine calibration from being a factor although I don't know if different test machines were used. I divided the number of runs into the amounts of aluminum and iron for each oil to compare wear. I don't really know what I'm doing but I think I'm learning stuff so if you see major flaws, please jump in.

Brad Penn 10/30
9 runs
aluminum was 12/9=1.33
iron was 36/9=4.0
zinc 1652
phosphorus 1482
molybdenum 1
viscosity at 210F was 56.6 and should be 62-74. This could be because I had 3.8% fuel in the oil. Less than 2% is their acceptable range.

VR1 30 weight
12 runs
aluminum 9/12=.75
iron 20/12=1.66
zinc 1351
phosphorus 1271
molybdenum 58
viscosity was 59.7 at 210F and should be 62-74. This could be because I had 3% fuel in the oil, which I gotta figure out. Less than 2% is their acceptable range.

Judging from these results, I'd say the VR1 is a better oil. I don't like all the moly in it and it's the main reason I got away from VR1 back in the 80's. Tear downs always had a bunch of black slime in the pan and I hated it. A Valvoline tech told me it was moly. It was sorta like the paraffin we used to find in Quaker State engines in the 70's. Blackstone's tech told me that up to 20% of old oil remains in an engine when a change is done so the VR1 has some BP in it. I'm gonna go back with VR1 30 when the season starts and see what the results are and I'm going to up the number of runs between changes.