Hello im new to the forums and i hope this topic hasnt been discussed ,if so im sorry to bother you but i've been running 20-50w (VR1 Race Oil 4 1/2Qts + Lucas) in my SVO since i got it. THe only reason i have been using because my uncle told me that the motor is fully built. The only modification thats i know of is that the pistons have been made bigger it has an aluminum head with titanium valves & springs with aluminums rods. It has a stage 2 turbonetics turbo @ 18 psi.
There are no oil leaks what so ever motor only has about 15-20K after being built( My uncle lost the papers to tell me the correct mileage).
It runs fine but i dont want to cause any damage to the motor.
There are a lot of opinions on oil and you know what opinions are like! The prevailing wisdom is to use 10w-30 on break in and after 500 miles, switch to synthetic oil. With all the aftermarket pieces on your SVO, it sounds like it's more of a race motor than a street motor. On your particular motor I think I'd go with synthetic.
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'89 LX ragtop with turbo'd TC motor - Thunderstang!
'86 Turbo Coupe (daily driver)
'88 Turbo Coupe (parts car)
Ya thats what i've been told. So would i go synthetic 10-30w? But i know you have to flush the motor out so it doesnt leave any deposit in the motor. How would i flush it i've heard you can use diesel oil for about 500 miles to clean your motor. What would be a correct way to flush it.
I'm not sure about flushing the motor. Can't you buy some type of motor flush at Kragen or Autozone? Personally, I don't see why you would need to flush it. Whatever deposits that were in there should be suspended within the oil and will come out during draining. However, I could be wrong. Believe me, I've been wrong before! Might want to try some Seafoam before you switch to synthetic. That'll clean everything out of your motor! Oh yeah, synthetic 10w-30 should be fine.
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'89 LX ragtop with turbo'd TC motor - Thunderstang!
'86 Turbo Coupe (daily driver)
'88 Turbo Coupe (parts car)
The best way to flush the engine ( without using Wynn's or some other type
of chemical "engine flush" ) is to change your oil and filter, run your car for a few
days, and then do it again. If you want to spend more money, get a buddy
to help you. Start your car, pull the drain plug, and run as many liters of oil
through as you want. Just make sure you shut off the engine BEFORE your
buddy stops pouring! lol.
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Currently sans Mustang
Gone but not forgotten: '83 Charcoal GT 5 spd,
'89 Black/Titanium GT 5 spd, '90 Black LX Hatch 5 spd, ...
If you want to spend more money, get a buddy
to help you. Start your car, pull the drain plug, and run as many liters of oil
through as you want. Just make sure you shut off the engine BEFORE your
buddy stops pouring! lol.
That's really not a good idea, as the oil pump would probably pull oil out of the pan faster than the poured-in oil is replacing the oil that is draining, resulting in oil starvation and probable pump/engine/turbo damage.
Chemical flushes aren't a great idea on turbo engines either, as most of them (especially Seafoam or B12 Chemtool) are as flammable (or more) than gasoline, and could burn-up the turbo, or worse, cause a fire or explosion.
The heaviest weight oil I'd run in a 2.3 is 10w40 (standard oil) or 15w50 (synthetic). Anything thicker is fairly likely to either shear the distributor gear or snap the roll-pin in the distributor shaft, both of which will cause the oil pump to stop pumping and keep the engine from running (and probably in that order, meaning it could cause engine damage if it happens at cruising RPMs or higher). Lucas is a great product (I run it in my own 2.3, reduces cam-follower wear to almost non-existant, and I used it as an assembly-lube when I reassembled it before I put it in the car.) You shouldn't have any problems just switching from the Valvoline VR1 to a synthetic, as VR1 is a pretty high-detergency oil in itself, and many of today's street-synthetics are good enough that they're also used in racing. (I recommend Mobil 1, Valvoline Synpower, or Castrol Syntec, all are excellent, just tore-down a 302 that did 210,000 miles and 20 years in a friends car, including hundreds of drag-strip passes, only noticeable wear in the entire engine was main bearings (which were still smooth even though they were worn), and he ran Valvoline Synpower from the day he bought it!) Just keep a good oil filter on it (Napa, Wix, Purolator PureONE, Motorcraft, or K&N Performance Gold) and switch to a good synthetic and she should give you years of life!
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1976 Ford Mustang II Ghia: 302 with a 600cfm Edelbrock carb, Edelbrock Performer 289 intake, Dynomax Blackjack headers, 2.5" exhaust with Flowmaster Super 44s. RJS 11-gallon fuel cell, C4 tranny, chrome 16" pony wheels, fuzzy dice, brown vinyl half-top, and painted in the tackiest color ever (harvest gold, that's why I call it "The Goldenrod").
Also have a 2003 Dodge Ram (lightly modded daily driver/tow rig/office/dining room/home away from home/workshop... I call it "The Big Blue Dawg".)
yea well your wrong.
do not switch to synthetic until 3000 miles, to ensure the rings seat properly.
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DSS 331 stroker, AFR 185 heads, Performer rpm 2 intake, Accufab 75 mm race TB, 30lb injectors, 80 mm Pro-M mass air, Extreme energy cam 266.
Anderson ford power pipe the big one, Ford motor sport shorty headers, Bassani x pipe custom cat back with flows, World class T5, center force duel friction clutch.
So i shouldnt have to worry about deposits building up in my engine is i switch to synthetic.
As far as the oil weight 10-40w or 15-50w would be fine? If so i think it would just be easier for me to change the weight than the material plus who needs synthetic when you can just pour in some lucas
The whole thing about synthetics causing rings to not seat is just an "old wive's tale" these days synthetics are factory-fill in most of your new high-performance cars, and even big engine builders like Recon are breaking them in with synthetics (My 308 was broken-in and shipped with Castrol 10w30 Syntec) rings sealed fine, been driving it for over a year now. Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords did an article where they ran down all the difference in various oils, even there they stated you can use synthetics to break-in an engine.
All that said? I'll still be using an old-fashioned 30wt when I break-in my new 302 for my '87 hatchback, I don't like to mess with what works, though I'm willing to admit when something else will work.
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1976 Ford Mustang II Ghia: 302 with a 600cfm Edelbrock carb, Edelbrock Performer 289 intake, Dynomax Blackjack headers, 2.5" exhaust with Flowmaster Super 44s. RJS 11-gallon fuel cell, C4 tranny, chrome 16" pony wheels, fuzzy dice, brown vinyl half-top, and painted in the tackiest color ever (harvest gold, that's why I call it "The Goldenrod").
Also have a 2003 Dodge Ram (lightly modded daily driver/tow rig/office/dining room/home away from home/workshop... I call it "The Big Blue Dawg".)
If the motor is built up at all, you need to go with the right weight for the way it was built (depends on bearing clearances, planned usage, what performance parts are in it.) 10w30 was factory fill on almost all of the 2.3s between 1974 and 1993 (the 20 model years that they were in Mustangs) I'm running 10w40 in mine because of age and wear-and-tear. The thickest I would ever run in a 2.3 using a factory style distributor would be conventional 10w40 with Lucas or 15w50 synthetic, because the 2.3s have a bad habit of shearing off teeth on the distributor gear and/or snapping the roll pin that holds the gear in place on the shaft if you run a thicker oil.
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1976 Ford Mustang II Ghia: 302 with a 600cfm Edelbrock carb, Edelbrock Performer 289 intake, Dynomax Blackjack headers, 2.5" exhaust with Flowmaster Super 44s. RJS 11-gallon fuel cell, C4 tranny, chrome 16" pony wheels, fuzzy dice, brown vinyl half-top, and painted in the tackiest color ever (harvest gold, that's why I call it "The Goldenrod").
Also have a 2003 Dodge Ram (lightly modded daily driver/tow rig/office/dining room/home away from home/workshop... I call it "The Big Blue Dawg".)
I know the motor is full built but as far as the distributor goes its the stock one i have an aftermaket TFI module and the MSD cap with Magnecor wires.
The only reason i've been running 20-50w on the motor is because when my uncle gave me the car he said he forgot the type of oil that was being used and i asked him if i should run synthetic and he said that they told him he shouldnt because it would mess up the motor. But i dont know why when sythetic is nice maybe they ment during the break in period while the rings sealed.
The reason im runnign 20-50w is because i found a receipt with of the most recent oil change in the vechile and thats what i said.
As far as clearance and other techinical things about the motor i have no idea just thats the motor is completely built.
Proper Oil Weight 
