Which type of oil to use

JozefJ said

Hi guys,

I'm running a 318 V8 in a '73 dart sport.
Come April I will be changing the oil of the car. The temperature in our area (Netherlands) is between 5 and 30 degrees Celsius during the period in which the car will be out of the winter storage.

I see that 20w50 is the recommend oil type. Would that be the way to go? Or do you guys have other reccomenations?

I know that it should be non-synthetic and with a relatively high level of zinc.

Thanks for thinking along!

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The Chrysler and Chevrolet Racing manuals both stated that SAE 30 oil resulted in the least wear, back in the day. I used to, and still do, run 20w50 or SAE 30 Valvoline Racing oil, VR1, in all my cars from 1966-2001 except in the winter. The lightest oil I will ever run is 10w30 even in the 5.7 Hemi's we own. Zinc is the key and changing your oil and filter every 3,000 miles. You will never have an oil related failure, I have multiple cars with 250,000 + miles on them and they still run pretty much like new. They used to say synthetic oil was not compatible with old seals, I could not say if that is true or not. With my self imposed 3,000 mile limit per oil change it does not pay to run synthetic, except in the 5.7 Hemis. I figure it is cheap insurance. If 20w50 is so thick, how do I get mpg so high that most can not believe it? Something does not add up in my mind...