Anybody using Driven brand HR-2 oil in their slant?

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@cruiser Has this engine been started yet or is it brand new zero run time or miles? Your builder suggests HR-2 which is conventional. I would 100% go with his recommendation, sounds like a smart builder. Don't cheap out now.

And before you think of going synthetic oil, ask your builder how many miles until synthetic could be used.
 
What would be a good recommendation for someone on a budget?
House brands are a good everyday price value. O'Reilly Syntec, Napa brand, Walmart Supertech, Costco Kirkland and Canadian Tire for our cousins to the north are all good products. Those places all run sales, too, so watch for them. Right now, I'm running Pennzoil Synthetic High Mileage 5W-30 in my little Vibe. I paid $21 for the oil on sale at Walmart. When I bought it, it was cheaper than Supertech.

If you still want a higher wear protection oil, look to the European spec stuff. VW, Mercedes, BMW and Porsche all have their own specs for oil because the API specs don't meet their approvals for anti-wear. Anything that meets Porsche A40 is really good stuff. Right now, the Walmart website is showing Porsche A40 spec Quaker State synthetic European 5W-40 for $22.97 for 5 quarts. That's a very good value. I really like the Mobil1 FS 0W-40. I use that in my 340. That usually runs about $28 regular price, but I'm pretty sure I've never paid that much. If you want to use something lighter, the Euro xxW-30s are a good value, too, if you get the 5-quart jug. There are fewer choices for the xxW-30s in the 5-quart jugs, and the single quarts are much higher priced. Since most of them also meet recent, if not current API specs, they'll be limited to 800ppm ZDDP. Still, plenty for a stock slant 6 or 318. The xxW-40s are limited to 1200 ppm, so that's where some of the extra wear protection comes from.
 
@cruiser Has this engine been started yet or is it brand new zero run time or miles? Your builder suggests HR-2 which is conventional. I would 100% go with his recommendation, sounds like a smart builder. Don't cheap out now.

And before you think of going synthetic oil, ask your builder how many miles until synthetic could be used.
Yes, the engine was broken in for 400 miles on Driven brand break-in oil. The builder is recommending conventional, not synthetic, oil going forward.
 
Yes, the engine was broken in for 400 miles on Driven brand break-in oil. The builder is recommending conventional, not synthetic, oil going forward.
No reason to doubt that recommendation, he knows what to do with his engines.
 
We run Cenpeco oil in all our stuff performance or daily driver. One motor gets turned 9000 regularly throughout the year and all was looks perfect on tear down. YouTube dirty hooker Duramax tear down to see other results
 
Guys/Gals: My engine builder swears that this is the only oil to use in my newly rebuilt slant six in my 1974 Duster.

Nope, he's wrong about that. You'll see and hear all kinds of handwaving and spooky ghost stories about how y'just cain't get oil that'll protect an old engine at the parts store any more, so y'gotta-gotta-gotta buy this, that, or the other special boutique oil. Horseshіt! The worst oil available today is leaps and bounds better than the best available 10 years ago, let alone in 1974 (or '84, or '94). Use any reputable brand of 5w30 oil in your new engine (there is no reason to avoid synthetic, but your engine doesn't require it), and a good quality filter; change the oil and filter at reasonable intervals, and scratch this off your list of stuff to fret about or spend unnecessary money on.

Good, dependable education on the matter here, and more discussion here and here and here and here and here and here and here.
 
When I bought my 408 from Blueprint Engines (hydraulic roller) they said to NOT use synthetic until after the engine has like 5000+ miles on it. They then changed that recommendation to something much higher. I used conventional oil since I would change it frequently and did not want to spend tons of $$ for no reason. My current engine is a solid roller with Harland Sharp roller rockers. I contacted Lake Speed for his oil recommendation and he recommended the GP-1 (15w/40) since it was a synthetic blend with ZDDP and was designed for just such a build. He said the needle bearings in the rockers will like the ZDDP. I used the BR oil for initial breakin.
 
Nope, he's wrong about that. You'll see and hear all kinds of handwaving and spooky ghost stories about how y'just cain't get oil that'll protect an old engine at the parts store any more, so y'gotta-gotta-gotta buy this, that, or the other special boutique oil. Horseshіt! The worst oil available today is leaps and bounds better than the best available 10 years ago, let alone in 1974 (or '84, or '94). Use any reputable brand of 5w30 oil in your new engine (there is no reason to avoid synthetic, but your engine doesn't require it), and a good quality filter; change the oil and filter at reasonable intervals, and scratch this off your list of stuff to fret about or spend unnecessary money on.

Good, dependable education on the matter here, and more discussion here and here and here and here and here and here and here.
Thanks, Dan. I just read your reply above and all the attachments you added. I know this engine oil topic has raged for years and I agree we're probably over-thinking it. My experience with the slant six engine goes back to 1977 when I bought my first car - a 225 powered 1974 Duster. People beat the snot out of these cars back then. The maintenance by the high school and college kids that drove them was spotty at best. They'd go much longer than the recommended interval for an oil change. They'd use cheap oil and crappy filters. And the motors kept running just fine. I never tore one down and checked the tolerances with a micrometer after this poor maintenance because I didn't have to. It wasn't the engines that killed these cars, it was rust. They would simply rust apart and go to the junkyard with an engine that still ran pretty well. So I think that your recommendation is spot on. Here's the oil I get at NAPA - around $12.00 for the five quart jug when it's on sale. I use the NAPA Gold #1068 filter as previously mentioned. My expectation is that this amazing (and now professionally rebuilt to zero time specifications) piece of engineering that the Chrysler Corporation created in the late fifties will run perfectly for the next 150,000 miles as long as I change the oil and filter every 3000 miles.

Any final thoughts on this?

cruiser

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That oil's fine. I'd pick the 5W30 version, but this is fine. I'd also use the larger 1515 filter instead of the smaller 1068, but again, the 1068 is fine. There is nothing to worry about in what you're doing about oil and filter.
 
That oil's fine. I'd pick the 5W30 version, but this is fine. I'd also use the larger 1515 filter instead of the smaller 1068, but again, the 1068 is fine. There is nothing to worry about in what you're doing about oil and filter.
Dan, I checked the NAPA site, and they say the 1515 filter won't work on my 1974 slanty. Any idea why? Thanks.
 
Dan, I checked the NAPA site, and they say the 1515 filter won't work on my 1974 slanty. Any idea why? Thanks.
Chrysler started using a shorter oil filter in '73 because some V8 installations didn't have room for the longer one. They decided to just use the shorter filter even in applications like the Slant-6 where the longer filter still fit fine. The NAPA catalogue just knows what's been programmed into it, which is the original-equivalent filter; it does not know what else will fit and work.

If your oil pump just has the stubby oil filter thread spud, without a standpipe 2-3" long sticking up from it, and you want to make extra-sure the engine gets oil immediately on startup, you can use the № 1806 filter. Same as 1515, but with inbuilt standpipe.
 
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Chrysler started using a shorter oil filter in '73 because some V8 installations didn't have room for the longer one. They decided to just use the shorter filter even in applications like the Slant-6 where the longer filter still fit fine. The NAPA catalogue just knows what's been programmed into it, which is the original-equivalent filter; it does not know what else will fit and work.

If your oil pump just has the stubby oil filter thread spud, without a standpipe 2-3" long sticking up from it, and you want to make extra-sure the engine gets oil immediately on startup, you can use the № 1806 filter. Same as 1515, but with inbuolt standpipe.
Thanks. Did you mean to say "inbuilt" in the last sentence?
 
That oil's fine. I'd pick the 5W30 version, but this is fine. I'd also use the larger 1515 filter instead of the smaller 1068, but again, the 1068 is fine. There is nothing to worry about in what you're doing about oil and filter.
I decided to go with your recommendation for the 1515 filter and conventional 5W-30 oil. Thanks!

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Glad to help out. Oh:

My expectation is that this amazing (and now professionally rebuilt to zero time specifications) piece of engineering that the Chrysler Corporation created in the late fifties will run perfectly for the next 150,000 miles as long as I change the oil and filter every 3000 miles.

That would have been an appropriate change interval for a preservation-minded driver using yesterday's sludgy oils and less-capable filters in an engine running on yesterday's dirty gasolines. Today, it's a needless waste of money and oil with no benefit to you, your car, or anyone else except the cash intake of NAPA and whoever makes their oil.

6,000 miles is much more realistic today, or maybe even more. If you're reluctant to let go of the propaganda (if you really care about your car, blah-blah-blah…) just on principle, have your oil analyzed at 3,000 miles; you'll get a detailed report on the condition of your engine and the oil in it, and you can decide whether and when to change (or run the next analysis) based on hard data applicable to your car.
 
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I decided to go with your recommendation for the 1515 filter and conventional 5W-30 oil. Thanks!

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Sad to hear this. What could go wrong? At least use the Driven HR-2 for a few oil changes while it is new and breaking in. At 400 miles it's not done yet. Why chance it?

Shall we take up a collection so you can use good quality oil in your 400 mile engine.
 
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