wiped cams

[RICK LAKE]

Tom Kirkham. Tom I have run lucas in my cars and trucks for 4 years. That foaming of the oil is crap. I go 1K miles to run&gun at gateway. Straight 12 hours of driving I have NEVER seen the oil in my truck LOOK like a coolant/ water mixture. I also check the oil every 250 miles when I gas up. Lucas is a clinging oil to parts. The ONLY down side I have found is a possible loss of O2 sensor reaction to the throttle. The O2 speed slows down over time. I clean them with TEC and they pick back up again. I have tested Lucas with my cars and trucks. I have let them sit for 3 weeks and done startups, NO noise from any of them. I have raced the cobra and to date have not got the oil to foam. Burnt smell yes. As for Cranes tech info, IMO I don't agree. As the motor breaks in the rpm's go up by themselves. I adjust the rpm back and try and maintain the 2,500 rpm. Tom I am no pro builder. The rings for the pistons and the cylinder finish are the main reason for breakin. You will know in the first 30 seconds if the motor is alright, that's about 90% of the time. 30 years of old school building of motors still works for my motors. We are still have fights about high oil pressures in FE motors. The old masters of the 60's are running in the high 60's to low 80 psi, with an FE bottom end. I have not seen one set of bearings that are worn out from excessive oil pressure. I run 130+ psi when the motor is started. The FI system control the high idle for the first 3 minutes. By this time the engine has some heat building up and the oil pressure gauge is not pinned. I prelube the motor before starting also. I put the 482 kit from Barry R. in my Shelby motor last Sept. The 452 bearings, the crank and rods looked perfect. This is with about 50 passes at the 1/4 mile. About 200 miles of roadracing, and god knows how much autocross runs I have made. 2-300. Low speed under 50mph and high G force turns. I break my motors in on the highways with running between 2,000 rpm and going to 3,500 rpm. Back and forward. As more miles happen I up the rpms to the Max with a min. of 500 miles on the motor. I also do many oil changes, 2-3 by 500 miles and check each filter for those little metal particles. I don't know what the air gap is in that tester but, I am sure that has something to do with the foaming. It's all about choice Tom. As for the synthetic oil, some motors come off the assembly lines with Mobil 1 in the crankcase. I think the crosshairs and the finish of the cylinder walls have alot to do with the breakin of Low tension rings also. Tom I bet you spent a couple of years doing research for your company. You continue to do this today. To make the best, better. The fit and finish I have seen on Kirkhams speaks for itself. It's the same with motors, what works you stay with. Every once in a while You do play outside the box, but not too far. Professor Morris car is some machine. Rick L.