There's no doubt that the right engine can breathe new life into your Mopar, turning your docile, mild mannered daily driver into an animal. And while we know an engine is simply a mechanical set of parts designed to produce torque and power, the comparison of an engine to an animal is not a far stretch. Like an animal, an engine needs the correct respiratory system (induction and heads) to breath properly, as well as a good circulatory system (the oil system) for ultimate survival. Unlike an animal, however, we can choose the lifeblood (oil) that we put in our engine to ensure maximum protection.
If you've followed our annual AMSOIL/Mopar Muscle Engine Challenge, then you know that each year the contest features a different set of rules, a different Mopar engine type, and eight of the country's best Mopar engine builders. In general, we set a basic combination of engine style, displacement, and some years even dictate the cylinder heads and/or the type of camshaft that must be used. Each engine is delivered to the Mopar Nationals, and then transported to Comp Cam's Memphis, Tennessee, research facility where they are placed on the dyno and tested with Rockett Brand 93 octane fuel. Using this fuel ensures the compression of these engines remains at a pump gas friendly level since we know most of our readers' cars are used for street driving.
You really don't know if engine oil is doing its job until you tear the engine down, somet
The rules for this year's challenge are pretty simple and can be found in their entirety on our website, moparmusclemagazine.com. There are some changes to the rules this year, and we're eager to see if our engine builders capitalized on them, but the basic premise of the 2010 contest is a build featuring the Mopar small-block, with RHS's new small-block cylinder heads, and whoever makes the most horsepower per cubic inch is the winner. One thing that won't change this year, however, is the oil we'll be using. Since AMSOIL signed on as the sponsor of our contest, we've been using their 10W40 synthetic motor oil, and this month we'll take the opportunity to show you why.
There are literally hundreds of engine oils on the market today, which makes choosing the proper oil a difficult decision. If you're like us, however, you want the best oil for your Mopar and know that synthetic motor oils use a higher quality base stock, combined with a better additive package, offering more protection than conventional motor oils. As one of the first companies to engineer and test synthetic motor oils, AMSOIL is an industry leader when it comes to understanding what high-performance engines need, and providing an oil that will protect the engine no matter how extreme the conditions. Available in multiple viscosities, we chose their 10W40 for a variety of reasons.
It's been proven on the dyno and at the track that thinner oils will make more power, using less of the engine's power to pump the oil to critical engine parts and reducing friction, windage, and parasitic drag as well. Knowing that our readers comprise a national audience, however, and that engines in different parts of the country will require different viscosity oils for proper operation, we decided to stay away from extremely low viscosity engine oil. Low viscosity oils require special attention to engine clearances, and in our opinion are more appropriate for race engines than the street engines in our contest. Since most of our readers drive their cars in nice weather primarily, we decided to use AMSOIL synthetic motor oil in a well-known and popular 10W40 viscosity. This is a great all-temperature motor oil, offering protection in most of the climates where our readers drive their Mopars.
Each year eight engine builders deliver their masterpieces to the Mopar Nationals. The eng
Last year Schurbon Engine and Machine teamed up with Mo-par City, winning the Engine Chall
The viscosity motor oil that you choose should largely be based on the ambient temperature
The API is responsible for establishing engine oil categories and standards.
The only way to know if motor oil is really doing its job is to tear the engine down and inspect the parts after running the engine. This really isn't feasible for most of us, since an engine rebuild is maybe a once in a lifetime event, and removing the engine to inspect bearings and other internal parts isn't something we want to do every weekend. Luckily, during our engine challenge, we run different Mopar V-8 engines through their extremes on the dyno, then tear each one down for a close inspection of the parts. This has given us the opportunity to really test AMSOIL's products, and so far we've been very impressed.
Though there have been a couple of parts failures in the many years of our contest, there has never been an oil related failure since the inception of the engine challenge. These builders have tested the limits, using reasonably priced and even inexpensive used parts in some of the engines to keep costs down, and pushing the limits of compression and rpm as well. One engine builder even detonated his big-block badly enough to blow both head gaskets, without damaging any of the connecting rod bearings. As we look forward to this year's contest, follow along and we'll show you why the proper engine oil really does make a difference.
The best way to tell if a motor oil is performing well is by inspecting the engine after i
If an engine is experiencing oil related problems, one of the first places you'll see dama
We always tear each engine down to ensure rules compliance, and while we're at it we get a
Due to a tuning oversight, one of our builders detonated his engine so hard that he blew b
Typically this kind of mistake would flatten the upper rod bearing, but surprisingly the b
Rocker arms and valve gear are taxed to their limit, especially when high-lift roller cams
The 2010 AMSOIL/Mopar Muscle Engine Challenge will feature the small-block Chrysler powerp