For anyone who has their GM information that should have come with their GMP 454 and 502 High output or "ZZ" performance versions of these engines, could you tell me what GM had recommended for the engine oil weight(SAE 5/30, 10/30 etc.?)and API Grade(SE, SF, SG, SH, SJ, SL, SM?)? Please stick to what the basic GM recommendations were for these engines, since I just want to know this as an oil selection starting point? I got my 450HP/502 motor from an elderly gentleman and he couldn't provide me with this information. The oil fill cap just said to refer to the owner's manual-therefore, I had just assumed that GM must have provided something with these new motors to indicate what oil weight and grade that they had recommended? Thanks!

According to the manual that came with my ZZ502, the recommended oil is 10W30 SG grade. I imagine it is the same for all current Chevy big block crate engines.

First Chevelle:

1)Did the manual also indicate any diesel rattings for the recommended SG rated 10W30 along with this API rating?
2)Thanks for the given information!

http://www.gmperformanceparts.com/_res/pdf/intalation-guides/ZZ454_Engine_Base.pdf

For what its worth.....you might find some good info in this.

PCB67SS:

Thank you very much, for the link-which will certainly prove to be very useful to me!

Your very welcome ss502....good luck with that new beast.

Thanks for posting that link bill, my 454HO did not come with instructions. But, my valvecover fill cap said 5w-30 on it. I run 10-30 or 40.

However, as far as I'm concerned, anything published by GM is suspect (which is why I run 10-30,40). The instructions say to run 4* initial for a total of 26*. No way! My motor wouldnt even run with 4* initial. Seems to me those instructions pertain to a run of the mill truck 454, low per/HP.

I agree Vince......My engine came with nothing more than a envolope for returning my core.....Which happened to be my original 396 which was not going no where.....I spent countless hours on the phone with GM being transfered from one person to the next until someone gave me this link.......Like I said ...use it for what its worth, but the gentleman was assuring on the oil reccomendations....He did mention during the summer here in Florida I would be ok with 10w-30 or 10w-40. But none the less it did have some good info (as far as timing reccomendations I changed cams and went with UDHarolds reccomendations) and never even considered the reccommended....It would be an understatement to say GM lacks in support for their Performance Parts division.

First Chevelle:

1)Did the manual also indicate any diesel rattings for the recommended SG rated 10W30 along with this API rating?
2)Thanks for the given information!

1) The manual give nothing more than stating the oil is supposed to be 10W30 SG rated. That's it. You would think that GM would update the info to maybe include a modern API rating. I bought my engine in February of this year and they are still calling for the obsolete SG rating.
2)Yer welcome. Enjoy your 502

I don't know enough about the diesel oil ratings to help you out with their gasoline engine equivalents.

Mike

My oil fill cap said 5-30w.

I should run 90w gear oil in it to keep it from burning it.

This winter it's coming out (again) for new pistons that use standard tension rings.

What a waste the last rebuild was.

I run 20w50 in mine... Burns oil, but not a ton of it, maybe a quart per 2 tanks of gas.

I run 20w50 in mine... Burns oil, but not a ton of it, maybe a quart per 2 tanks of gas.

That's about a qt in less than 500 miles. Mine uses something a bit more than.

Are your tailpipes greasy/oily like mine?

After my plate hone and re-ring, I'll go over 1000 miles before using a qt., good enough for me!

Before, I used about a qt every 100 miles.

Well, up until now, I have been running with Delo 400 diesel/gasoline oil which was a very robust and tough oil with plenty of zinc (ZDDP) in the mix. This oil was rated CI-4/SJ which had a 460 degree flash rating. The current Delo LE CJ-4/SM rated oil isn't as good as the CI4/SJ Delo 400 oil! Since I can no longer get this older Delo 400 oil, is why I first, wanted to be sure what minimum weight and grade of oil that GM had originally specified for the 454HO and 502HO motors-because I hadn't received any instructions from GM regarding this? And, PCB67SS was gracious enough to have posted the above link, which still did have some useful information! I'm now, going to consider AMSOIL's new RC30 SAE 10W/30 100% synthetic racing oil for my 502 HO motor-but, not until Ii'll get a few more miles on it and have used up my current stock of the Delo 400 SAE 10W/30 oil!