Team Chevelle banner

Kendall 20W-50 Race Oil.... History!

10K views 17 replies 12 participants last post by  pcs0snq 
#1 ·
Not sure how many of you that race used this oil but that was about all I have used for the last 15 years. Kendall did something last year and all of a sudden it's not the same stuff. This oil was GREEN in color and now it's GOLD and looks just like all the other junk.
Not interested in Synthetic so please no commercials, but would be interested if anyone else that had to deal with this change came up with a decent replacement. For some reason this Green oil seemed to do way better with dilution issues from running Methanol fuel. I'm down to my last box and need to do something soon.
 
See less See more
1
#2 ·
Dont quote me on this but I think Kendall made that change back in spring of 2002 or there abouts.It is not the same oil....But then again every few years the oil changes anyway.... As they go from SE to SF to SH to SJ to SL classifications all the oil producers and blenders change the oil " recipie " to meet then newer specs.... So even tho it still looked the same the SE oil was different than say the SJ oil.

Kendall at one time was considered on of the best HP oils out there...especially the oils produced in the Easter US..... But things all change especially when Kendall was oil again a few years ago.....

I'm sorry that this doesnt help you with your quest for an oil that will work with Methanol.
 
#7 ·
Kendall has been owned by a few different companies, first owned by the Quakers then sold out to Whitco in the 70's Then bought out by Phillips66 merged with Conoco in Aug/Sept 02. the oil color is only a green dye. It was removed in March 02 to show people that it has been re formulated & now carries an API SL rating, it was thought to be a better move so people will notice the absence of green. BUT IT IS ONLY A DYE! At time people would complain that one batch was different green to the last one they got, that's because it was hand poured. No problems there. The fact that they sold or merged with Conoco is a big PLUS. They are left well enough alone to do they're thing but they can & do draw on the wealth & experience of Mother Conoco who is a Corperate (wrong spelling who cares) Giant, allowing them more resourses & more technical people & more testing etc the list goes on..... In my experience with the GREEN to Non Green (natural) color oil from Kendall is that since it's introduction in the mid 60's to now with a 21st century re-formulation it was & still is a fantastic product. It is definatley better now then what it was B4. How did they improve on perfection? Lots a conoco money! I found it will now go 25 runs in my alky burner compared to 20 B4 when the best I could get with that yellow stuff formerly presided by George Bush Snr in 68 was 3-5. Dont fear all is well @ the Kendall Plant. Ask Frank Manzo or Vern Moats.
The Nitro 70 was left alone in this re-formulation albeit with the removal of the Green.
Hope this will clear up any doubts.
 
#8 ·
Last I new Philips 66 owned the Kendall name
after going to the PRI-SHOW out to INDY last month I learned that the old Kendall is still being made its name is BRAD-PENN and is the pea green color everybody remembers, There both at the show sparked alot of interest. There address is 77 NORTH KENDELL AVE. which use to be Witco refinery where AMILIE and KENDELL were made.
AMERICAN REFINING GROUP,INC.
 
#9 ·
Very interesting. So the New Kendall is good to go... or maybe I should look for the Castrol clone... Never heard of Brad Penn. The green color from dye is a big surprise. Always thought that was the natural color??? I went to the Brad Penn web site and pulled this up from the News...

Thursday, May 16, 2002

American Refining Group, Inc. (ARG) Manufacturer

of Quality Brad Penn® Lubricants Announced the

Addition of Quality Penn Grade 1™ Racing Oils

to its Quality Line of Lubricants.












“The racing tradition continues from the oldest continuously operated Pennsylvania Grade lube oil refinery in the world, with the addition of Penn Grade 1™ Racing Oils to the Brad Penn® product line. Brad Penn® Penn Grade 1™ Racing Oils are uniquely formulated using high quality Penn-Grade™ base stocks and carefully selected additive systems to meet the most stringent lubricating demands of high performance, racing and street engines. In addition, the racing oils have a distinct green color in appearance,” stated Dick Glady, Director of Blended Lubricants Sales and Marketing.

Brad Penn® Penn Grade 1™ Racing Oils are formulated in three viscosity grades, partial synthetic SAE 20W-50, SAE 50 and SAE 70.

Brad Penn® Lubricants are marketed east of the Mississippi through a network of Independent Lubricant Distributors.

In 1997, American Refining Group, Inc. purchased the Kendall / Amalie refinery located in Bradford, PA, from Witco Corporation. As a result of the sale of the Kendall® and Amalie® brands to a third party, a new name was given to the products produced at the site-Brad Penn® Premium Pennsylvania Grade Lubricants.

American Refining Group, Inc. is a privately held, ISO 9002 certified refinery. ARG is a manufacturer and blender of quality Brad Penn® and Gulf® branded lubricants, packager of private label lubricants and a premier refiner of petroleum specialty products.
 
G
#10 ·
All I'm gonna say is that the older extreme pressure ingredients that used to be in all the oils are probably all going to be gone shortly b/c they are heavi-metal containing additives, i.e., metallic soaps if you will, and poison cat's!!

Generally of the zinc soap family..

I remember when the good old high pressure oils were a dark teal color AND smelled kinda like rearend gear lube!! I have even poured some that left a funky residue in the bottom of the can that I expect was additive that had settled out over time!

It's been a long time since I poured a can of EOS in my oil so I have about forgotten what it smells like but do expect it to smell a lot like the older oils that smelled like light gear lube...

These old products have that smell you won't forget, kinda like THAT OTHER smokey ODOR potheads have hanging around them sorta thing, he, he!!

pdq67

Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote
 
#11 ·
Well there is one way to find out for sure....If you have $60.00 or so...You can take a small 4oz sample of your " Green " Kendall and a 4 oz sample of the new Kendall and have a VOA ( Virgin Oil Analysis ) performend on both oils.... You will get a print out of the various additives that are in your oil samples and you can make a comparison....I did this last year on several oil samples and the results were abit surprising....I changed my oil brands very quickly when I found out what the differences were and saw several UOA'S ( Used Oil Analysis ) on various oils.

Go to this site and read more about it.

http://www.blackstone-labs.com


If you really want to get techniocal about it your can order up the VOA's with the Terry Dyson kit...
It's a few dollars more but you can get the sample "Read" by Terry who is one of the foremost experts in Tribology and oil related subjects....
 
#13 ·
Baddbob71,

I must qualify this first....With respect to the origional question.... I am not running Methonal...
His needs are much different than mine....

All 3 of my cars/truck are street driven...and not raced....

My 2003 Impala 3.8 V6 ( GM wants 10W-30 ) so I use Chevron Supreme 10W-30 in it for warrenty purposes.

My 1979 Olds Cutlass Supreme 305 V8 4 BBL TH350 and 2.73's with a lot of miles on it gets Chevron Delo 15W-40.... Delo is a Mixed Fleet oil that is certified for both Diesel and gasoline engines...It is a HDMO ( Heavy Duty Motor Oil ).... They have additive packages that are more robust than a typical PCMO would have.

My 1969 El Camino with the solid lifter BBC gets the same Delo 15W-40 Fleet oil also....I have a 7 quart capacity with the pan and filter.

I switched to the Chevron after comparing the VOA and UOA's on a couple different sites and when I looked at the cost vs the benifits and around here Chevron is easy to get and a low to modest price with a great base oil and additive package...They produce thier base oil and sell it to other blenders/ oil companies...... Thats not to say that there arent other good oils out there...there most certinally are....

Here is a side by side comparison of two 10W-30 oils that I had tested.Both SL / GF3 oils.

Chevron 10W-30 ------------- Kendall GT-1 10W-30

I'll skip over the additives that showed nothing.
All these numbers are in Parts Per Million.

Molybdenum = 65 ----------------- 46
Boron..... = 133----------------- 0
Silicon....= 3 ------------------ 2
Sodium.....= 1 ------------------ 1
Calcium....= 1814---------------- 1716
Phosphorus.= 732----------------- 849
Zinc.......= 879----------------- 947

------------------------------------------------
Moly is a Friction Modifier and Anti Wear additive.


Boron is a multi purpose additive that does several things...

Anti Wear,Detergent , Friction Modifier ,Anti Oxident and Anti Corrosion additive.

Silicon is an Anti Foam additive.
Calcium is a D/D ..Detergent and Dispersant.

Magnesium is a D/D

Zinc is an Anti Wear

Barrium is a D/D

Phosphrous is an Anti Wear.

All these additives work in part and with each other but are basically " Switched on " at various tempratures...So Moly does it's best at higher temps and Zinc at lower temps ect...

------------------------------------------------
Here are a couple HDMO 15W-40 SJ oils.

Chevron Delo -----------------------Penz Long Life.
Moly...... = 0........................ 128
Boron......= 0 ....................... 91
Calcium....= 3056..................... 3051
Magnesium..= 6 ....................... 0
Phosphorus.= 1136..................... 1001
Zinc.......= 1355..................... 1206
---------------------------------------------------
As you can see the HDMO's are stouter than the PCMO's..... The Penz LL is good stuff but much harder to find than the Delo in my area....But the Delo has shown to be such a great HDMO for so long you cant go wrong with either....

Note...if you are buring oil in your engine HDMO high Phosphous content if burned and lead to poisioning your cat conv...

Hope this helps some.

EDIT : The above is just a very small bit of Data that is available ...as the other properties such as Pour Points , 4 different measures of Viscosity,
Viscosity Index , Cold Cranking Viscosity , High Temp / High Shear , Sulfated Ash , NOACK Volatility, Flash Point , Fire Point , TBN and a zillion other measures are available .... Oil is very complicated stuff !!
 
#16 ·
Al, thankl you for the great info. I was turned onto the Penzz LL 15-40, which locally is only available from WalMart in 5 gal jugs. Works for me.

Sorry to tread on this thread.
 
#17 ·
I am running Valvoline Racing Oil. I have always run this in my car. Also we have always run valvoline race oil in our Blown Gas Hydro (7.70's 1/4 mile) as well. No problems there either.
 
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top