Assembly Lube
 

I found this excellent thread on Engine Sealants, but it stops short of including discussion on assembly lube. What is the word in 2023?

I saw somewhere that SuperTec used to sell assembly lube, but I don’t find it on their website now.

Bruce Anderson had recommended (circa 2009) mixing engine oil with molybdenum disulfide compound (not moly grease). He used it on camshaft and cam thrust plates, rod bolts. Just engine oil for bearing surfaces, pistons, piston rings, and cylinders.

When I built our 356 engine Harry “The Maestro” Pellow recommended a 50/50 mix of motor oil and STP.

I'd love to hear Henry Schmidt and Wayne 962 opinions. I see in his book Wayne recommended LiquiMoly Engine Assembly Lube (LM-3010), but it doesn't appear Pelican is offering it anymore. I'm not seeing a way to tag users in this forum.

Thanks.

I am not an engine builder, but on my current project I asked my engine builder to use the Driven assembly products. Refer to their website for applications, but here they are:
-HVL (high viscosity lubricant- thick oil)
-Engine Assembly Grease
-GP-1 Assembly Gel (even thicker than grease, I believe)

I’ve used several, currently I have Red Line Assembly Lube and Permatex Ultra-Slick in my cabinet. I’m not sure which I’ll use with my current 3.0 build.

Decades ago I just used 30 weight motor oil or straight STP.

We still use our assembly lube but the glut of "super" lubes is a play ground I choose to avoid.
We developed SpeedLube, an assembly lube and Bearing Life that works especially well with dry film lubricant. Together they reduce friction exponentially. 1000% ?
We use our assembly lube on hardware (like our head studs), bearings and friction surfaces like the contact pad on the rocker arms, also treated with dry film Moly.

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Redline seems to be popular these days, Lots of NAPCAR engine builders use it.

Regarding assembly lubes, yes, in nascar, we used Red Line Assembly lube on the bearings and whatever lube recommended by the cam supplier for the cam lobes before initial startup and break in. When we got a Lucas sponsorship we started using Lucas Assembly lube. Exactly the same, only different.

If you use assembly lube and cam lubricant, remember to change the oil filter(s) after an hour or so of run time as these tend to plug up the oil filter media.

For fasteners, clamping torque is affected by lube, so use whatever lube the manufacturer recommends. Henry's studs and ARP have their own proprietary lube, so use that. On others, follow the manual, otherwise dry.