New Member here!

SF1911 · 03-03-2013, 11:04 AM

Hi everyone!

As the title reads I'm a new member,but definitely not new to Porsches...I'm 32 and ever since I can remember myself,Porsches were always around me due to my father loving them and owning a few...

This is my car.It's a 2.7RS Lightweight replica based on a 1969 912 chassis with all the mechanical parts coming from an original 1986 3.2 Carrera. (930 type engine with a 915 type 5 speed gearbox)

My father owned the real thing from 1974 up until 1999 or so,when he eventually decided to sell when prices skyrocketed.This is the reason I decided to build a replica myself in the same color combo as my father's was.

The car is a dream to drive,very reliable with no problems whatsoever...(knock wood...

) Plus even if we still had the real thing I wouldn't dare drive it ...

Ok,so here's my "problem"...More of a dilemma anyway:

Right now the car has Mobil 1 10w/40 in it.Yes,it leaks a little,but definitely nothing major.At least that's what my Porsche mechanic told me.From what I've heard every 911 of this age will leak a little oil.There are some people who claim that in engines of this age one should not use such a thin oil,whereas others claim the exact opposite...

I'm about to change the oil in a few days and I wanted to hear what you'd use...Should i put a semi synthetic type oil (or even a conventional one) or stick with Mobil 1 10w/40?

Thanks in advance for your help!

P.S. English is not my native language so please be gentle if I write something that doesn't make sense at all...

mlfox · 03-03-2013, 11:13 AM

Welcome... and beautiful Porsche you have. You can search this forum,and will find many opinions on what oil to use. A good grade 20w50 oil should serve you well.

Regards,
mlfox

Rob T. · 03-03-2013, 11:18 AM

Welcome to a great forum.
I saw many beautiful cars and some great builds on this board.
I hope you got a lot of fun here....
Nice car btw.

lpsalsaman · lpsalsaman's Garage

Welcome and really nice ride! Also nice location, I envy you! Anyway the 20w50 would work really well like MLFOX said previously. Well one way to really check for leaks would be cleaning the engine well and then check if you have any leaks that could be head gaskets or valve covers loose. These items can be taken care easily, and this could be it by the way you stated that it is very little leak. Anyway this board has a ton of good advise and doing a little search and ask questions, there is always someone who has gone through something similar at some point! Again welcome!

Quicksilver · 03-03-2013, 03:19 PM

+1 on the 20w-50 oil. Non synthetic ("Dino oil") is preferred.

Not sure what is available in Europe because you have different regulations. Your oils will be different even if they have the same name. Here in the US a lot of us use Brad Penn but that is almost certainly not available in Europe.

The key thing we are looking for is an oil with enough ZDDP. The US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) demanded that ZDDP be drastically reduced because it can damage a catalytic convertor over time. (It hasn't hurt mine and it has 230,000 miles on it!)

The modern cars with roller cams don't have a problem with the newer oils but our older cars need the ZDDP to keep the cams from failing early.

Maybe Europe was smarter and hasn't changed the oils so they are the problem for earlier cars.
I would assume that there would be some European car enthusiast sites that would recommend a good quality 20w-50 that will work well for you.

--
BTW - When you do the oil change make sure you get a Mahle filter. They are best you can get for these cars. They are even better then the filters available from Porsche!
Oh... And very nice car!!!