tr7triumph.com

I tried doing a search on this forum, but couldn't find any results. I was doing some research online and found that that current motor oils don't contain enough zinc to provide protection for our engines. Is this true? Do we need a zinc additive such as ZDDPlus Engine Oil Additive for protection? Thanks again from a TR7 noob.

The zinc question has been around for a while now. It only affects older engines with push rod engines. While there are existing oils that are OK for them it doesn't affect our slant 4 with it's OHC.

TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

Whew, thanks for that explanation. You saved me some $$$!

Humanoid,
As for the oil additive, ZDDplus is needed in any auto engine that DOES NOT use roller cam(s. The problem is the sliding action of the lifter on the cam(s). The cam lifts or pushes the lifter to open the valves. If the OHC of the the TR7 is like the OHC of a VOLVO then it needs the ZDDPlus. As you know sliding without proper lube is not good.
Put the ZDDPlus in the engine.
Diver

Street Rodder magazine March 2008 has tech info about this, its likely on their website, and the engine remanufacturers' web sites mention it too. According to Street Rodder this lack of ZDDP affects flat tappet engines: "new engines not broken in"and "performance engines" but "stock engines that are completely broken in seem to tolerate the reduced zinc levels with little or no adverse effects"
However, I'm using Shell Rotella T in my hobby cars, anyways.
Alex

As I mentioned above there are oils out there that will work fine. The are articles on the web where they have listed some of these. I don't have any links but if you do a google I'm sure you can find them. As I recall oils like Castrol are good and there are others that are common and not so common. You can stick to these if you have any concerns.

TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

What you want is classification SF, SG or SH, not the modern/present day classification SJ or SL.
The older classification have the amounts of zink and phosphorous additives we want...

<font color="red"><b>My two 1980 Wedges...</b></font id="red">

Alright, I'm getting differing opinions here so I'll just err on the safe side and add some of the ZDDPlus stuff into the oil.

Another question for the all-knowing, will the zinc additives affect the catalytic converters? Does my 7 even have one? FYI, it's a car registered in California.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> will the zinc additives affect the catalytic converters?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"> Yes, over time they will.
Especially if the engine is worn, that's why the additives are being reduced in modern oils. So,
it's a question of preferring Pest or Cholera - either the cam/tappets bites the dust OR
the catcon dies prematurelly...[:p]
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> Does my 7 even have one? FYI, it's a car registered in California.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"> Most probably so, CA cars have had catcons ever since the seventies...

<font color="red"><b>My two 1980 Wedges...</b></font id="red">

Once again, I thank Odd and this forum for their expertise. Looks like I will be saving myself some $$$. The engine has a little over 106K miles on it and it seems to run pretty strong, I guess if it ain't broke don't fix it.