Oils, Filters, Paint, & Sealers
Pontiac V8 Oils, Filters, Paint, & Sealers
The Unglamorous Half of the Build — Oils, Filters, Paint, & Sealers for Pontiac V8s
Oils, Filters, Paint, and Sealers cover the part of a Pontiac V8 build nobody brags about and everybody needs. The right break-in oil decides whether a flat-tappet cam survives its first twenty minutes. The right sealer keeps a fresh engine from marking its spot on the shop floor. And the right shade of blue is the difference between a correct restoration and a repaint that looks wrong from ten feet away.
Butler stocks Driven break-in, hot rod and GP-1 oils, Red Line and Comp Cams assembly lubes, Wix and Moroso spin-on filters, Butler oil change kits, Permatex sealers, threadlockers and anti-seize, and correct-year Pontiac engine paint from ITU, VHT, Duplicolor and Plastikote.
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1. Break-In Oil: The First Twenty Minutes Decide Everything
A flat-tappet camshaft does its hardest work before the engine has seen a mile of road. Modern API oils have had the zinc and phosphorus pulled out of them to protect catalytic converters, and that is bad news for a lifter face loaded against a fresh lobe. A dedicated break-in oil is not optional on a fresh Pontiac V8.
| Driven BR Break-In Oil, 15W-50 | The petroleum break-in oil Joe Gibbs Racing uses to break in and dyno their engines. High zinc, phosphorus and sulfur in a mineral base, fully formulated so it needs no EOS or other additive. Driven calls for preheating it to 180F before the engine fires, and rates it for up to two hours of break-in and dyno time before you change to a race oil. |
| Driven GP Break-In, 30 grade | Pennsylvania-grade base oil with a high-ZDDP, low-detergent additive package. Formulated to protect flat tappet, overhead and roller cams through break-in while promoting proper ring seal, and usable for both dyno tuning and the first street miles. Also stocked as a GP-1 BR 20W-50 by the gallon. |
| Comp Cams break-in oil and additive | A 10W-30 break-in oil in single quarts or a case of twelve, plus a 12 oz break-in lubricant and oil additive for the builder who already has oil in the pan. |
2. What Goes In After Break-In
Once the cam is broken in and the rings are seated, the oil still has a job that modern passenger-car oil is not built for. Butler stocks the Driven lines that were designed around older pushrod engines.
| Driven Hot Rod oils | HR1 conventional 15W-50, HR3 synthetic 15W-50 and HR5 conventional 10W-40. Higher ZDDP than passenger-car oil, plus military-derived storage protection additives that guard against rust and corrosion while the car sits. Driven points HR1 at big-block muscle cars and blown street rods, engines with original seals, and looser bearing clearances. |
| Driven GP-1 high performance oils | Pennsylvania-grade synthetic blend in 15W-40 and 20W-50, compatible with methanol, E85 and high-octane race fuel. Aimed at street-track cars running flat tappet or roller cams. |
| Race and high-zinc options | Valvoline VR1 Racing SAE 50 and Royal Purple XPR synthetic race oil in 20W-50 for engines that see the track. |
| Driveline fluids | Driven GO 80W-90 conventional GL-4 gear oil, which protects yellow metals in a Muncie-style synchronized manual; STF synthetic synchromesh fluid used in Tremec T56 and TKO transmissions; and AT3 synthetic racing ATF. |
3. Assembly Lube Is Not One Product
There are two different jobs here and they take two different lubricants. Cam and lifter lube is a heavy, tacky break-in coating for the lobes, lifter bottoms and distributor gear. Assembly lube is a thinner film for bearings, skirts and pins that has to dissolve into the oil without plugging a filter.
| Comp Pro Cam & Lifter Lube | Spread generously on every lobe, on the bottom of each lifter and on the distributor gear at cam installation. Stocked in an 8 oz bottle and in small single-cam packs. |
| Red Line Assembly Lube | The lube our engine builders use. Three times the film strength of conventional moly greases, will not clog filters, and doubles as a long-term rust inhibitor on machined parts. Red Line notes it should not be used on exhaust bolts or other high-temperature fasteners that want anti-seize instead. |
| Driven assembly lube and HVL | The Joe Gibbs Racing assembly grease for cams, lifters, rocker shafts, pushrod tips, wrist pins and distributor gears, and HVL high-viscosity lube fortified with ZDDP for bearings, piston skirts, bushings, timing chains and oil pump gears. HVL mixes with break-in oil and will not harden or leave parts sticky. |
| ARP Ultra-Torque and Comp engine assembly lube | Fastener lube for repeatable torque readings, and a white lithium-base assembly lube that washes off with soap and water. |
4. Filters and Butler Oil Change Kits
The Pontiac V8 takes a common spin-on, but the wrong one is still the wrong one. Butler stocks the Wix spin-on that replaces the factory PF-24, and a tall Moroso two-quart-style filter on the 13/16 in.-16 thread for engines that want more capacity.
| Butler Oil Change Kits | A filter and the matching oil, boxed together so nothing gets missed. Offered as a break-in kit in 15W-50, a break-in GP1 kit, a GP1 15W-40 kit and a standard 15W-50 kit. |
| Why it matters on a fresh engine | Break-in oil is a consumable with a short service life. Plan the first change before the engine is fired, not after you notice the oil is dark. |
5. Pontiac Engine Paint, by Year
Pontiac did not use one blue. If you are chasing correct, match the year, and if you are building something that is not trying to be original, the cast and high-temperature finishes are here too.
| 1959-65 | Sky Blue, stocked from ITU, Duplicolor, Plastikote and VHT. |
| 1966-70 | The metallic blue, listed by different suppliers as Blue Silver Metallic or Pontiac Blue-Gray Metallic, from ITU, Duplicolor and Plastikote. |
| 1971-74 and 1977-up | ITU non-metallic blue. |
| 1973 1/2-74 455 and Super Duty | ITU Slate Blue. |
| 1975-77 | Strato Blue metallic, in an ITU 75-76 blue metallic and a 1975-77 GM Strato Blue Metallic classic-blend aerosol. |
| 1977-1982 | VHT GM Corporate Blue. |
| Cast and utility finishes | VHT Cast Coat Aluminum, VHT Nu-Cast Cast Iron, gloss black, cast iron last-blast paint and indoor or indoor/outdoor rust preventive coatings for bare iron. |
6. Sealers and Gasket Makers
Match the sealer to the joint. A silicone that is right for a timing cover is wrong on an exhaust flange, and a copper spray that belongs on a head gasket does nothing for a pipe thread.
| RTV and gasket makers | Permatex The Right Stuff in a 5 oz cartridge or 7.5 oz black aerosol, Ultra Black for maximum oil resistance, Ultra Blue as a multipurpose sealer, Ultra Copper where temperature is the problem, and GM engine sealant in a 5.3 oz tube. |
| Copper gasket treatments | Permatex Copper Spray-a-Gasket and VHT hi-temp copper gasket cement for head gaskets, carburetor gaskets and exhaust manifold gaskets, plus a brush-on copper coat compound with the dauber built into the lid that goes on tacky and holds a paper or cork gasket in place. |
| Thread sealant | Permatex thread sealant with PTFE for fittings in oil, fuel, air and hydraulic circuits, where tape and pipe dope belong nowhere near an engine. |
7. Threadlocker, Anti-Seize and Shop Chemicals
| Threadlocker | Permatex blue medium strength for nut and bolt work from 1/4 in. to 3/4 in. that you intend to take apart again, red high strength for studs and press fits from 3/8 in. to 1 in., and a high-temperature sleeve retainer rated to 400F for slip and press fit assemblies. |
| Anti-seize | Aluminum anti-seize for spark plugs, head bolts and exhaust bolts, and nickel anti-seize where copper contamination has to be avoided or the temperature goes past what the aluminum blend will take. |
| Machine shop supplies | Valve grinding compound, Prussian blue high spot indicator, cutting and tapping fluid, and Moroso block filler for filling the water jacket on a race block to support thin cylinder walls. |
| Storage | Fogging oil formulated to cling to cylinder walls and displace moisture, for an engine or a car going away for the winter. |
None of this is glamorous, and all of it is cheap compared to a wiped cam lobe or a pulled intake. If you are not sure which oil your combination wants, or which blue your year takes, call the shop and tell us what you are building.
Not sure what your Pontiac needs?
Email our tech team at tech@butlerperformance.com. Tell us your engine, heads, car, and power goal, and we will put the parts together as one combination that works.