Most of our Corvettes
use original designed engines while some have
been upgraded to engines featuring roller tappet
and roller rocker arms. The original
engines used flat tappet and essentially flat
surfaced rocker arms. These latter flat
tappet engines used rubbing to interface between
the tappet bottom and the camshaft lobes.
This is a friction surface. Old oils
contained ingredients which provided lubrication
and reduced wear on the cam lobes.
"Energy" issues and the modern roller/rocker
engines do not need these lubrication
ingredients because of the reduced friction of
the roller design.
The following is a seminar
discussing the oil that we should use with a
flat tappet design.
