There was a time when Rotella was an alternative because of the ZDDP package. But the market has caught up to the old car hobby and the need for a better auto formulated lubricant with the appropriate ZDDP package. That, and the formulation for Rotella has changed over the last couple of years. Add to that the fact that the oil is specifically formulated for diesel engine use and not automotive use. There are a lot of opinions. But mine is no, you have better alternatives and with the cost of parts and machine work, probably better to use oil specifically designed for an old automotive engine.
https://www.onallcylinders.com/2025...-blame-for-my-premature-lifter-failures/I have never run Rotella myself just for that reason, but I have long run the Brad Penn 10W30, which is now called Penn Grade 1. I am hard on my inline motors. This past August I ran a car in competition at the Trifive Nationals and zinged my 261 motor up to 5800 rpm all week on the dragstrip and not a moments issue. I won my class, the first and only inline powered trifive to ever win its class at that show in the decade they have been running it. I broke the motor in with the Penn Grade 1 break in oil. It’s essentially the old Kendal 1 high performance oil (refined in Bradford pa). I use the 10w30. It’s a semi synthetic which means it uses Pennsylvania base stock which is still refined in the old Kendal refinery in Bradford pa, and then blended with a modern additive packages
https://penngrade1.com/products/high-performance-oils/There are also other alternatives, Driven, Gibbs, Hemmings, and others also now offer oil specifically for old motors.
I know a lot of guys swear by the stuff. A lot of times because it’s cheap. Not me. I want something that is in fact engineered for old car use.
