just done the head gasket/ engine rebuild and not sure what the best oil to use for my baby

What spec have you rebuilt engine too? Std or forged? What do you intend on using the car for?

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JP
GT4DC Treasurer

Grey St185 RC
Silver BMW E46 M3
Multicolour yawn Honda VFR400
Silver Honda Civic Type-R

std, just a road car with a bit of style, maybe the odd 1/4 mile, nothing too drastic

good quality semi synth 10-40 will be fine mate just change every 3000

http://www.gt4dc.co.uk/info/faq/faq.htm#Whatoil

personally, if you have gone to the effort of rebuilding I would use fully synthetic to maximise protection and change oil every 3-4K miles. Oil is cheap and easy to change so not worth skimping on.

If you have just rebuilt and replaced rings or rehoned I would suggest changing oil after the first 200 miles or so.

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JP
GT4DC Treasurer

Grey St185 RC
Silver BMW E46 M3
Multicolour yawn Honda VFR400
Silver Honda Civic Type-R

thanks guys, food for thought! I wanna do the rite thing by this beautiful baby, as I got her as a non-runner- and been saving for ages.

If it's on fresh rings and/or honed, use the nastiest mineral oil you can get for the first few 100 miles and keep rpm down and don't go too mad with boost, but don't be too gentle either.

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If at first you don't suck seed, try drier grain.

during the running-in use 15-40 or another mineral oil (no synthetic).
after the running-in use fully synthetic oil. i will use 5w40 mobil1 fully synthetic.

Another vote here for running in on mineral oil, and then changing to fully synthetic, I'd recommend a thicker oil than stated above - 10W50

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Kris
95 ST205 - slept for 10 years, now waking up...
Avensis
http://www.gtfours.co.uk
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Turbocharging - the replacement for displacement

Once run in, you can run on the semi-synth oil the car was designed for, available dirt cheap from toyota dealers (about £14/5L) and change every 3K miles, or go for fully synth such as silkolene (now fuchs titan) or millers for 3x the price and change every 6K - 10K miles.

The 185 is very hard on oil with it's poor filter location so make sure it's changed promptly.

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If at first you don't suck seed, try drier grain.

Thanks guys, I think I'll go for the thick mineral option for the first 1000 miles and then swap to a nice synthetic. Seems to make sense. And I'll make sure I run it in nicely and not get carried away! Thanks everyone, really helpful replies, much appreciated