[Blue Bowtie]

Geez. I almost feel bad that I have a SBC V-8 that has over 325K miles on it. I wonder what the timing chain is going to look like if I ever have to open it up for any work.

One way to combat the breakdown of polymers used to maintain mineral oil viscosity and not create the resultant ash is to not use oil. Use a fully syntheic PAO based lubricant, like Mobil 1, Royal Purple, AMSOIL, or Red Line. Psuedo-synthetics, like many of the Group III synthetics still suffer from the additive packages required to fortify them and maintain VI. These oils are sometimes their own worst enemies. Products included in the fake synthetic category include Castrol SynTek, Pennzoil Synthetic, and a host of others that are sold as "synthetic" oil, so you'd better read labels carefully.