ok i just finished rebuilding my 302 and got it in the car. what kind of oil should i start out with? brand? weight? also how long should i wait before using synthetic?

 

Ideally, youd do this. Buy a case of cheap regular 10w30 oil and a couple of cheap filters, run the car for about 15 minutes, change the oil and filter. Drive the car for about 50 miles or so, change the oil. This wil be your final oil change before your scheduled first one so for this last oil change buy some good regular 10w30 and a good filter. Changing the oil this often on a fresh rebuild, IMO, is pretty important as it will get out any shavings that are left over from machining (bore, hine, line hone, etc). Use regular oil Id say for about the first 1000 miles, some people say more by I think 1k is more than sufficient (unless otherwise specified by your piston ring manufacturer). Then when you switch to synthetics, Id reccommend castrol syntec 5 w 50, I've had nothing but awesome experiences with this oil, and Ive run it in a lot of different cars.
-P.