I`ve just been shopping in a local bike accessory shop for an oil filter and the nice man was pointing me at some Silkolene for nearly £40
[Edited on 3/1/05 by ReMan]
Inspired by Chris`s, post about levels,
What favorite oil is being used at the moment in these engines any reccomendations?
Also mine quite old 35k, does it need something thicker or cheaper?
Cheers and Happy New Year
Colin
Red Line is excellent gear, used by many BEC owners and racers. I bought mine from a chap on the Yahoo BEC site, can't remember his name....
Halfords bike oil 10w40 Premium (also known as Semi-Synthetic) works fine for me and is pretty cheap too - about £18 for 5 litres IIRC.
The reason I went for it is a mate of mine has notched up about 30k in his locost blade and uses it without clutch slip or engine bangs!
£18 sounds like my sort of oil?
I`ve just been shopping in a local bike accessory shop for an oil filter and the nice man was pointing me at some Silkolene for nearly £40
[Edited on 3/1/05 by ReMan]
They sell 3 types of bike oil, standard (all mineral), premium (Semi-synth), and Fully Synthetic.
I don't think the standard is up to it, and the fully synth can cause clutch slip AFAIK.
It's starting to get very hard to find in NI - I've had ot try a few different stores to find it in stock.
Good Luck
Ali
Motul 5100 Technosynthese. Good and cheap enough to replace after trackdays or every few thousand miles
was using using fully synthetic castrol rs,but after clutch failure,I dont think it was anything to do with the oil,but like alister667 I change to
the halfords primium,semi synthetic.Also keep the level about 5mm above the max level on the site glass,just a theory, but I think a little extra
won't do any harm,but may help on hard cornering on track days
A bit of a rant 
This fully synth "clutch slip" thing is a myth as far as I can work out, of all the BECs I know, most use fully synth of some sort and none
I know of have suffered clutch slip because of anything other than an the occasional old sh@gged clutch, nothing to do with the oil being used. The
guy on the BEC list who Jasper refers to, Gavin, is an oil engineer (for want of better expression) and he says too that there's no reason why
fully synth, as long as its SG rated would cause clutch slip in a wet clutch bike system.
The only time it will cause slip (as will semi synth) is if overfilled to the point that the clutch then sits in a bath of oil. As the clutch is
depressed this oil sits between the plates and when released againit cant expel fully, meaning there is still oil between the plates causing slip.
BTW I used to use Castrol R4 fully synth and now use Redline as it helps with oil temps a few degrees.
Chris
Thanks for the help
BTW I popped in Halfrauds today while passing to price up..
HALFORDS SEMI SYNTHETIC IS ON OFFER AT THE MOMENT £13.33 INSTEAD OF £20
I can afford to flush the engine with it at that price
I think i`ll go bag a couple of cans
Cheers again
I've raced a ZZR1100 off-road where the engine is thrashed like a motocrosser's engine. I always ran Motul fully synth without the slighest
hint of clutch slip. It's damned expensive, but if you're talking about the life blood of your engine, then it's false economy to
scrimp on the price.
Others I raced with just kept throwing cheaper oil, bearings, pistons, gasket sets and clutches at their engines, explaining it away by claiming
"the engine's probably shagged". They usually were at the end of it all.
There's no point in me trying to argue with either Rorty or Chris - they both know more about BECs than I ever will....
however :-)
On the synthetic oil discussion, I have to hold my hands up. This is a perceived wisdom I have picked up from somewhere - maybe on here or the yahoo
bec group or some of my BEC mates, I'm not sure.
I *think* I remember someone having clutch slip, changing from a synth oil and - voila - problem solved. I can't point to any hard evidence -
I'll ask my mates if they know where this got started or if it's just an apocryphal story.
The fact that you run it with no clutch slip probably proves it as being OK.
I'm afraid Tyrone's balance of payments isn't yet that good that I can afford to spend 2 or 3 times the price on brand X oil if I can
get away with shop brand - if it does the same job.
Halford's premium is correctly spec'd to the level Honda recommend, and as I said my mate has run it for 30k miles in a BEC with about 15
track days per year over about 5 years without any engine issues at all.
If he was running his on cat's pee, that's what I'd be putting in mine too!
I suspect that if I was running only on track (like Rorty) the best oil I could get my hands on would be a wise investment.
IMHO the big sin with oil is running it for too long in an engine - Honda recomend 6k miles, at our gearing I'd reckon an oil change about 3-4k
miles is about right. If I was to spend more money I could probably run for longer without damaging anything, but as Rorty points out it could prove
to be a false economy if engine damage results.
As it spec'd to the level recommended in Haynes I don't think I'm risking damaging my engine using it, and practical evidence backs
this up. I know 30k miles isn't *that* far but it's a fair chunk for a BEC.
Of course having said all that we all know my engine will let go big style in the next few days!!
I promise I'll let you know if it does :-)
I have nothing but respect for you two guys, that's just my 2 cents worth.
All the best
Ali
quote:
Originally posted by alister667
I'm afraid Tyrone's balance of payments isn't yet that good that I can afford to spend 2 or 3 times the price on brand X oil if I can get away with shop brand - if it does the same job.
quote:
Originally posted by alister667I suspect that if I was running only on track (like Rorty) the best oil I could get my hands on would be a wise investment.
Hi Al
Sorry, I should have worded it a bit better, it wasnt meant as an attack on you personally at all
I think you're right, the story seemed to come from the Yahoo BEC list a couple of years ago. I don't think that there's a problem
using semi synthetic and Im sure most engines would be fine running on it, its just the descrimination that poor old fully synth seems to get based on
a few rumours on the BEC list that seemed to snowball, therefore Ive made it my crusade to banish the rumours
[Edited on 4/1/05 by ChrisGamlin]
Sorry guys, was`nt trying to start a fight!
My post was to assess current opinion as I had read the archives and what was 2 years or more ago may well not be still the case.
Thanks for your input
I am not too worried about clutch slip, if anything i`m worried about drag, judging by the size of the springs I squeezed in
More about what oil to get an old motor going on, thats going to keep it going reasonably well for a few miles and not break the bank
Thanks again
Colin
No worries y'all.
Ditto
Encore.
Aren't we all nice!
The reason I changed from fully synthetic,to semi synthetic was because when I renewed my clutch with a barnett,I was informed,barnett and most other
clutch manufactures ,don't recomend the use of fully synthetic oils with there clutches,but synthetic blends were considered acceptable,this led
me to the conclusion,there must be some justification,for them to do this.I had to then decide do I risk burning out a new clutch at £148 or play it
safe and put in oil which still exceded the recommended spec for my engine,I think at the end of the day its about,what your going to do with your
car,if you are going to use it for racing,then you would tend to go for fully synthetic,but for an odd track day and general road use a good quality
semi sythetic should do.could be tempting fate after saying all that