Any recommendations for a good oil to feed my 'blade engine?

I read 10w/40 semi-synthetic on some bike websites but is it worth changing due to the additional weight?

Also, I am intending to take her on my first track (well, airfield) day imminently. I hear it is a good idea to overfill slightly but is this really necessary and, if so, how much is 'slightly'?

I am a bit of a mechanical retard (with a Haynes manual in the post ) and do not yet know how to tell if my sump has been altered as I read from you lot that some mystical art called baffling goes on.....I am certainly baffled...
Any help much appreciated.

Hi

Firstly, a decent quality bike oil is a must. I use Castrol R4 fully synthetic, but a fair few BEC owners swear by Redline oil. Some say only use semi synthetic as its less likely to cause clutch slip, but clutch slip only really comes into play when - you over-fill it! This is because if you over-fill too much, the clutch plates cannot fully squeeze out all the oil from between the plates, so they slip. If you are going to over-fill, then do it very slightly, about 200ml maybe, but most of us blade guys don't bother and have never had any issues on road or track (between 4 blade cars I know of well, we did around 25 track days last year without problems) - Just make sure it is topped up to the maximum!!

Now the baffling bit - a blade engine doesnt need to be baffled to be safe. The RGB (racer) cars don't generally run anything although some run chopped sumps for added ground clearance. I did this to mine to give more ground clearance and to put the drain plug on the side so its not exposed, but its not necessary. Whilst it was being modded we added some additional baffling in the process, see here. The pic is of a standard sump, the red lines are where mine is baffled, and the arrow shows the level to which the sump was chopped. I also run a "baffle plate" like Westfield supply, shown here. Neither are necessary, just that after my first engine blew up due to the sump plug falling out on track and running best part of a lap without oil, I am going the belt and braces appproach!
On that note, BEWARE - blade sump plugs like going walkies - mine dropped out half way round Anglesey and the oil warning light is useless to save you as by the time it kicks in, the pressure is so low that damage has already been done. The best method is to lockwire the sump plug, and in addition get the plug moved to the side of the sump so its not in the firing line should you find yourself going over a speed hump etc.

hope this helps
Chris

[Edited on 27/2/03 by ChrisGamlin]

not much to add to that Chris, i use Motul Semi sinthetic 4 wot its worth

Cheers lads. Helpful as always.

I take it lockwiring basically means drilling through the head of the plug, threading wire through said hole and fixing it to something? I reckon even I can probably manage that

A cursory sniff around th'internet has uncovered 'magnetic oil drain plugs'.
I take it these are to collect nasty little bits of metal that may be swilling around and won't provide any extra protection from the little blighter coming out unexpectedly?

Yep, right on both accounts, lockwiring is drilling through the head of the bolt and wiring it up to something solid so it cant undo. It sounds simple, but bolts are usually pretty hard, and tricky to drill with tiny drill bits. It can be done but stock up on those 3mm drill bits as you are bound to break a few!!

The magnetic plugs are indeed to catch any little flecks of metal in the oil and not to stop it falling out. I suppose it might give you a little warning of potential trouble if a bearing started going in the engine and you happened to change the oil at that point, but probably not worth the bother.

Chris