Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

Hey....don't ask me....I just work here. I'm just an old retired mechanic.
If something doesn't work for you....try something else.

My best guess at this point would be that there was something wrong with
the oil....bad batch, contamination....who knows? I've never used the R-30
so don't ask me.

As a side note....check this label on the castor I'm using now. You have to use
three pics to read it all. It makes no mention of use with methanol. I get it at
the local motorcycle shop. It works fine, no cloudiness or separation.

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

Rudeboy....I'm not a Chemist either....

....but I think the water, even though it apparently mixed with the methanol
at first....will seperate, and find it's way to the bottom of the jug....

...I'll bet a brewsky on it !

Dave.

Sport_Pilot

Only the water mixed in the castor oil that has seperated.

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

Ever seen the oil in a car that has suffered a water leak into the oil ?

....it turns brown, like a weak chocolate milkshake. [X(]

Edit: the oil gets a light brown (Tan) very milky consistency....Yep....

Dave.

wvarn1957

My Feedback: (3)

In a binary system of water and methanol they are completely misable. The only way they can be seperated is by distillation. However in a tertiary system of water, oil and methanol, depending upon the amount of water and oil, some of the oil might drop out of solution. However the methanol will not.

ZAGNUT

My Feedback: (1)

Flyboy Dave, go over that pdf posted by Xjet again. you'll see that the castrol-R oils "may require benzene or acetone" when mixed with methanol while the M does not. also it looks like the M was made specifically for 2-stroke premix and the R as a 4-stroke case oil.

my guess is that the R would mix just fine with methanol at the low % used for bikes/karts but not at our usual 20%


dave

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

Yo, Zagnut....

....who appointed me...."The Castor Bean Oil Answer Man"...?

All I said was ...."you can get castor at a motorcycle Shop". Now we find that
The Castrol "R" oils may (or may not) require a dash of benzine or acetone to
facilitate mixing with methanol.

Excuse me while I run out to the garage, and spray paint that bit of timely information
on the wall....so I won't forget.

Dave.

ZAGNUT

My Feedback: (1)

sheesh, i was just offering a little correction to what you posted:

all you old castor geezers aren't much fun anymore...maybe i'll just switch sides and find me some motul micro to play with


dave

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

He he....your right , Dave....

....by the way I never used anything but Castrol R-40 in my road racing
motorcycles.....Bultaco's and Yamahas....and I won some races.
That was from 1970 to '85....what were you fellas doin' back then ?

FBD.

ZAGNUT

My Feedback: (1)

so you were using castor back when i was still crapping in diapers....it might just be the other way around someday


dave

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

....you got me on that one, dave......ROFLMAO......[sm=thumbup.gif]

DarZeelon

William,


I believe this final word about Castor oil, has already reproduced, had children that had their own kids, grandsons and great-grandsons.... It is well over 10,000 final words strong...

Propagation...

jessiej

[That was from 1970 to '85....what were you fellas doin' back then ? ]

Watchin' you kids play at racin'

jess

PS: At least you know what "Bultaco" means.

William Robison

My Feedback: (3)

Jess:

I not only know Bultaco, I also know Pabatco. Not to mention Adler and Ariel, Puch, Vincent, and Zundapp. Among many others no longer around.

Bill.

jessiej

Oh my! The memories those names conjure!

jess

William Robison

My Feedback: (3)

Jess:

Two of mine from many years ago.

Bill.

Ernie Misner

Jess and Bill,

I had a Francess Barnett with a Villers engine!

Ernie

William Robison

My Feedback: (3)

Ernie:

We could be here all night and the following day if we were to list all the low volume makers who used the Villiers and Sachs power units.

On T'aiWan alone there was a whole bunch of shops making them. But they claimed the engine name for the bikes, you could have five "Sachs" motorbikes side by side, all made the same day, and other than the engine/trans unit no two parts would be the same.

Bill.

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

In 1970 I started racing a factory Bultaco 175 TSS Roadracer in the
Grand Prix wars here in So. Cal., along with my 250 Bultaco Metralla
in the Production races. Competition was fierce. The Guys on the new
Japanese stuff had superior equiptment in the power department, but
my Bultaco's had superior handling, and adaquate power.

The 175's manual introduced me to castor bean oil. It specified Castrol
R-40 to be used in the fuel, in the transmission, and there was a small
tank under the seat....with a line....that dripped oil directly into the
bell-mouth of the carb intake....for additional lube. ( I never used it)
Castrol 10wt. was to be used in the primary. (the clutch) The first time
I mixed up a batch, and fired the bike....I realized....that was the neat
"fuel smell" I had experienced around and about in the racing pits ! [sm=thumbup.gif]

I had a great time on that old bike, and learned how to race on it. When
I sold it a few years later.....it still had the original connecting rod in it, and
you could still see the milling marks on the faces of the trasmission gears.

I learned very early on, about the qualities of castor in a two stroke fuel mix, as
well as the extreme film strength it provided in the tranny....which would
equate to a four stroke application.

That is of course, the precise reason it still use the castor today. It has never
never, ever....let me down.

FBD.

jessiej

Great photos, Dave! Some where I have some shots of yrs truly all sideways on the clay ovals. I'll try to find them.

Not only on the roadracers, but the dirt bikes of the early 70s as well the Jap bikes had great horsepower, but the Swedish, Spanish etc. bikes had superior handling as well as "friendlier" power bands. (Of course you road racers were accustomed to 13 rpm power bands)

Bill: The Vincent is a thing of beauty and a joy forever! Never owned one, but rode one once. Owner evidently had taken leave of his senses. My first two-stroke bike was a BSA Bantam. The float valve in the Amal carb always stuck, so I kept a long bladed screwdriver stuck under the seat so I could give the carb a whack when necessary.

A number of my friends had Zundapps and The Puchs that Sears sold as Allstates.

Another buddy had a BSA 500 cc single (Gold Star?) with manual spark advance. If one forgot to retard the spark when cranking the machine would express it's displeasure by launching the unfortunate rider over the bars.

BTW, this afternoon I took my Harley out for the first time since a near fatal traffic accident on March 3. Felt great!

jess

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

Look what Tower says about the Magnum .91 fs engines they are selling....

REQUIRES: One Glow Plug
Propeller
Starting and Field Equipment Listed with Airplane Kit ACG.
2-Stroke Fuel (Recommended: Power Master 10%, Not Carried)
Break-In: No More than 15% Nitro-Methane, No Less 20% Castor Oil.
After Break-In: No Less Than 16% Castor Oil Should Be Used.
>>>>>>>Synthetic Oil Content Should Not Be Used. <<<<<<
----------------------------------------------

COMMENTS: Fuel with slightly less oil (no less than 16%) can be used
to increase performance, but this reduces the life of the engine.
__________________________________________________ ______________

[link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXAN96&P=0][link here][/link]

submikester

My Feedback: (6)

uh...fellas...anyone check the pulse on the horse lately?

Kweasel

My Feedback: (29)

I tried to mix some bakers AA with camp fuel and it would not mix. With some experimentation I found that it would mix well with a small amount of polyol ester (2380 turbine oil) added. Maxima 927 contains ester and mixes very well with a wide variety of fuels.

iflynething

In other words is he saying that castor is better for our engines. Really the only thing I didn't like with Byron (which had castor) before I switched to Coolpower (which is 100% synthetic) is the mess it made. All gas engines will make a mess on the plane, helicopter, car, etc. but I found that the castor made a much worse mess, especially on my helicopter where when you're hovering, that exaust gets everywhere.

So, is castor better for our engines, as far as what was in that article I seem to think it is!

~Michael~

AndyW

My Feedback: (1)

There are two engines that seem to illustrate that castor is superior in a unique way. Cox and VA engines. Both have, what I call a shrouded wrist pin. In the case of Cox, it's a ball socket. In the case of VA, the wristpin is conventional but is installed in a carrier that's threaded on the outside. This is then screwed into the internal threads of the piston. Innovative and unique but because fresh lube is not easily transferred to this area, both Cox and VA will suffer premature wear if a significant amount of castor is not used.

I do a lot of 1/2A but I've flown all sizes up to gassers. When the synthetics came out, I used them and they worked well. So, I used them on my Cox engines and was continually having to reset the piston's ball socket. And I got rust,,, easily. Cox's cylinders would rust from the time of shutdown to the trip home. You dared not forget your afterrun oil. One day, one of my TDs developed zero compression. The ball in the rod had worn through the top of the piston. Not the fault of the synthetic based fuel. That fuel is used on Norvels to great success.

To me, this illustrates that besides the heat issue, castor has unique, superior lubricating quailities.

And if this has already been covered, sorry 'bout that. After an hour of reading, I just had to skip to the end.