Carbural fuel treatment, Old garage equipment

[olderisbetter]

I have had this old feul treatment applicator in a bag for a while and today got round to cleaning it up, Not sure but it hink it was a redex type product, Anyway it was grubby and in need of a clean up, So i washed it in white spirit and changed the cork seals, It feels a strudy well made item. Let me know if any of you saw them used or used them.

[SteveClem]

Not come across that one,but back in the late '70's we bought a beetle. There was a Wynnes warranty on it provided that we used a similar redex product. Engine blew after a few thousand miles and they wouldn't pay out because the small print required 'professional 'monitoring of the installation.
I suspect the engine was b-ggered when we bought it but I was pretty green in those days. Can't do any harm, I suppose.

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Upper cylinder lubricant, IMO still worth using with today's dry fuels.

[philthehill]

I totally agree with the statement that todays fuel is too dry in that it has no lubricating qualities.
Two stroke mixture oil added to the fuel tank at about 70-1 ratio is cheaper and just as effective.

[olderisbetter]

I have a few bottles of redex i got for 50p at a store that was closing we still use it in a tank full.

[SteveClem]

I totally agree with the statement that todays fuel is too dry in that it has no lubricating qualities.
Two stroke mixture oil added to the fuel tank at about 70-1 ratio is cheaper and just as effective.

I've heard that before,Phil,and it made sense to me. I seem to recall that others disagreed.

[philthehill]

My Honda XL185S suffered repeatedly from sticking valves on straight unleaded fuel until I started using cheap 2 stroke oil as an upper cylinder lubricant so I do know that adding the 2 stroke oil works for me even if others disagree.

[irmscher]

Anyone remember Armadol ?in the 70,s or Castrol R

[philthehill]

I cannot recall 'Armadol' but Castrol 'R' is still going strong.
My neighbour uses it in his MG K3 and the smell is superb.

[olderisbetter]

Phil i had never heard of the MG k3 so i had to google it, That is a fine looking car and i wonder if that castrol smell is the same as the old motor bikes running on castrol i used to smell like an addict as a child.

[philthehill]

http://www.mgownersclub.co.uk/mg-guides ... 3-magnette

When the supercharger is on full throttle it sounds out of this world. Pre-selecter gearbox box as well.

The same smell as the old racing motorcycles.

A tablespoon in the petrol tank of a Minor gives the same effect

[SteveClem]

Crikey, I'd better rush out tomorrow and find some.

[nice one cyril]

When I was a young buck I used to have a '59 BSA DBD34 Gold Star, a road going production racer which was run from new on Castrol R, 5/- a pint in '63, which gave off that gorgeous speedway smell. Picking the ex wife up you had to go right round a large square of houses and when you crossed the point where you entered the square you could smell the stuff where you had passed a few minutes before, and local kids used to wait for us to pass and stood on the pavements sniffing furiously. Last time I saw it for sale it was around £5 a pint. Many an uninformed biker wrecked their engines by swapping to ordinary 20/50 oil as when mixed with 'r' it turned into a thick sludge. Loads of biker wannabe's back then bought a pint between them and as said put a spoonful in a tankful of petrol to gain a bit of street cred with the uninitiated. Nice one cyril

[irmscher]

Speedway bikes have the smell its quite addictive

[BLOWNMM]

G'day all
Phil - in your post of Oct 18 you mention adding two stroke oil at 70:1 ratio. If I were to use two stroke oil at this ratio I would be mixing 286 ml. of oil to 20 litres of fuel. When researching for info when setting up my blower I read an article titled 'Supercharge!' where the author recommends using engine oil for a supercharged motor in the ratio of 1 pint of engine oil to 12 galllons of fuel in the tank. This equates to a ratio of 96:1 which is on par with your 70:1 - refer link Chapter 2 page 2, 5th paragraph down. Initially I followed his recommendation and used about 210 ml. oil to 20 litres of fuel. However I noticed the plugs were quite wet with oil so reduced the amount of oil to 60 ml. to 20 litres of fuel. Even though the plugs were wet with oil there was no miss firing even though they are NGK BU8H surface discharge plugs with a fixed gap of 1.5 mm. The plugs have done over 3000 miles and have never been touched. What are your thoughts on firstly the use of engine oil rather than two stroke oil and secondly the ratio I am using.
Bob
http://www.fefcholden.org.au/techinfo/s ... index.html

[philthehill]

Bob
As you may be well aware - the main difference between engine oil and two-stroke oil is that engine oil is not formulated to be burnt in the engine cylinder whereas two-stroke oil is.
The vanes (used in a generic term) of a supercharger benefit from being lubricated by the passing oil/air/petrol mixture. Therefore any additional oil put into the fuel tank whether it be straight engine oil or two-stroke oil is a bonus for the supercharger vanes.
Whilst 70-1 two-stroke mixture works well for me on my 4-stroke motorcycle in keeping the valve stems lubricated the ratio could and can be varied to suit the application. At the 70-1 ratio I do not get any oiling of the plugs or misfiring.
As you are not getting any misfire at 60 ml I would not be overly concerned but would monitor the build up (if any) of carbon in the cylinder and around the valves.
I personally would try the two-stroke mixture and see how it works for your application.

Phil

[BLOWNMM]

Phil
Two points to consider. My plugs were not miss-firing even with a ratio of 96:1 but when I had to remove the head to change it there was a thick coating of engine oil on the bores etc. This was what decided me to reduce the ratio. Also my blower is a Roots pump and there is no contact between the rotor lobes. I do not understand how a mixture of oil and petrol could be beneficial there. I do however agree that I would benefit by using two stroke oil and revert to a ratio of somewhere about 75:1 for a trial. I also use Penrite lubricants and when browsing their web site they offer two stroke oil as mineral or synthetic. I am tending toward mineral but would be open to suggestions. I have mailed Penrite re the choice of oil and await their reply.
Bob

[philthehill]

Bob
If you had an oil residue in the bores etc after combustion the mixture is comprised of too much oil. Any oil added to the fuel mixture should be consumed on the power stroke.
The beauty of using 2 stroke oil at around 70 - 1 is that any oil that has entered the cylinder will be burnt without leaving any residue.
My 2 stroke outboard running at about 70 - 1 mixture always had a beautifully clean plug and combustion chamber and yet still lubricated all the moving parts. My old Seagull outboard used 2 stroke at about 25 - 1 and never missed a beat but the bearings were plain.

I was not sure what type of supercharger you had fitted so that was the reason for using vanes in the generic term.
Whilst I agree the Roots type rotor lobes should not touch each other or the casing - a film of oil on the rotors from the fuel mixture passing over and around them does no harm and helps the chamber seals.

As regards synthetic or mineral - I use mineral 2 stroke oil as I can get it locally and at a reasonable price.
Phil

[olderisbetter]

Not sure how castrol and castor oil connect if at all but i was talking to someone this week about castor oil being used in old racing cars and giving the old time drivers a bad case of toilet trips, This must have been along time ago now wonder they needed to drive fast.

[philthehill]

Castrol make Castrol R30 and R40 Caster oil based engine oil.

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/pdfs/castrol/ ... %20R40.pdf