oil, what to use.

[fvincent]

Gas octane rating for xsilerating

Be careful. If you use an octane rating higher than your compression ratio calls for, you will end up with incomplete combustion. No pinging but lots of carbon left over, (piston, rings, head & valves). My rule of thumb is if it doesnt ping, don't waste your money!

Floyd
'80G

[trbig]

xsilerating,

Both models of your bike have the same engine. (If stock) Try Regular in the MNS. If it pings, go back to the super. Just keep in mind that if it has a lot of carbon buildup, that makes hot spots and makes it more prone to pre-detonation. If it does ping, I'd run some Seafoam through it for a couple tanks and try again. Gas is too frikkin high to pay more than what is needed. Unless the motor has been hopped up, regular SHOULD work for you.



Tod

[xsilerating]

I guess I should have been a bit more precise. The latter half of last season I switched to a mid range (89) with the intent of trying the regular grade. However, I never got around to it as I got more involved with the Standard. If I get it on the road this year, I'll try the regular but, current plans call for the beginning of a restoration project for the MNS.

[xsilerating]

No clutch slippage problems with semi-syn?

No, none what so ever. I'm not technical enough with this stuff but, what I'm told is that the synthetic aspect is to avoid breakdown of a particular aspect of the oil. It doesn't have the normal properties of a typical 100% synthetic and doesn't change the lifespan properties.

If I remember more accurately or, find the relevant info (it's here somewhere ) I'll re-post.

Sorry, getting old... too many 'senior' moments....

Huh Where am I

[thewiz]

left turn,Clyde

Don't mean to morph this thread completely, but wanted to comment about fuel grades .... I always run premimum UNLESS I run diesel.

[Pat Kelly]

I run the low-octane in both my 78 E and the 80 MNS. The exception is the MNS (1196 big-bore kit) in summer. It starts to ping when it gets hot outside (110+ F) then I go up in octane. The E runs fine on the lower octane all the time.

I personally use Castro GTX 10-40 in winter and 20-50 in summer. Last oil change(s) I tried the motorcycle specific Castrol and notice no difference. I've used regular GTX in all my bikes since 1978.

[saddle up]

Originally posted by Pat Kelly
I run the low-octane in both my 78 E and the 80 MNS. The exception is the MNS (1196 big-bore kit) in summer. It starts to ping when it gets hot outside (110+ F) then I go up in octane. The E runs fine on the lower octane all the time.

I personally use Castro GTX 10-40 in winter and 20-50 in summer. Last oil change(s) I tried the motorcycle specific Castrol and notice no difference. I've used regular GTX in all my bikes since 1978.

I have been doing the same as you have since 1974. I've never had any problems with the regular GTX.
The same with the gas...

[Paintman]

Slippery stuff

I hee run alot of diff oils over the yrs and i havent noticed any major diff in Bike specific oils over car oils Now for Synthetics and blends. i have run a few tests since i have alot of old air colled bikes i would change the oils let it circulate yhen wi would take head temp readings and keep a log. as long as the oil dosent have any Friction Modifiers it will not affect your clutch performance at all. i have run, Mobil-1, Castrol Syntec, and Amsoil. while running the amsoil i gained almost 3 mpg and dropped the cyinder head temp by over 50 degrees. this was on a 92 Degree day so i was very suprised. I also run this in my cars after 5K miles i took oil to friend to ck for Viscoscity break down and also for any acid build up the oild trested as good as new. so every 5k miles i would drop filer test oil in cars and add what i lost for draining filter and oil has held up to 20 before i have had to change it. i know in bikes everyonelike to go anywhere from 2k to 3k changes .
This is just what i have found.


John

[trbig]

Oh GOODIE!!! A revived oil thread!! Woo Hoo!!

[malber]

Originally posted by xsilerating
I recall a thread/poll a while back, which questioned what grade of gasoline that people were using and, I believe, the majority stated that they used 'Regular Unleaded' which, according to the above, would not meet the required octane rating.

Personally, I use premium in the MNS (that is what I was told to use by the long-life bikes mechanic) and regular in the Standard, which is what had been used by the PO.

Any comments???

I remember in that same thread it was explained that how octane is measured and additives used has changed so that "regular" unleaded (87 octane) is just fine. Unless you're having pre-combustion problems you don't need the higher octane and doing so is just a waste of money.

As for the oil, I use the heavier blend recommended by Clymer. I tried to use the 20w-50 one summer and had all kinds of problems with starting on cooler mornings and clutch slippage.

I suppose that there isn't really and "best" oil to use (as with any type: YMMV), just as long as you change it regularly.

[planedick]

Octane

Higher octane fuels have an addative to make them burn slower than regular. Unless you have modified your compression ratio above the 9 to 1 area, regular is best. IMHO I use it all the time and can still push the fairing at 130 mph in 5th with the 750 final mod.

[olebiker]

I have always run premium. A couple of bikes started to run better after a couple of tanks. The PO had always run reg. Maybe I am wasting my money. Damn I am gonna have to rethink this with the price of gas.

[fvincent]

Octane

If you exceed the correct octane/compression ratio, you will get incomplete combustion & carbon build-up. I had to do a valve job on a Honda shadow because of running "high test" after just 5000 miles. You wouldn't believe the crap & soot in the cylinders, valves & exhaust. After top end rebuild, she ran beautifully and clean on 87 octane for the life of the bike.

Just my experience with octane.

Floyd
'80G

[olebiker]

Damn that just sounds backwards. It seems like lower octane would build up soot. I always thought higher the octane the hotter the flame the cleaner it runs. Now you all are telling me my best thinkin was poop. Darn it. How come my idea isn't right high octane hotter flame etc? Damn good thing I wasn't a chemist......
Come to think oh it I failed that in school if I remember I thought a lot of that stuff wasn't right too .

[malber]

Originally posted by olebiker
Damn that just sounds backwards. It seems like lower octane would build up soot. I always thought higher the octane the hotter the flame the cleaner it runs. Now you all are telling me my best thinkin was poop. Darn it. How come my idea isn't right high octane hotter flame etc? Damn good thing I wasn't a chemist......

You're not alone. You've probably heard the term "high octane" to describe something as cobmustibly exciting. It's actually an ironic misnomer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

I'm sure it also has to do with marketing. Buying something called "Premium" sounds like it should be a better quality and deliver more than just plain old "regular" when in reality, unless your engine requires it, you won't see any difference. You certainly won't see any difference in performance because the increased ratio of iso-octane is only there to prevent pre-combustion, not improve performance.

You'd only see better performance with an engine that is tuned for high-compression ignition. Since we don't have high compression engines, like super-chargers or turbo, there isn't a need for it, unless you're encountering pinging.