Yes men in black suits have been following me and Lillee in a black pontiac

_________________
Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

Is the Castrol EDGE stuff different to the original Formula R stuff?

_________________

http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras

Exactly the same I reckon. Even smells the same

It's a perfect oil, you can't improve on perfect

For the 1330 though I will use GR's suggestion of KMX to run in before switching to Formula R. This is the stuff you get at Kmart. for $20 a bottle. He swears by it!!

_________________
Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

I used Running In oil from Repco for my 1330cc. Ive been using Penrite Street Machine. Which says its for big bore engines but i kinda thought well if it can handle the stress of a decent V8 then it should be able to cope with a mini gearbox/diff/engine? I think i mite change over to the Castrol Formula R Edge next oil change though....

_________________

http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras

It's good stuff Hanra Guys race on this stuff and runs well on my old, tired, worn motor. Should go good on a hotter engine in a hotter climate...

_________________
Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

A couple of observations:

an oils capacity to proect is basically proprtional to its viscosity.

oil is labelled with its nominal viscosity at 0degC (how well it flows) and its nominal protective strength at 100degC (different units apply to each number). So a 20W50 oil flows like a 20 grade at ambient temps but protects like a 50 wt oil at operating temps.

synthetic oils have a greater film strength for any given nominal viscosity.

synthetic oils are more stable over a greater heat range. Check your oil pressure gauge to compare the viscosity of similar grade synthetic versus mineral oil on a hot day and several thousand miles use. Mineral oil will noticably degrade after 3 or so thousand miles. I have never seen a similar effect with synthetic (Shell Helix) even at 10K miles.

Bearings chew up oil (sheer forces) not gears. Many manufacturers specify multigrade engine oil for heavy duty use in gearboxes (and its lasts basically indefinitely).

Not that I would EVER cross swords with GR (I once saw him come off the second row of the grid at Amaroo Park in his Mini, zip between the two XU1s that were on the front row and be two car lengths in front by the top of the hill) but...my cam has survived 16 years of synthetic use and still seems fine.

The magnetic sump plug is a great wear guage on a Mini. My observations are that you will find less fuz on the plug after 10K miles on synthetic than you will after 3 or 4 with mineral oil.

Unfortuantely Shell seem to have discontinued the 15W60 Helix Ultra that I used to use.

With all the advantages what's a few oil leaks between friends...

While Larry may have used Castrol, Dick J alledgedly used Helix synthetic and Brock Mobil 1...your pays yer money and takes yer chances...

Cheers, Ian

Don't believe every thing you read.

I witnessed a oil test recently and was quite surprised at the results.

I cannot remember all the specs but i will not be putting sythetic in anything as it failed a basic load test

This stuff was $90.00 for 4 litres so not the cheap stuff.

Basically it spun away from the rotateing part instead of clinging to it.

Kiwiinwgtn

.

but every detail would be worth knowing, small changes makes big differences

i know a lot of tests to show that some product is superior to another, most test are far from reality. the testing enviroment mostly is far from beeing an engine, speeds so high an motorbike shows respect, pressure test designed for metall cutting lubricants

i know most a-series engines won't need syntetics but they are not bad and kill your engine. even a known manufacturer of oil specialy designed for mini engines makes a semisyntetic oil for the "sportier drivers"
syntetics are made to be better than mineral oils, some syntetics don't reach this goal so a good mineral is better than a poor syntetic
syntetics can cope with higher temps and higher pressure (if they are properly designed), if your engine don't need it, you don't need to buy syntetics

your choice

_________________
Rover 214 atm ....