Only for those with over 1000 miles

ckangaroo70 · Aug 11, 2012

You know... I have read about 10 bazillion post on oil and got to thinking to myself that if you really really wanted to know what oil to use and at what ratio, then wouldn't it make sense and kinda close all the various discussions down if we just asked those folks who are getting over 1000 miles out of a China Girl engine what oil they are using and at what ratio?

In most of those "what oil is best" threads you will get many replies from folks who claim to know somebody who got a ton of miles using such and such oil mixed at a certain ratio or someone who has 50 miles on an engine then reports that since all is going well up to this point, then they must be using the best at the right ratio.

So to weed out all those type post...the guys or gals I am most interested in hearing from are only those who have broken the 1000 mile barrior on a china girl engine and kindly letting me know in the poll what oil you used and at what ratio?

Please.....ONLY THOSE WITH A 1000 miles or more on a single HT engine. I have had two motorized bikes, but have not put 1000 miles on either...so I will not be able to answer my own poll.LOL

ckangaroo70 · Aug 12, 2012

Here is how I define some of the 2 stroke oils in my poll.

Synthetic or Blend I consider to be either a full synthetic or a blend of synthethic and conventional or other high performance non conventional oil.

Castor is a oil that will mix with either methanol or gas and has superior heat protection over almost all other type lubricants including that of even synthetic. Castor will handle more heat then almost all other type oils before it degrades. However it is prone to gumming and staining. Some folks may use sraight AAA grade bakers Castor or some folks may use a blend of Castor and synthethic lubricants that are found in a product like Klotz. (This is something I use personaly to mix my own fuel for my methanol powered model airplanes. Have also mixed it with gas for some of larger Ryobi 31cc converted gasoline airplane engines, but have never used it in a HT engine)

Straight 30W oil is a possibillity and was used up until more modern lubricants were formulated. However..they may still be a few folks who think anything modern is bad and prefer the 30W.

Conventional 2 stroke oil I consider as being a fossil based oil specificly designed for air cooled 2 stroke engines. There are also blends mixed for water cooled 2 stroke, but air cooled oil and water cooled are not the same formulations. So while the Quicksilver oil I use in my Mercury outboard is great stuff...I wouldn't run it in an air cooled engine.

On all my various 2 stroke engines for my various hobbies I have done quite well over the years by following the recommendations of those folks who have gotten the most miles and hours out of an engine. Sometimes the voices of those guys or gals with the best recommendations can get drowned out by those who claim to know, but yet have no proven test results based in fact or actual personal experience with a specific product. JUst because my weedeater ran 10 years on a certain mix does not carry over to my HT engine IMO. So if you are one of those folks who have reached the 1000 mile marker and beyond with your HT engine, then your answer to this poll carries more weight then someone like me just throwing out some opinions or generalities. The proof is in the pudding so to speak and if you have over 1000 miles on that china girl engine....I really want to know what fuel you used and at what ratio? If the cousin of your buddy had an uncle that used a certain mix in his outboard and it "ran great"....well I am not really that interested.LOL

biknut · Aug 12, 2012

I mainly use Red Line synthetic 2 stroke oil, except for break in. It's a little too expensive for that.

I have over 2000 miles on a 48cc flying horse motor, running red line @ 50:1. This motor has never had the head off. Even though I removed this motor from my bike a couple weeks ago, it was running fine at the time. I just wanted a 80 motor was the reason. As soon as the new motor is broken in I'll be running red line in it too.

Where I live the climate is very hot. Red line is make from ester base stock. This is the most expensive base stock of all the synthetics, and has the highest heat rating

Every other synthetic I know of is a cheaper blend of synthetic base stocks.

Drewd · Aug 12, 2012

Why would you group castor and 30w in the same classification for your survey.......they are nothing alike.

Put me down for a castor blend, 205+ hours and going strong.

bairdco · Aug 12, 2012

ive got a GT4 china motor with over 10k on it that's been run on opti2 at 100:1 since the very first start up. it's been through 3 races, and is still running strong, but i retired it, and i'm saving it for a cruiser.

i've also got a pile of GT5 motors that ran opti2 for one race, half a race, 20 miles or less with destroyed pistons and wrecked cylinders.

all heavily modified.

is it the oil or the engine?

my money's on the engines. literally. i'm in the hole due to the crappy skyhawk factory.

ckangaroo70 · Aug 12, 2012

Drewd said:
Why would you group castor and 30w in the same classification for your survey.......they are nothing alike.

Put me down for a castor blend, 205+ hours and going strong.

Sorry...I really wasn't aware that Castor was very popular among the motorbike community. I am a huge fan of castor, but just kinda lumped it in with 30W because I thought it was probably obscure as 30W in the motorbycling community. I see that perhaps I was wrong and should have given it its own spot. I fly nitro and gas RC planes and I mix my own fuel for both. I love the Klotz Castor/Syn blend! Sorry I didn't do it better justice in my poll.

2door · Aug 12, 2012

I'm a died-in-the-wool Opti-2 @100:1 user. Two bikes with well over 1000 miles and one just approaching 800. I'll never use anything else.

What surprises me is the numbers you've recieved so far. I had no idea that there were so many of our members who were also using Opti or Amsoil at those ratios. That has to say something about those oils. No smoke, no oily mess and good running engines that apparently last.

I don't abuse my engines but they get run for 50 to 75 miles at a time and if I check my top ends I see clean parts with no carbon build. Admittedly I tip in about an ounce per gallon of Castor, not so much for the lubrication but for that beautiful go-cart, R/C smell.

Tom

BarelyAWake · Aug 13, 2012

1000 miles? pshaw that's barely break-in lol, how 'bout o'er 10,000 miles w/Amsoil Saber @ 100:1?

Head pulled for the obv blown head gasket (generic motor), note the build up (or lack thereof);

The chrome liner was just starting to flake off well below the ring travel, down at the bottom of the cylinder - as there's no real friction there other than skirt slap, I attribute that to cheap manufacturing and not a lack of lubrication. The streak evident in the last pic is just oily residue - easily wiped off as was the deposits on the head & piston, not that I bothered other'n to poke at it a bit.

That's my ol' daily driver commuter & winter beater BTW, my first build - recently retired. Although it still runs great, I've worn through two sets of rims (brake pads) & replaced near everything except the motor & frame at least once due to wear & corrosion - accumulated mostly from wintertime use, so I put her to rest as it'd cost more to spruce back up than to jus' get another bike.

Running a quality synthetic won't make up for a lack of quality control and/or shoddy parts however, I've had a Grubee Skyhawk ingest it's crank bearings @ almost 5000 miles despite that - but as evidenced by the above, it can't hurt lol

ckangaroo70 · Aug 13, 2012

Now this is what I was hoping for. The guys who have actually racked up the miles sharing what works for them. There are just to many oil related threads that ask a question of anyone who cares to respond....which will get you a very muddied and confusing thread. I mean if you are going to get brain surgery, don't you want to talk to the Doc who has done it successfully 1000 times or does the guy fresh out of med schools opinions carry the same weight?
I know some people are just trying to be helpful, but when 9 out 10 replys on a subject are from someone with no proven test results or long term testing....well it can really devalue the thread.

In this case...those guys with the real world experience are bickering over who has 1000 miles and who has 10000 miles?LOL Now thats who I am wanting to hear and this thread can better help all those with lesser experience like me to make better informed decisions on this topic that has been discusssed to death, but not always by those most qualified to discus it like it is here.

biknut · Aug 13, 2012

BarelyAWake said:
1000 miles? pshaw that's barely break-in lol, how 'bout o'er 10,000 miles w/Amsoil Saber @ 100:1?

Head pulled for the obv blown head gasket (generic motor), note the build up (or lack thereof);

The chrome liner was just starting to flake off well below the ring travel, down at the bottom of the cylinder - as there's no real friction there other than skirt slap, I attribute that to cheap manufacturing and not a lack of lubrication. The streak evident in the last pic is just oily residue - easily wiped off as was the deposits on the head & piston, not that I bothered other'n to poke at it a bit.

That's my ol' daily driver commuter & winter beater BTW, my first build - recently retired. Although it still runs great, I've worn through two sets of rims (brake pads) & replaced near everything except the motor & frame at least once due to wear & corrosion - accumulated mostly from wintertime use, so I put her to rest as it'd cost more to spruce back up than to jus' get another bike.

Running a quality synthetic won't make up for a lack of quality control and/or shoddy parts however, I've had a Grubee Skyhawk ingest it's crank bearings @ almost 5000 miles despite that - but as evidenced by the above, it can't hurt lol

That's really inspiring BA. 100:1 huh.

Red Line says I can run up to 100:1, but I'm chicken to do it lol. It's just so hot here all the time.

I actually called the red line factory to talk to them about oil ratios. They said they recommend 50:1 - 100:1. I ask what would be the circumstance where you would run 100:1? I was told that for instance, if you're in a trials competition, where you need crisp throttle response, but are not running at high revs the entire time, you might want to run 100:1.

BarelyAWake · Aug 13, 2012

I don't run a 100:1 mix for any other reasons than;

A: I don't need to buy as much as w/a richer oil mix
B: Doesn't smoke or leave undue deposits
C: Synthetic's ethanol compatibility

Insofar as performance and/or reliability - while there's been a lot of testing w/good results in other applications, TBH the quality & usage of our lil two smokers is so irregular there's no way to establish a baseline for comparison. Save for mixes in excess of 32:1 (too rich) there's little perceivable performance advantage or disadvantage, so as I've be known to say - run w/e quality oil at w/e ratio the oil manufacturer recommends for their oil, that too much can be as bad as not enough lol

karryhunt · Aug 15, 2012

2door said:
I'm a died-in-the-wool Opti-2 @100:1 user. Two bikes with well over 1000 miles and one just approaching 800. I'll never use anything else.

What surprises me is the numbers you've recieved so far. I had no idea that there were so many of our members who were also using Opti or Amsoil at those ratios. That has to say something about those oils. No smoke, no oily mess and good running engines that apparently last.

I don't abuse my engines but they get run for 50 to 75 miles at a time and if I check my top ends I see clean parts with no carbon build. Admittedly I tip in about an ounce per gallon of Castor, not so much for the lubrication but for that beautiful go-cart, R/C smell.

Tom

I'm also a believer in the Opti2 oil mixed 100-1.

I have 1200 miles on a 60cc skyhawk with the original plug and I made a promise to myself that I would do nothing to this engine unless it needed it.

So far it hasn't needed it. dance1

Greg58 · Aug 16, 2012

I run Lucas semi synthetic at 40/1, I have a 48cc grubee with around 1000 on it. Every thing still looks good. I too have run the opti2, but dues to the jet sized for the Lucas it was a little off.

Easy Rider · Aug 16, 2012

bairdco said:
is it the oil or the engine?

my money's on the engines.

Baird, I agree with you on this. I had 2 HT motors before I started using the morini. The first one had a stock needle wrist pin bearing and it blew up within a couple of hundred miles and the second one had a bushing wrist pin. After the bushing wore out after 500 miles, I reamed the rod and installed a wrist pin bearing off of a bluebird motor. I sold the bike 3 years ago and it's still running thousands of miles later and the guy uses cheap Penzoil 2 stroke at 40:1.
Personally, I use Bel Ray H1-R at 32:1. I rather have the extra protection then blow up my motor. Plus I enjoy smoking out the guys behind me on the track. LOL
During my Go-ped racing days, I used Red Line because the local rep gave Dean cases for free. I ran it at 50:1 all the way to 28:1 and blew up (mostly stuck rings) almost every motor (Polinis and Zenoahs). But in Redline's defense, I ran my motors from 18k-28k rpms.
Phobia or Not...Am I the only one that had this kind of luck with Redline?

CR500AF · Aug 17, 2012

I run 32:1 ratio of a 1:1 ipone 100% ester to 100% castor rc airplane oil in my race engines and in my ht i run a random rich fual mixture ie just dump some in the and shake it

ckangaroo70 · Aug 23, 2012

CR500AF said:
I run 32:1 ratio of a 1:1 ipone 100% ester to 100% castor rc airplane oil in my race engines and in my ht i run a random rich fual mixture ie just dump some in the and shake it

And you have 1000 miles or better on your HT engine?

Bikeguy Joe · Aug 23, 2012

Thousands of miles on engines using Penzoil for air cooled engines at 40:1 (a good compromise for all my two strokes that call for various ratios).

I even break them in on the same mix. Never a failure, ever.

Bikeguy Joe · Aug 23, 2012

CR500AF said:
I run 32:1 ratio of a 1:1 ipone 100% ester to 100% castor rc airplane oil in my race engines and in my ht i run a random rich fual mixture ie just dump some in the and shake it

Huh?
.
.
.

CR500AF · Aug 23, 2012

ckangaroo70 said:
And you have 1000 miles or better on your HT engine?

easy 1000km + i don't know about miles but my gussing mixture would be from 40-20 - 1 its not bad but good.

Bikeguy Joe · Aug 23, 2012

CR500AF said:
easy 1000km + i don't know about miles but my gussing mixture would be from 40-20 - 1 its not bad but good.

That would be around 600 miles, you don't qualify.

Only for those with over 1000 miles

What oil and ratio?

Synthetic or Blend (Opti2, Amsoil, etc.) 75:1 to 100:1

Synthetic or Blend (Opti2, Amsoli, etc.) 50:1 to 75:1

Synthetic or Blend (Opti2, Amsoil, etc) Less then 50:1

Castor or 30W oil mixed 16:1 to 40:1

Conventional (Lawn Boy, Penzoil, Stihl, etc.) 50:1 or more

Conventional (Lawn Boy, Penzoil, Stihl, etc.) 32:1 or more

Conventional (Lawn Boy, Penzoil, Stihl, etc.) 24:1 or Less

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