0w20 on K-series engine... Just a thought

0w20 on K-series engine... Just a thought

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Discussion

admaraujo

Original Poster:

62 posts

111 months

Friday 10th April 2015
quotequote all
Another tricky subject but... here it goes anyway...

Is it possible to use 0w20 fully synthetic engine oil on a Caterham, with a "standard" 1.6 K-series running on Jenvey DTH TB's, forged pistons, R500 conrods and Emerald?

Oil change every year, regardless of mileage... never got to the official service interval anyway.

How long would it last?

Would it kill the engine?

Too thin?

And so on...

This is just an exercise but, please give honest replies.


Cheers.

DCL

1,215 posts

178 months

Friday 10th April 2015
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It would go great, but not for long!

DCL

1,215 posts

178 months

Friday 10th April 2015
quotequote all
Just to be a bit more serious, this grade would normally only be used in a specialist application such as formula race engines where tolerances are tight and overhaul times are only a few hours.

The advantages are that the losses are a lot less (maybe 10's of BHP), much of this is pumping losses (ie lower back pressure for the pump(s)). The problem is, in an engine like the K, that oil will leak form the larger tolerances to such an extent that the volume of the pump may not be adequate to maintain a satisfactory oil pressure, and parts of the engine may be starved. My guess is that you would see rapid wear rather than sudden bearing failure.



Edited by DCL on Friday 10th April 21:53

admaraujo

Original Poster:

62 posts

111 months

Sunday 12th April 2015
quotequote all
Thank you DCL for playing this little thought experiment.

DVandrews

1,315 posts

282 months

Sunday 12th April 2015
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The viscosity is too low

I am interested however in how you can use R500 rods in a 1600 K series.

Dave

DVandrews

1,315 posts

282 months

Sunday 12th April 2015
quotequote all
The viscosity is too low

I am interested however in how you can use R500 rods in a 1600 K series.

Dave

admaraujo

Original Poster:

62 posts

111 months

Monday 13th April 2015
quotequote all
Hello Dave!

You are quite right... My mind was playing tricks because of course the crankshaft if not something else is different between 1.6 and 1.8... I found the Portuguese Academy Specification Sheet and it reads:

PORTUGUESE ACADEMY.CAR
ENGINE UPGRADE
- R500 pistons (x4)
- Head gasket
- Ring set (x4 supplied by Minister)
- Machining and fitting to existing rods (by Minister)
- Uprated valve retainers (x16)


Any idea if this "said" engine upgrade is any better than the original spec? Or just sellers BS? Apart from R500 pistons.


Cheers,
Andre

BertBert

18,954 posts

210 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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Having a head gasket must be an upgrade surely?

DVandrews

1,315 posts

282 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
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Petty sure forged pistons were standard fitment to academy cars, the spec. looks pretty stock otherwise. It may be the Rods have been modified for fully floating fitment of the pistons., but that isn't clear.

Dave

panickyjabofoppo

52 posts

110 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
quotequote all
Hope this isn't derailing the thread too much, 'but'...
One of the invoices from Minister in 2006 for my ex- Roadsport B engine simply states 'upgraded piston and rod assembly'. Presumably this is a similar deal to the OP's Minister-installed parts. Does anyone know any more about the details of what this surprisingly non-specific description could be referring to?

CharlesElliott

1,991 posts

281 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
quotequote all
Academy engines came with OEM pistons. The rebuild spec (which was basically defined by Minister for Caterham) allowed for forged pistons because the OEM ones tended to break in race conditions. There were at least two slightly different specs of forged pistons used over the years, the latter providing a very slightly higher compression ratio than the earlier spec. That and uprated spring caps were the only real differences vs a standard engine.

admaraujo

Original Poster:

62 posts

111 months

Wednesday 15th April 2015
quotequote all
panickyjabofoppo said:
Hope this isn't derailing the thread too much, 'but'...
One of the invoices from Minister in 2006 for my ex- Roadsport B engine simply states 'upgraded piston and rod assembly'. Presumably this is a similar deal to the OP's Minister-installed parts. Does anyone know any more about the details of what this surprisingly non-specific description could be referring to?
That isn't derailing it's conversation :-)

Well as my car was for the Portuguese Academy, I was led to believe that the spec was slightly different than Old Merry UK. Apparently not...