0w20 on K-series engine... Just a thought
Discussion
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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?
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?
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.
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 :-)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?
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...
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