C oil OK for ways?

Tozguy said:
John, would you elaborate on this please. Just curious.
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Probably not relevant to machine oil but here it is.

In the world of dirt oval kart racing there is a lot of "snake oil" being sold. From engine oil to tire prep to axles and hubs there are many different brands that claim to give an advantage. I originally used an oil called FHS 62 that was a thick synthetic my mentor Mike Clements swore by. It was good stuff and I always included a quart with every new or rebuilt engine. I don't remember the chemistry but we had some customers who used another brand of oil that straight up wasn't compatible. If you did an oil change with that stuff after running the FHS 62 there was a good chance you'd wipe the main bearings.

Another problem was when Briggs & Stratton came out with their own brand. We lost a few engines using that stuff before they reformulated it, I stopped selling it because it wasn't worth the risk. Briggs Racing however did replace the engines that broke and I have absolutely nothing negative to say about them.

But, by far the most failures were from people who thought they could run 14, 12, or even 10 ounces of oil (recommended 16 to 18). They thought it was some sort of advantage but as far as I could tell the only advantage was they had to keep buying new engines.

Eventually I had problems getting the FHS and decided to switch to Valvoline 50wt racing oil that I could get at the local speed shop. I worked great and cost less too.

I'm not an oil chemist but I think we have one on here who explained one day that most oil companies sell base stock to each other on a regular basis. What I remember him saying is that since it's a commodity product that's produced to industry standards it really doesn't matter what hole in the ground it came out of or what color the bottle is.

If you have a favorite, or if you want to follow manufacturers recommendations to the letter go right ahead. I've had good luck with generics and store brands (they have to be made by a major producer since it's not a craft industry). I this case VP racing has been a trusted supplier of mine for a long time. Actually, come to think of it we did have problems with a specific formulation of their two-cycle once but that was a long time ago.

We pushed those little engines far past what their limits should have been. I'm talking about 8hp Briggs OHV motors putting out 35hp on methanol and over 40hp when you added some nitromethane. Good times....

If you're curious here's a site capture from the Wayback Machine Heartbeat Racing Products Home Page (archive.org)

I really enjoyed that business and would probably still be doing it if the bottom didn't drop out in 2009 :(.

John
 
John, thanks for sharing your experience with us. Very interesting. I can understand how much you enjoyed working in that field, engines tuned to the ragged edge, no matter what size they are, are exciting.
Jim, apologies for the digression, back to regular programming.
 
My lathe and mill/drill get very light use. No more than 3 to 4 hours at a time with long spells between usage. It's probably been over a week since I last used it. I bought AW-46 which falls within one end of the spec for 20 wt because I could buy just one gallon. AW-68 falls at the other end of the spec and is only available in 5 gallon pails in my area. I clean the chips and whatever off the ways of my lathe after every couple of passes. Anytime I stop to take a measurement or whatever I wipe down the ways. I use the AW-46 for everything. Every time I use my lathe I lubricate everything.
 
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