finished giving my fj a service

[racerrad8]

this is the oil i opted for - http://www.valvoline.com/products/brands/racing/racing-motor-oil/6

any opinions?

Perfect, that is the oil I use in all of my personal bikes and race cars. I recommend it highly and I assure you, as long as your clutch spring is good, you will never have a clutch problem.

I have been using and recommending that oil for my 20 years of racing & working on the FJ and I will not use anything else.

I am building two engines right now, one from a customers car that uses the Valvoline and the engine has had four full years of road racing on it. The oil is changed every four race weekends which is about 1000-1250 miles of hard, wide open racing application buried under the hood of a race car mounted sideways with poor air cooling circulation. Here is the oil that is dripping from the engine:


Here is the oil for a street bike engine I am building and this engine runs strictly on synthetic oil:


I am not totally sure of the exact mile, but this oil had just at 1000 miles on it.

Use the Valvoline and you will be fine.

I use, install and highly recommend the VR1 racing oils.

Randy - RPM

[yampug]

i should have known better than to start talking about oil on a bike forum. 

thanks for your reply randy

any one want to buy 4 litres of Motul 3000 4T 20W-50 i just purchased off ebay?

oh well it'll do for the next oil change i shall keep notes on clutch characteristics with the valvoline in comaparison to the motul 3000 oil.

i wonder if these friction modifiers supposedly added to car oil really do exist.

[yampug]

actually it's funny randy should come along and say the valvoline oil is a good oil as i originally found the valvoline recommened on a legends racer forum, i figured if it's good enough for those things being thrashed round a track with less cooling than an fj and having to lug around the weight of a car body then it'd be good enough for my fj. 

[Alf]

i should have known better than to start talking about oil on a bike forum. 

Yep, horrible!!!! 

Randy

I used Motul 300V racing when I raced with my 1100. And in a race it don´t mind if the bike spend or not too much oil or if the engine sound too much. Even the seals not get hardened too much because the temperature is constant, not changing all the time between 80-110ºC like in a road use
I´m a medium fast rider in open roads (well, not Valentino Rossi, obviously, but enough to chase all my friends in an open road with my dinosaur). And I don´t use more than 80% of the engine power most of the time. The 20-50w oil that I use (cheapo car oil API SG) is in good shape when I change at 6000 kms intervals, the engine don´t spend oil  (with more than 100.000 kms in it) in my long travels around Europe on summer and the engine feel more sweet with mineral oil
And not only me. All my friends think the same. Even a couple of them use their FJs like a regular track weapons and use 20-50w oil with good results, changing the oil and filter each time that they go into a track. And all of them in a moment or another have changed to synthetic oils with not very good results in engine sound or oil comsumption

So don´t sell that 20.50 w oil

[Joe Sull]

I for one am glad to here about what everybody is using for oil. When I had my other two 11's, I bought them new from a friend (suzuki dealer) and I just brought them to him for all the servicing. I never did anything to the bikes except clean them.

Pics of Old pics





Before the 11's, I changed my oil in my kz650 and used the cheapest oil I could find every 1000 miles, like quakerstate 10/40. back then it was like $9 a case and that is what I was planning on doing.

[movenon]

I run 15-40 Shell Rotella.  I buy it for 12.00 to 15.00 a gallon. Change it so often that I have never seen it dirty. Seems to work. I do have 4 or 5 quarts of Valvoline motorcycle oil on the shelf I am going to use up next oil change and will give the Valvoline VR 1 a try later on. I think the key is change what ever oil you use often and I have to say the spin on filter is a blessing for that.  
George

[yampug]

found this interesting castrol page with a video -
http://www.castrolmoto.com/en/trizone/clutch.php

intrigued as to whether these friction modifiers really do affect wet clutches, according to castrol yes and according to valvoline pdf on vr1 they say not suitable for wet clutches but with all randys experience he says vr1 is good for fj's

guess my best option is to experiment and make my own choice based on what i experience. 

friction modifiers in oil fact or fiction?

[movenon]

You just have to find out what works for you. My theory is if all else fails try to use as close to the factory spec's as you can. You can way over think oil.   
George

[TexasDave]

I'm with George on oil. I think its way more important to change oil often. I don't care how well it lubricates, they all get dirty. 

[racerrad8]

I'm with George on oil. I think its way more important to change oil often. I don't care how well it lubricates, they all get dirty. 

Actually you are with me on oil...remember you are using Valvoline VR1 20w-50wt too.

Randy - RPM

[TexasDave]

I have used Valvoline oil in all of my VW bugs (6) for 30yrs here in HOT texas. They are 1600cc air cooled engines and have a smaller oil capacity. Yes on Randy's recommendation it is in the FJ also. 

[fintip]

Friction modifiers definitely exist. No one who knows what they are talking about questions their existence.

The end result of my research on oil can be found here: http://fjowners.wikidot.com/oil

There is a summary at the top, and sourced references throughout.

[The General]

found this interesting castrol page with a video -
http://www.castrolmoto.com/en/trizone/clutch.php

intrigued as to whether these friction modifiers really do affect wet clutches, according to castrol yes and according to valvoline pdf on vr1 they say not suitable for wet clutches but with all randys experience he says vr1 is good for fj's

guess my best option is to experiment and make my own choice based on what i experience. 

That makes a lot of sense ta me. I`d be interested on your report using a standard clutch in good condition & heaps of wrist.  (Might just get the online numbers up too!....Heeeheheee)

[yampug]

Friction modifiers definitely exist. No one who knows what they are talking about questions their existence.

The end result of my research on oil can be found here: http://fjowners.wikidot.com/oil

There is a summary at the top, and sourced references throughout.

apart from this sentence - Modern car oils (since SH became obsolete in the 90's) have friction modifiers that screw with wet clutches.

is there anything else in your article about friction modifiers? sorry if i missed it i ctrl f'd friction modifier and it only came up in the first bit.

[fintip]

There is not a lot, but if you ctr+f "friction", you will see two other finds which will show you the particular additive in question, and why it is in there. The universal advice from those in the know is to not use modern street-use-approved automotive oils, with the exception of diesel oils. Randy's recommendation here of such an oil is the first I've ever heard, if that is indeed a street use approved car oil.

But that doesn't mean friction modifiers do or do not exist--the question is just how much they affect wet clutches.

I also use Rotella synth after all I've read. My engine will consume dino oil, but not synthetic. The previous owner told me as much, but I didn't believe him--I had been told that synthetic oils don't go with wet clutches.

Sure enough, upon oil change to regular "dino" oil, the bike started to consume oil. And sure enough, after more research showed synthetics are not only fine for wet clutches, but in general, preferable, I switched back... No more consumption.

Not sure why, but that's my experience. My clutch slips a little, but it did that from day one--it has 80k miles on it, and frankly needs a clutch service. This is a torquey engine.