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Politics and Religion

PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2014 8:08 pm
by hennesse
OK guys, you spent Thanksgiving with relatives, gobbling turkey, and skillfully avoided discussing the Forbidden Topics - Politics and Religion.

So now's your chance to let loose...

FORBIDDEN TOPIC #1) Motor and Transmission Oil
Harley says: Regular Heavy 105 above 75F, Medium Heavy 75 between 32F and 75F, and Light 58 below 32F
I've been using Valvoline Racing Oil SAE 60 and Kendall GT-1 SAE 50. Our AMCA Chapter has its annual Freeze Your Butt Off run on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (tomorrow), so I decided to drain out that summer 60 weight, and try some of that new-fangled multi-grade oil, namely Castrol GTX SAE 20W-50. It was about 35F this afternoon when I changed oil and transmission fluid, and boy, does it pour easy. This multi-viscosity stuff seems to be all the rage these days. Is it a dad-burned gimmick?

What do you use?

Also, a buddy of mine saw some Harley Sport-Trans fluid for sale, and insisted that I buy it, because it cured all the transmission problems on his Indian Chief. So now I'm the proud owner of two gallons of the stuff. Two gallons - I can change the tranny fluid every month for the rest of my life and never run out. Should I? And what's in this stuff anyway?


FORBIDDEN TOPIC #2) Spark Plugs
Champion H8C or H10C

What do you use?


FORBIDDEN TOPIC #3) Ford or Chevy


P.S. Amalie Oil Company claims: "In 1953, Amalie was the first oil company to introduce a multi-grade motor oil: Imperial 10W30."

Re: Politics and Religion

PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2014 9:43 pm
by sean
i run castrol gtx 20w50 in my shovelhead.have been for over 25 years. a few years ago we had a heat wave of 30-35 c and the old shovel was running too hot,the dealer recomended i run half 20/50 and half hd 50 weight...that cooled the bike down to normal temps.i never had engine troubles as a result of the 20/50,i have 12 years on my motor since a total rebuild,blew a head gasket a couple years ago and the cylinders and pistons were in great shape.
for the trans fluid i run semi synthetic 20-50 in the shovel...the k model is not finished yet so i cant speak for what oil runs best in that but i intended to run 50 and 60 when its hot...
i used h10c in my 72 sporty,they fouled on a reg basis but straight drag pipes and being 19 and my first harley i think that was mostly my fault of wrong pipes and bad carb set up.

as for chevy or ford...they both suck,i ride a dodge ram rumble bee with a hemi.i keep jumper cables and a tow chain for the ford boys,not many run chevys in this part of canada.

Re: Politics and Religion

PostPosted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 3:19 pm
by John R
When I first started riding Big Twin Harleys 49 years back I always used Mobiloil D (50wt) and that seemed fine though when freezing made kicking the motor hard work (I used to ride year round). Our London Harley dealer Fred Warr became evangelical about the then new multigrades so took his advice and changed to Duckham’s 20-50. Everything was fine and it was so much easier in cold weather!

I used multigrades (with numerous 45s and Big Twins from Knuckle to Shovel) till I started messing with JDs from the 1920’s. Nothing bad about multigrade in JD except it leaked down through clearances in the oil pump, and most every other place too! So I went back to 50wt and that really improved the leak-down situation.

Then I started messing with a ’53 KK and I found the same issue as JDs, leak down and leaks, so went to 50wt and matters improved greatly. I later machined the oil-pump body to take the (‘58?) shaft oil-seal which stopped leak-down into the engine almost totally. For ’55 Harley did away with the high-pressure bypass valve so my ’56 KHK now shows 85lbs on a gauge with cold 50wt oil! Pressure like that tends to find a way out, and it has, so will be fitting an earlier pump with by-pass valve.

I’ve pondered why Big Twin oil pumps (which from the ‘50s on are pretty much the same as K and early Sportster) never had a shaft oil-seal added, and don’t seem leak down. The main leak-down route is due to the head of oil above the feed-side seeping through clearances between gears and body, then shaft and body to scavenge side, where it can just ooze-up unrestricted into the gearcase. My best guess is that the Big-Twin oil pump is about level with the bottom of the oil tank whereas the K / Sporty is on the underside of the gearcase, much lower, so there’s a greater head of oil above.

As for heat transfer, I don’t know. When running Pan Heads and Shovels hard on 20-50 the oil tank got real hot! But nothing seemed the worse for it.

So that’s a long way round of me saying multigrade in Big Twins and mono grade in K / Sporties.

Next sparkplugs! I used to run Champion and never had issues, but I’ve moved to NGK because they seem to have wider heat range, and as a bonus, the numbers are more easily followed. For K and KHK Harley used to recommend their 3-4 which is equivalent to Champion J10Y – 3/8” reach, projecting tip. H10C is same heat range but 7/16” and standard tip and copper core, H8C same but a tad colder running (Champion – higher number hotter).

My preferred NGK has ½” reach as my heads have been welded and prefer a bit more thread engagement plus brings the tip to where it was before welding (finished top of weld a bit higher than original). BP5HS (B 14mm, P extended tip, 5 heat range, H ½” reach, S copper core) is same heat range as H-D 3-4 but I’ve run 6, 7 and 8s (progressively colder) all without problems of any kind from slow running to full-on. This is why I believe NGK have wide heat range, and have settled at BP7HS. (NGK – lower number colder).

Some guys I know fit much longer reach plugs to shove the gap out into the combustion chamber. I reckon Harleys wanted the gap where they planned it. I gently boast that my Harleys start easy and run without problems. Maybe not so much fun as trying non-stock routes, but less hassle.

As for Ford v Chevrolet, I’m totally uninformed on this side of the Atlantic. But here it’s Ford v General Motors in the guise of Vauxhall. Fords in UK used to be made at Dagenham in East London, and were known as Dagenham Dustbins! Vauxhalls from Luton were a classier job with a higher price tag, but they both got the job done good! Now it’s all multi-national and could be a Far East design built in Eastern Europe!

Happy New Year!

Straight-Weight Oil - 10 Reasons Why

PostPosted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 12:30 pm
by hennesse
John - Here are the real reasons why we should stick to mono-grade oil in our Ks and XLs

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OIL_0002-72-1042x800.jpg (181.12 KiB) Viewed 9254 times