Upper cylinder lubricant - worth using or just a con?

JumbleDuck said:
Hmm. Interesting. It was definitely a Moggy (SSU437, though astute readers will realise that this was not its original number) and I thought it had a Zenith. Probably just faulty memory, though, as it was about 25 years ago.

A bit of googling suggests that some Minor at least had a sloping carb with a horizontally mounted air filter, so I could indeed be remembering pouring the redex down an 'ole. Anyone got an early 1000 who can confirm?

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What a pleasing picture. And brass nuts on the exhaust studs too!
 
What brought it to mind was that on big marine diesel engines (eg Burmeister & Wain) we had a system to inject some kind of lubricating oil directly into the cylinders above the piston. It was a long time ago but I seem to remember this was not the same oil as used for general engine lubrication and I think it was a reddish colour. Made me think of Redex.[/QUOTE]

The CLO pumps should have been timed to inject as the piston went past, I forget which ring exactly. CLO was significantly different to sump oil and very expensive, I used to watch the consumption like a hawk - too much and excessive carbon and gummed up rings - too little and you had sized/broken rings. When changing over to Marine Diesel Oil from Heavy Fuel Oil you increased the rate to counter stopping and starting ring wear problems and the poorer lubrication properties of the lower sulphur fuel. Today the Low Sulphur Fuels ships now have to use in European waters created havoc when changing from the Heavy Fuel oils still used when deep sea across Oceans to the low Sulphur fuels in the North Sea and Channel until the CLO properties caught up.

However for the tiny engines used in yachts and cars special upper lube is a compete waste of time. The Group Base 3 so called sem synthetic oils ( which are actually just highly refined cat cracked mineral oils ) more than cope with lubrication these days.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Hmm. Interesting. It was definitely a Moggy and I thought it had a Zenith. Probably just faulty memory, though, as it was about 25 years ago.
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It will have been an SU carb, unless she was a secret tuner.

Your mistake has been to offer a description of the carb. If you had just said you squirted some Redex into the carb the whole thing would have passed over without comment.
 
Mercury Rising said:
It will have been an SU carb, unless she was a secret tuner.

Your mistake has been to offer a description of the carb. If you had just said you squirted some Redex into the carb the whole thing would have passed over without comment.
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There are always a few twits who seize on a minor mistake. One ignores them. Anyway, as you'll see in my later posts, I think my memory is right inasmuch as it would have been a vertical entry to the carb, which was set at about 45 degrees to the horizontal. I had a Herald 12/50 with a downdraught Solex in it, which probably coloured my recollection.
 
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A good few years back I skippered what had been a RN patrol vessel before conversion . She was fitted with twin styx paxman rated at 660hp each iircc , 35 pumps on a hand pump on each engine to lubricate the top end before starting. Each sump held 35 gallons, an easy week was 1500 gallons at from memory 55p a gallon I used to give the "top spill" to the local fisherman (I was never short of fish and never bought a pint in the local)

John
 
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