Adding Castor oil?

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Renegade88

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Can I add more castor oil to my nitro fuel?
 
Why? If you are desiring a higher oil content to your fuel then you could but you'd need to do some sort of above basic math problem to figure out what percentage you'd have in you bottle. Also they sell several different fuel/oil content fuels.
 
Better lube at high rpm
 
Certainly you can. Just dont go nutty with it. I've seen people run upwards of 24% without a problem. Keep in mind, the fuel was already at 18% when they added it. And it doesn't take much.

You may have to re-tune accordingly.

What % Nitro fuel do you plan on doing this to? 30% ?

I wouldnt do it to any 10% fuel.
 
16%, I was just curios.
 
I run Odonnel 20% my buggy just goes balls out when I lean it about a 1/4 of a turn. But it gets hot (270-280) so I have to back it down to the slow needle setting.

Odonnel is 16% lube.

Christian, you said 24%. So if have 16% now, I need 8% more. 8% of a gallon is about 10 ounces. Therefore, I could add as much as 10 ounces of Castor oil to one gallon of fuel?

What about performance? If I add enuogh oil to drop the temp back down, will the performance drop too?

Renegade88, good question.
 
Now I'm confused! Is it recommended to mix oil with the nitro? 8-0
 
I wouldnt unless you know what you are doing. I have not found a fuel that I have used yet to not already have ample oil mixxed in to cool the engine, but thats just me.
 
I would have to ask the vet's up at the shop.

I havent mixed my own, they do.

I will find out and let you know.

However, looking at the way you spelled it out, we are leaving the other percentages out of the equation.

Ill find out!

-Chris
 
Oil is not the only thing in the nitro that cools your engine. Believe it or not the nitro content has alot to do with it as well. Evaporating alcohol will create a cooling effect.

I can see how adding more oil will help with lubrication but I dont see how it can greatly affect engine temps.
 
Originally posted by Çh®i§tiªñ
I would have to ask the vet's up at the shop.

I havent mixed my own, they do.

I will find out and let you know.

However, looking at the way you spelled it out, we are leaving the other percentages out of the equation.

Ill find out!

-Chris

Thanks man.

Yeah, my math is pretty rough. When you add more oil to it, you're lowering the percent of nitro too.

Lets see...

Before

16% lube == 20.48 oz lube per gallon
20% nitro == 25.6 oz nitro per gallon
64% pure alcohol == 81.92 oz alcohol per gallon

After

20.48 oz lube per gallon
25.6 oz nitro per gallon
81.92 oz alcohol per gallon
10 oz caster oil

138 oz of nitro mix (not 128 like before) so we have to figure out percentages again...

22.1% lube (missed that 24 percent mark huh?)
18.5% nitro
59.4% pure alcohol

I suppose I could bust out some algebra and find a formula to find the number of oz of caster oil to add to make it exactly X % lube.

-Rob
 
You taking anything for that OCD Rob???

j/k
 
nahh man, it does wonders for me at work. concentrate / obsess on a task until it's done. You should see it when I work on my nitros I can't stop until the job is done. It has to run again before I put my wrenches down. My wife hates that. :hehe:

FastEddy said someone has formulas for figuring out amounts of castor oil. Then he didn't say anything more. Meanwhile, google doesn't turn up crap when you try to search for it.

-Rob
 
Whoa...good article.

Apparently I'm cooking my engines, even though I keep a good eye on the temp with my IR gauge aimed at the plug. LHS says that the piston shouldn't be as darkly tinted as it is (excesive heat).

I'm gonna start my new engine with 20% ODonnel. I believe it's 16%. I'd like to add another 2-3% oil. I figure the added amount is small enough to avoid overdoing it.

- bomber
 
While we're talking fuel here, I've always wondered why car fuel does not display the oil content on the label. My airplane fuels and heli fuels are clearly labeled with the nitro % AND the oil %.
Do all car fuels use the same percentage of oil no matter what the nitro content is?
 
I thought Odonnle posted the contents on their bottles?!?!?
 
That was an interesting article, but kkep a couple other things in mind. Castor is a great lube, but it is used today by racers because it forms a burned-on protective film when it gets real hot. This helps you finish a race if you tune too lean, but then it has to be removed from the piston, or it will gum the engine up solid.

Plane fuel has a lot more oil, and I'm not sure why. I think it is because you can descend from altitude with the throttle nearly closed, meaning high rpm for the engine but with very little fuel and oil.

IMO, adding oil is not necessary. If your engine is running too hot, just richen it up. The extra feul will lower temps and provide extra oil. If you can't get it to make enough power when it is rich enough to run cool, it may be worn out. Loose engines run hot due to excess blow-by.
 

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