pipsters_wagon Posted April 12, 2007 Posted April 12, 2007 I bought a my Westfield last year I'm just about to perform a well deserved service on it. It has a Chamberlain Engineering 140BHP X - Flow engine in it and unfortunately Chamberlain Engineering went into to receivership in the mid ninetees. Any advice on what grade of oil I should put in it would be greatly appreciated. Its presently running some really light oil that the previous owner had 'lying about' (his words not mine). This oil is so light that it gets blasted out of the breather on the catch tank when I go over 5,000 rpm. The engine bay is constantly being coated in a thin layer of oil. Many thanks PW Quote
John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison Posted April 12, 2007 Posted April 12, 2007 Valvoline Racing 20/50 mineral oil. Its about £17 for 5 litres in the midlands from CAS outlets (Central Auto Supplies). See here for locations Burtons also sell it but at more £ Quote
Jenko Posted April 12, 2007 Posted April 12, 2007 A good 10W 40W semi synth should be fine for that engine....fully synth maybe a little thin for that engine, and you may get some leaks...... Quote
John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison Posted April 12, 2007 Posted April 12, 2007 10/40 is too thin and the X/Flow should not be run on anything other than mineral oil! Quote
Asterix Posted April 12, 2007 Posted April 12, 2007 10/40 is too thin and the X/Flow should not be run on anything other than mineral oil! John is correct Quote
Hammy Posted April 12, 2007 Posted April 12, 2007 Check the catch tank isn't full of oil -I had a lot of smoke from the rocker cover until i noticed that..... I'd vote the 20/50 too, but I'm presently using 15/40 synth as I like how it keeps everything clean and its easy to pickup - oil pressure is ok with this ( ~50/10psi on uprated pump) , but I'd prefer the 20/50. BTW mines a Chamberlain too -didn't know they'd gone ... Quote
stu999 Posted April 12, 2007 Posted April 12, 2007 Thirded ref the 20w/50 for the xflow. A good 10W 40W semi synth should be fine for that engine....fully synth maybe a little thin for that engine, and you may get some leaks...... Semi-synth will not be any thicker, or indeed thinner than fully-synth. It's the numbers that make the difference. Very basically, the larger the numbers (20/50 as opposed to 10/40), the thicker the oil. Worth checking that the breather pipe plumbing too. If it comes straight from the block to the catch tank, you will always have trouble, regardless what oil is used... Quote
Hammy Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 Stu can you explain the catch tank bit- thats how mine works pipe straight in and a vent out of it Quote
stu999 Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 With the breather coming straight out of the back of the block, when you acclearate hard, the oil in the sump/engine gets pushed to the back, smashed around by the crank, and fired up the breather - filling the catch tank up in no time. By plumbing the block breather back into the engine (usually the rocker cover), and then plumbing another decent sized pipe from the rocker cover to the catch tank instead, the problem is eliminated - allowing pressures within the engine to equalise, and the engine to breathe without firing the oil out when you are on a mission. Quote
1day Posted June 2, 2009 Posted June 2, 2009 Check the catch tank isn't full of oil -I had a lot of smoke from the rocker cover until i noticed that..... I'd vote the 20/50 too, but I'm presently using 15/40 synth as I like how it keeps everything clean and its easy to pickup - oil pressure is ok with this ( ~50/10psi on uprated pump) , but I'd prefer the 20/50. BTW mines a Chamberlain too -didn't know they'd gone ... Sorry to hear they're gone as well (Chamberlain) I've got a Sei with 1780 chamberlain xflow (had it since 1995, still under 8000 miles) and had been was thinking that I'd go see them sometime and get the engine converted to run on unleaded... 4star is so hard to come by nowadays. Quote
blankczechbook Posted June 3, 2009 Posted June 3, 2009 so then run it on unleaded and see if the valve gaps close up... bet they last quite a while before they close up. but if they do then the unleaded inserts can then be put in no probs. Quote
Gazza Posted June 6, 2009 Posted June 6, 2009 On the question of valve seat wear with Unleaded: I've also got a Chamberlain head on my Xflow (it was built by Roger King - he was at Chamberlain and worked on most Xflows in the late 80's). Anyhow; Ive run it for years at trackdays. sprints. Le Mans trips on unleaded and there's been no valve seat wear. The 'valve recession issue' is an A***-covering exercise by the fuel companies in my opinion/experience. It seems to affect certain makes such as BMC, but ford valve seats seem to be much better quality/hardness. Thats my experience, and it leads me to conclude that there's certainly no need to panic if you cant easily get leaded. Quote
Thrustyjust Posted June 6, 2009 Posted June 6, 2009 Be also aware that larger inlet valves can cause problems with valve seat inserts as they can overlap into the exhaust valves and might not fit a high HP crossflow and also can fall out the head. You would need some decent sized valves to run over 140 bhp on a crossflow. Quote
jedi Posted June 6, 2009 Posted June 6, 2009 Be also aware that larger inlet valves can cause problems with valve seat inserts as they can overlap into the exhaust valves and might not fit a high HP crossflow and also can fall out the head. You would need some decent sized valves to run over 140 bhp on a crossflow. thats exactly what i was advised when i took my vulcan head to have unleaded seats put in, so i spent the money having some more porting done instead Quote
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