Oil test of performace vs grade

A1ex · Post by **A1ex** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 3:41 pm

I was having a browse through a book I had on my shelf, 4 stroke performance tuning by Alexander Graham Bell

And found the below oil comparison on the effect of the top oils in various grades on engine power;

0W-40 Mobil 1 turned out to be a good choice.

Post by **4thgenphil** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 3:53 pm

kinda limited selection though!

although a good article

Post by **Donald** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 3:56 pm

Horsepower homparison?

Does no one proof read properly anymore?!

A1ex · Post by **A1ex** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 4:01 pm

homparison, that caught my eye too. There's an 8bhp gap at peak between the range of oils tho, and it's not exactly premium vs budget.

Post by **4thgenphil** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 4:13 pm

this sort of thing pisses me off a touch! a totally inconclusive test with no relavance to anything ever!

7 different oils 8 different viscosities! would have been a better to pick a viscosity, testing the differing oils and then a set oil at different viscosities!

A1ex · Post by **A1ex** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 4:42 pm

That would be a lot more testing for a small snipped of a big book.

If you read the last paragraph, viscosity is only half the story, the additivies from each brand play a part also. He's tested two different castrol grades and two different mobil 1 grades which gives you an idea of the visocity impact on the results as the same brands will have similar additives. Might not be a perfect comparison but there is some good info there.

Post by **4thgenphil** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 5:00 pm

A1ex wrote:That would be a lot more testing for a small snipped of a big book.

If you read the last paragraph, viscosity is only half the story, the additivies from each brand play a part also. He's tested two different castrol grades and two different mobil 1 grades which gives you an idea of the visocity impact on the results as the same brands will have similar additives. Might not be a perfect comparison but there is some good info there.

the 2 castrol oils are different types, like compaing magnatec vs gtx. the only useful bit of info that could be gleaned from this is the comparison between the 2 mobil1s ! the rest is just a waste of time and the last paragraph states just that!

Ted · Post by **Ted** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:10 pm

A1ex wrote:I was having a browse through a book I had on my shelf, 4 stroke performance tuning by Alexander Graham Bell

And found the below oil comparison on the effect of the top oils in various grades on engine power;

0W-40 Mobil 1 turned out to be a good choice.

ask yourself this question

wtf does the guy who invented the telephone know about performance tuning?

Post by **Vtecmec** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:43 pm

Actually, didn't he steal the idea from an Italian?

Post by **Donald** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:47 pm

^ yup, and there was some legal battle over it. Antonio Meucci, but he died and so the case was unresolved and Bell got the credit.