Ariel Owners Motorcycle Club

Phew; that's a relief!

"Fill her up with oil mate, and top up the fuel too!"

A sidevalver has always a poor efficiency caused by construction - on the other hand is it a bulletproof construction and a good choice for a long distance trip. (see 1927 Maudes Trophy)
Model B's oilconsumption is 3l per 1000km but this could vary on your settings, it needs less than you think.
My ohc cammy takes 4,5l per 100km which is best, all other ohv Ariel around 5l.

Markus

You mean 1000 Kms in the last line no doubt. A full sized coffee cup for 80-100 kms is close to right. How much the engine leaks or throws out counts. If it's fairly oil tight, you can use a bit less. Nev

Dear all,
This may be a touch of the bleeding obvious, but you do remember in these calculations that an Imperial gallon is about 1.2 US gallons, don't you? Or another way, one US gallon = 3.785 litres, and an Imperial gallon = 4.54609 litres. There're handy calculators on "google" if you need them.
Regards from MikeN.

nevhunter wrote:A full sized coffee cup for 80-100 kms is close to right.

Assuming Australian coffee cups aren't sized according to standards set by Foster's, it would hold ~200-250 mL. For what it's worth, I calculate that at 1 drop per 3-4 sec. the engine is fed 25-30 mL/hr. At an average speed of ~25 mph it would cover 80-100 km in ~2-2.5 hrs. and thus consume 50-75 mL. On a day run the difference between this figure and yours doesn't represent much oil, but it adds up for my 3500 mile run across the U.S. it's the difference between me needing to pack 5 L or 15 L. Of course, if I don't pack enough oil I can always turn the feed knob to '0' for the last 1000 miles...

I'm going on what makers stated in the period when they were current. Extra speed or climbing it's understood you inject a bit more on those occasions with the hand pump. If you are running a sidecar, separate figures are provided. Harley Davidson probably have more on this than most other brands. They had a total loss system till 1936. For continuous high speed running you can set as high as you see fit but the EPA might take an interest if you are continuously making smoke and depending on what oil you use there could be a large amount of carbon formed. Two strokes run with very little oil and the non return systems don't have enough oil to cool the internals that the higher volume oil pump equipped motors do If you fill a motor up with oil the flywheel drag is such as to heat the engine more than normal and reduce the power produced. Nev

Guys,
If it’s of interest.
Years ago I found a very rotten ‘28 tank and
rescued the oil tank. John

john.bryant wrote:If it’s of interest...

It definitely is. Thanks very much for posting those photographs.

Now I have an idea how this hidden part looks.

Thanks
Markus

A 2.1/4 HP 1902-4 oiltank is half of that size.