Ariel Owners Motorcycle Club

JohnnyBeckett wrote:have you check the oil it the sump is returning back to tank ok and not letting the sump fill up with to much oil my bike use to smoke wen the sump was not emptying the oil quick enough and the oil was getting past the rings

oil is returning very well very little oil in the sump and tank is full . Think it just needs running is as the cross hatching from the rebore is still evident i had the endoscope down the plug holes to have a look . Heres a photo .

Are you using running - in oil? If not, you will find it takes an awful long time, if ever, before your engine is run in. With running - in oil (I use the ~Morris Oils option and the AOMCC discount) the engine should be run in by about 700 miles but going to 1000 miles before using slippery oil is no bad idea.

paul.jameson wrote:Are you using running - in oil? If not, you will find it takes an awful long time, if ever, before your engine is run in. With running - in oil (I use the ~Morris Oils option and the AOMCC discount) the engine should be run in by about 700 miles but going to 1000 miles before using slippery oil is no bad idea.

Im using Castrol Classic 20W50 Oil . Which although not a specific break in oil it is also not a modern multigrade detergent oil . I also have a morgo cartridge oil filter in the return line .

HI Guy i think you would need running in oil as paul says the oil you are using can have a friction reducer in it and not letting the rings bed in what oil are you using you need to use a thin straight oil not a multigrade i can that the rings are not scraping properly and the old boars are hard

As I understand it, ALL modern oils other then running in oils have friction reducers in them which make them too slippery for running in. Google Morris Oils, ring their technical department and talk to them about it.

HI i think you can get a oil from castrol i know they do straight 30 or 40 and 50 oil that could be ok i would ring castrol and ask them in the classic oils they have been very helpful to me over the years i use all their oils for my bikes i use 40 in the winter and GP50 in the summer i know 25/50 is better for your square four because its got white metal big ends i used to use 20/50 duckhams oil that was done by i think the son of duckhams for is motorcycles he invented multigrade oils

Hi Peoples,
With regard to alleged over-oiling of Sq4 top ends especially where a Morgo has been fitted; -
I feel that any mods to reduce the oil feed to the top end should be treated with great caution!
In such cases it is surely better to have too much of a good thing than NOT ENOUGH!!!
A lack of oil will have a far more detrimental effect than an excess...
Oil fed into the head via the rocker feed has but three "escape routes"
1/ down the valve guides, 2/ down the tappet guides & 3/ the drain holes in the tappet blocks...
(OK; - there's a fourth; -i.e. the rocker box gaskets - but such is not relevant to the cause).
The (air) pressure within the top end should be equal to that of the crank-case,
and assuming the crank-case breather is not restricted; such will efffectively be at "atmospheric"
Therefore - if the Morgo is putting too much in at the top-end; - I suggest the optimal resolution
would be to increase the bore of the tappet block drain holes; - such a mod does invole a full strip
of the top end - but surely would resolve the issue more successfully than the potential disasters
which may be invoked by oil restriction....
Cheers, John

I had the oil pipes mixed up I had the larger one going to the rockers and the smaller one to the gauge . Seemingly it is supposed to be the other way round . It was an easy swap and seems to have cured the smoke . I did also put a single viscosity oil in , Castrol 30 , for its run in period . Oil pressure shoots up to 100 then goes down to 40 after a couple of minutes . This could also have helped . Just need a bit more weather improvement and I can get it out on the road .

Castrol 30 is not a running - in oil as it contains the slippery additives. You need a specific running - in oil, not one for general use.

Morgo do ruining in oil