What's the best brand of 2 stroke oil...

Please cite your source of information. THis shouldn't be an issue with today's additive technology. Vitamin E is added in small amounts to stabilize castor oil making your point moot...
Could be. I've been reading Gordon Jennings' articles & books. They're dated, but, they provide a LOT of information.

Castor will degrade quickly, unless you can slow it with an additive. If vitamin e will do that... great. I've found that synthetic oil works very nicely, just the way it is. I do add sta-bil to the mix, and it works for me in the southern Arizona summers. 115+ anyone?
 
Versatile Castor Oil

Mixed with water, castor oil will keep your yard free of moles. Swingin' !

Heck, bet there are only about three or four 2-cycle oil mix-masters total.

I'll also bet the Lawnboy stuff will do as well and likely made by Mobile, Amzoil or Lucas, as is Tanaka etc.

Been using same mower since dirt was made...

Wish I could remember the stuff we used to pour in those zippy Yamaha RD350 and 400 twin crotch rockets that smoked everything on the street for a couple years.

Frankly, I just stick with simple plain old whatever the maker suggests or close.

Lou, thanks for the 2-cycle reference. Downloaded, just in case...you never know!
 
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There's also a nice article there explaining the math behind expansion chamber/tuned pipe/stinger exhaust system design
 
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I prefer Castrol A747 as my #1 choice and Klotz R50 as my second. Both are full synthetic and have castor oil already in them...
I don't understand how something could be full synthetic AND have bean oil in it. I also dunno about the Castrol, but I do know that the R50 is only synthetic. There isn't bean oil in it unless you add it yourself.
 
I don't understand how something could be full synthetic AND have bean oil in it. I also dunno about the Castrol, but I do know that the R50 is only synthetic. There isn't bean oil in it unless you add it yourself.

Synthetic = Non-Dino
I use a synthetic blend - Part syn/part dino.
PJ-1 Goldfire pro is good stuff.
 
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The info posted for R50 states...yada yada yada
I don't think you understand what the word compatible means.

Either way, the manufacturer would definitely claim that they have castor on their website. It says: "R 50® film strength is comparable to castor oil, but has the benefits of Clean Burn™ technology." It's comparable, even tho it could be compatible with castor oil as well.

That's marketing trickery to think you bought the best of both worlds. Clean Burn technology?!?!? Really? That's called synthetic oil. Castor oil doesn't burn clean even tho it keeps your engine super cool.
 
Oh, I understand compatible...When I initially read the reseller's description, I thought that they should have used 'comparable,' but, upon a bit of thought, I also realized that, while "compatible to" is not syntactically correct, there were two phrasing choices that could have been used:

  1. R-50's film strength is compatible with castor oil with the benefits of clean burn technology
  2. R-50's film strength is comparable to castor oil with the benefits of clean burn technology
Either sentence meant that a typing mistake had been made by the distributor.
 
BTW. There is a common misunderstanding regarding 'synthetic' oils. They are almost always derived from petroleum. Coal could be used, I suppose, but oil is easier to transport and process..

Essentially, in the refining process, crude oil is used to produce ethylene gas. Then, the ethylene gas is used to synthesize the base stock (polyalphaolefin) for synthetic oil. Because the manufacturing process is well controlled, the oil that is produced is uniform - with virtually ALL the hydrocarbon molecule chains having the same length. On the other hand, when crude oil is distilled and mixed to form motor oils, it starts off as a mish-mash of hydrocarbon molecules with chains of wildly different lengths, as well as impurities like sulpher. After distillation and mixing, motor oil contains molecule chains with a range of lengths. The average length of the hydrocarbon chains are about the same as in synthetic oil, but, inside an engine, with conventional oil, the heat tends to boil off the shorter molecules, and this makes the oil get more viscous (thicker) the longer it is used. Since all the molecules are of the same length in synthetic oil, this gradual thickening of the oil does not occur. As long as you keep the oil clean (with regular changes of the filter,) and the engine filled, synthetic oils can last MUCH longer than can conventional oil.

Ref How is Synthetic Motor Oil Made?

However, both regular oil, AND synthetic oil ultimately come from the same source - out of an oil well. Sorry Dino. Synthetic oil doesn't spare you... :D.
 
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