Repair Time

[Hydrolastic]

Hello Guys, Ok I will throw in my 2 cents worth of opinion but back it up with 3 cents worth of photos.
Around 2014 a bunch of my gearhead friends decided to go Lemons/chumpcar racing with a old Mini Cooper 1973 I think. Anyways we started off with a fairly mild engine but it still would hit 102 mph at the end of the straight we do approximately 500 to 700 miles in a race weekend. The first 5 or 6 races we used castrol 20-50. This is what the bearings looked like every 2 race weekends

One of the guys is a engineer and he suggested/specified that we run mobil one 15/50 the engine showed no signs of dropping oil pressure so we kept running it until after 5 race weekends I finally couldn't stand not knowing if it would make it through the races. So I dismantled it. This is what I saw

We have run about 20 races since then. I used to do the added zinc in castrol to break in the engines . But now I dont even bother I rebuild (Rings/bearings) the engine put in the mobil one it goes straight on the track.This engine is probably 10-20 percent stronger than the original engines also. Nowadays I put mobil one in everything I have. It leaks out of the seals more but thats the only down side. Hydro

[TC Chris]

Wow, that's encouraging. I've been using Mobil 1 for about 25 years, mostly on the strength of general reputation (and also because it lets me extend the change interval, meaning I'm not lying under the truck in February). It's nice to have some visual affirmation of its effectiveness in severe service.

Chris Campbell

[William]

That is impressive, Hydro. My 2020 SUV's owners manual has one using a synthetic blend. I might change to all synthetic just because of what your photos show.

Bill

[TC Chris]

What reassured me was that high-end cars were coming with Mobil 1 installed and with long change intervals recommended. I keep cars a long time (the daily driver Ranger is 17, the Mustang is 36) so avoiding big engine issues is a priority. So is time. Also, as we move forward, there are fewer and fewer hours in a day. I used to change the oil at 3-4K, depending on the driving, but that required a lot of time lying under the vehicle or cleaning up afterward. That's not really "quality time."

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I recently started putting Mobil 1 in my Buick. If I let it set a couple months without starting it, the lifters would rattle until it ran a couple minutes. With Mobil 1, I hear nary a peep from the lifters. I don't notice any extra oil leaks with synthetic oil, although I expect some.

I bought a new wood splitter with a 9-horsepower Briggs and Stratton Intek engine on it. I ordered the splitter specially with the Briggs engine instead of a Kohler. That thing ran beautifully and I really liked it. Until it turned cold. You could build a fire under that silly thing and it would not fire a shot under 40 degrees. If I wanted to use it, I had to leave it parked in the garage with a heat lamp on it. I drove to Sedalia one day to see what Mr. Otten had to say about the situation and what he would charge to put a Honda engine on the splitter so it would start cold. He handed me a quart of Mobil 1 5W30. I asked what that was for. He told me to change the oil and use the Mobil 1. It wasn't going to cost me anything to try, the oil was free. I changed the oil to the Mobil 1. That Briggs engine would start at zero within the first 12" of the starting rope. I swapped all my small engines, all Briggs to Mobil 1. I ran it in everything I owned except the Chevy big block in my truck and my old tractor. I am a Mobil 1 fan. I would get a nasy note from the Mini gurus if I ran anything but Mobil 1 in my Mini. We use it in the old Tahoe, it has 180,000 on it and runs like it did when it was new. I change it every 5000 miles in the Mini and the Tahoe and once a year in the Buick, regardless of mileage.

[Hydrolastic]

Hello again, Just a little more explanation is needed to clarify couple of things. First this is a three main bearing engine I know weird, a four cylinder should always have five... but a lot of British engines do this. Second you can see the rod bearings in both engines and they all look good so its not a heat or oil breakdown issue as the rod bearings look good even with lower pressure. it purely is a surface film loading issue where because there is only three main bearings taking all the load. The mineral/conventional oil just can't support the load but the synthetic can. Third I was being a bit vague but I actually use two engine's both fairly identical. Instead of doing repairs at the track we will swap out the entire engine/transmission assembly. I bring it complete in the back of the truck and we can swap the whole thing in less than an hour. except head gaskets we will replace a head gasket without swapping the engine. Thing is I dont keep track of which engine is in there. But they seem to do about the same hours with the same results. The two photos above are the same engine though since only one of the engines has the center tang bearings. Last race was at Laguna Seca in jan 2020 just before Covid so haven't run in 2 years now. During Covid I have replaced the entire gearset in both transmissions of both engines. Running well over 5000 race miles the last few races we were getting strange gear breakages that I could only attribute to metal fatigue. This year also we are upgrading to aluminum heads. not for power or anything but the old cast iron (no seats) heads were costing a ton to continually freshen up. so I am going to see if the hardened seats in the aluminum heads will last longer . Here is a photo of the mini

[TC Chris]

Looks like a fun car and project!

And for Greg, I'm partial to Briggs & Stratton since they're so durable. And once I wrote to them about something and got a reply from Mr. Stratton. I've had a couple Sears lawn mowers (freebies) with what I assumed were Tecumseh engines, but maybe Kohler. All I know is that I've busted two crankshafts. I would write that off to my own foolishness in hitting stumps and such, but the B&S engines seem to tolerate abuse so much better. The first time I busted one I was so PO'd at myself that I took it to a shop and had a short block installed. When that crank busted I retired it until I'm retired and can rebuild the thing.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

There is a guy in the Mini club that has one from the 1960's, a 1966 maybe? It has the grille all the way across the front. The distributor sits right behind the grill. He says if a dog pees on a post within a mile of where he is, it will drown out the distributor. He can't drive it in the rain or go to a car wash. It is a cute little bugger, I'll give it that. My Mini is like a limo compared to the older one. I liked driving his so well I decided I wanted one of my own. Mine is a 2014.

I sold a 1989 Snapper lawn mower at my sale that had the original Briggs Quantam on it that they put there at the factory. It had the original carb on it. I had to change the Magnetron mag one time. I broke the original trying to get the flywheel off without using the proper tool. It would still start on the first pull and didn't use any oil. I sold a Merry Tiller rototiller from 1957 that was still running its original Briggs with a rope starter. Not a recoil, a rope starter. You wrap the starter rope around a little pulley with a slot in it, then pull. Worked really slick. It still ran like new, used no oil and, if you choked it just right, it would go on the first pull. For sure on the second.

[TC Chris]

I've got a 1938 Johnson one-cyl., 2 h.p. outboard motor, pre-recoil. You wind the starting rope, give a yank, hit the face of the passenger behind you with the end of the rope, and then try again if you haven't primed it enough with the little plunger pump. You have primed enough when gas squirts up around the plunger and pollutes the water. It calls for 20:1 fuel to oil, so when it's running it pollutes both air and water, but when it still runs reliably after 84 years, we can overlook minor failings, no?

My other outboards, all 15 h.p. or less, all offer an option of using a separate starting rope. That's in case the recoil starter rope breaks. And yes, they do. Always at the worst possible moment, of course. I have learned to carry an auxiliary starter rope for those occasions. The reason for the option is that if your boat engine fails out on the water, you're up the creek....

And if anybody wants a FREE B&S powered reel-type lawn mower or two (one from the 50s, one from the 60s), just holler.

Chris Campbell

[William]

A powered reel type mower? I have not seen one of those in years. Do they run? They must be part of your Mom's estate?

Bill

[TC Chris]

Yeah, they've been sitting in the garage for years. I doubt there's a big market for them locally.

Chris Campbell