FCHP to bring new oil to karting market

FCHP to bring new oil to karting market

08/19/07 | by Jamie Webb [mail] | Categories: FCHP General Blog, Animal Blog

Let me start off by saying there are already some great oils on the market and I have become good friends with several of the kart oil manufacturers over the years as they have worked with me and other builders to develop what we needed (or thought we needed).

But anyone that knows me knows that I am always on the lookout for ways to do something cheaper and get the same results from higher priced products. I myself am a karter on a budget as many of you are.

Cheap, budget, low cost, you get what you pay for.... you have heard all the sayings. That is just not always so. I have studied oils, additives, and karting oils for over 5 years now trying to decide if I really wanted to jump into producing an oil or not. I recently made up my mind to go forward with it. The #1 reason that made up my mind... LACK OF INFORMATION from other karting oil manufacturers. What do I mean?? Look at any website for any major oil production company and you can find a data sheet on the oil that list several things about the oil. Things like what the base stock is made of, the weight of the oil, the viscosity index (VI), and several other important factors that help you make your decision on what oil you choose to use. I do not know of one karting oil that will tell you this. Good thing for us is, a few onces of each oil and a couple dollars will tell you just about anything about the oil you want to know. Let me just say some of the oils are overpriced for what is in them and there are actually some very good oils on the market, but they come at a hefty price.

My goal and my promise to you is to deliver an oil to the karting market that will be less than $20 per gallon and will offer the same or better protection as some of the $30+ gallon oils provide. I will also provide a data sheet on the oil that will list the technical properties of the oil. But no, I will not reveal the exact mixture of my oil, but you will get a good look at what makes up the oil and enough information to make your decision of whether to try it or not. Not snake oil marketing, not promises I can not deliver, and no smoke & mirrors.

With that out of the way, let me tell you a little about what I am using and what I am planning.

My oil will use Group III base stock. It will included additives that prevent and/or reduce: oxidation, corrosion, foam and aeration (which makes it good for our "splash oiling systems", and will also include rust inhibitors and most important of all, it is loaded up with anti-wear and anti-scuffing additives.

Is it a synthetic oil. Well, MANY oil engineers and courts are still trying to settle that debate. There have been some BIG court battles going on between some major oil companies to try and nail down EXACTLY what that means. But I will tell you this, just because an oil is synthetic based, does not make it a better oil. Some oils get away with being "synthetic-blend" oils by just adding a couple drops of a synthetic additive. So what is in the FCHP oil?? I will tell you this, it is not PAO based synthetic oil. Very few karting oils are (can count them on less fingers than I have on one hand). But there are base oils out there that are MUCH cheaper than PAO base stocks but deliver similar performance. And I found one I like and will use. And here is the good part. Initial testing shows this oil is compatible with many additive packages AND is also compatible with a wide range of conventional oils and synthetic oils. It mixes EXCELLENT with the cheap automotive oils so break-in and dyno testing can be done with the cheap Wal-Mart brand oils to seal the rings and then swap over to the racing oil without having to worry about oil compatibilty, sludge in the engine, or seized up motors due to gel forming from incompatible oils like we have seen in the past.

Ok, enough about my thoughts. Let's look at this oil a little closer. Here are some of the specs on my base stock oil:

Iso Grade: 68
API Gravity: 31
Viscosity Cst @40c: 68
Viscosity Cst @100c: 11
Viscosity Index: 154
Flash Point: 415F
Pour Point: -45F
Oxidation Stability: >6,000 hours

That is more information on my base oil that you will get from ANY other karting oil manufacturer... but why?? What are they hiding?? The above information does not tell you anything about what my oil is made of, just the physical properties. But trust me, there is more information to come once the testing is completed and I decide on the final formulation. This is going to blow the minds and really tick off some karting oil manufacturers. But I believe they SHOULD be providing the consumer this information. I plan on providing this and more information to the consumer.

And that brings up a good point, or a few good points. What type of testing? Who is doing the testing? How long will the testing take? All good questions. I plan on extensive dyno testing (inertia dyno with Performance Trends data aquisition), extensive track testing, and several months of monitoring and measuring vital engine components. I have a track available to me that I can put a kart on 7 days a week from sun up to sun down. It has a big sprint track and an oval track. So myself and my brothers will do the majority of the initial testing. I expect the testing to take at least 3 months and as much as 6 months if needed. My goal is to have the oil available to the public by the time most people get up and going for the 2008 racing season.

So stay tuned for more info to come.

--------------------------------------------------------
Here is a look at the plain base stock. I get it in 55 gallon drums and package it down to gallon containers to make it easier to handle.

--------------------------------------------------------

Here is a look at some of the additive packages I'm testing and oil compatibility test I'm working on.

Permalink

Pingbacks:

No Pingbacks for this post yet...

News & Notes by FCHP

Misc

XML Feeds

What is RSS?

powered by b2evolution free blog software