Texas Two Step Taco

teazer said:

Unlikely to be methanol but it probably has ethanol to get to the 7.5% oxygenation in the spec, and C12 is not oxygenated, so it should not absorb water the same way. So any water in a drum of C12 should stay as water droplets. Ethanol absorbs water and water causes the ethanol to drop out as a water ethanol (cloudy) mix which is heavier than gasoline so it settles out as the lower layer.

Oil will not only drop out because of temperature but the water won't help any. And now I think about it, we used a special blend on castor oil (Castrol M IIRC), to mix with methanol because normal castor oil won't mix properly with methanol and probably also with ethanol. Try a modern two stroke oil with U4.4 Much as I like castor oil, I don't use it any any street or race motor.

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We use a synthetic in all our lawn equipment and they are road hard and put up wet. Since I stuck that piston I am a little paranoid. Bruce Reynolds uses the Maxima Castor 927 which I think is a blend. I read that some racers put acetone in their castor oil mix to keep it suspended in cool weather. Need to brush up on my alchemy. Lol.


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We were rich on the dyno with a 200 jet and decided to go to the 220 jet. Bill said that you can be rich and still be lean because the combustion process isn’t efficient until you have the correct fuel mixture. These two dyno pulls proves that. But why?

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Could also be that the 220 flows less than the 200.

Bill is correct that lambda results can be misleading. As John points out, give the motor what it wants for max power and keep that record as a baseline. Lambda isn't actually what is read by the O2 sensor. It supposedly measures unburned oxygen, so a high O2 number usually means too little fuel and that's how we interpret it, but it doesn't tell us much more than that. All it really tells us is how much oxygen is in the exhaust - all other things being equal. So if the mix is lean and still burning in the pipe, it could be showing low O2 levels by the time that gas reaches the sensor.

We had a situation with a Honda on a Factory Pro, eddy current dyno with 5 gas analysis. O2 and CO2 levels looked ok but CO was odd and we had high HC numbers indicating that the fuel that burned was in the right proportions but there were droplets of fuel that did not burn in the exhaust stream.

teazer said:

Could also be that the 220 flows less than the 200.

Bill is correct that lambda results can be misleading. As John points out, give the motor what it wants for max power and keep that record as a baseline. Lambda isn't actually what is read by the O2 sensor. It supposedly measures unburned oxygen, so a high O2 number usually means too little fuel and that's how we interpret it, but it doesn't tell us much more than that. All it really tells us is how much oxygen is in the exhaust - all other things being equal. So if the mix is lean and still burning in the pipe, it could be showing low O2 levels by the time that gas reaches the sensor.

We had a situation with a Honda on a Factory Pro, eddy current dyno with 5 gas analysis. O2 and CO2 levels looked ok but CO was odd and we had high HC numbers indicating that the fuel that burned was in the right proportions but there were droplets of fuel that did not burn in the exhaust stream.

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What I find interesting is that with Bandera you and John were right. She was running lean and rich. Lol!


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Ignore the a/f readings, they are often inconsistent and misleading with a two stroke, the only thing that matters is that torque gauge. Trying to make sense of them will just waste your time. Because the dyno loads the engine so lightly you'll probably find you need to go richer at the track than on the dyno. Perhaps a smaller rear wheel sprocket would help get the load up a bit higher and for a bit longer on the dyno. You may also find you need just a tiny bit less advance at the track.

Most modern castor blends resist separating very well - I have a glass jar of Shell M premix in my garage that's been there for about four winters now that shows no signs of dropping out. Don't let anyone talk you into running an ester; they don't even come close to the performance of castor. Elf 909 is also very highly regarded though I haven't tried it myself.

Congratulations on the bikes performance - the Bul is turning into a seriously quick bike. Well done!

Thanks John couldn’t have done it without y’all. I am sold on the Castor oil and am looking for a modern blend. Go Team Old Age and Treachery! Torque yea!


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Klotz claim that BeNol mixes well with methanol, ethanol and E85 and Nitro, and say that it works above 30 degrees (F). They may be a little off with that temperature. Where John lives, that's less of an issue than it is here.

Maxima 927 is also a bean blend with esters to reduce gumming and ash, so that would be an improvement.

Castrol A747 used to be considered the best oil and it's also a Castor/Ester blend for water cooled motors. They do say that running it cooler or in lower performance motors will lead to excessive deposits. I think I may still have the remnants of the last can of A747 I bough about a thousand years ago here somewhere though I have a vague memory of adding it to rental cars to add that elusive aroma.....

I run Motul ester based in our race motors or plain old Yamalube R. That's in a RS125, or TZ350 motor. In our RS250 Apriliaq Cup bikes, we were sponsored by Moto Liberty and used Silkolene race lube which was perfect for a >65hp 250. Schlep over to MotoLiberty sometime and talk to the boss about oils. Good people and great oils. Their Pro2 is castor based I believe. Try it and see.

teazer said:

Klotz claim that BeNol mixes well with methanol, ethanol and E85 and Nitro, and say that it works above 30 degrees (F). They may be a little off with that temperature. Where John lives, that's less of an issue than it is here.

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I dunno Teaz, I live in Orange NSW where the winters are long and frosty and sometimes snowy. Overnight temps below freezing aren't unusual. On the positive side the summers are bearable.


I follow a particular forum purely because two guys, Frits Overmars and Jan Thiel, also go there. These guys developed the GP winning Aprilia 125cc engines; back then they were making 55hp from 125cc. These days they are well over 60hp from 125cc, or over 480hp per litre. In other words they know what they are doing. Of course they tested many different oils and are very vocal in advocating castor blends - they used 909 - for high outputs and temperatures. Esters simply aren't good enough. Another guy there is a professional kart engine designer, working for VM and he has also built 50+hp 125s. I once mentioned to him how I found measurably more power and measurably more compression after swapping ester for castor. He was like well duh, we found that out years ago. He is very plain spoken about oils for air cooled engines:

As the big shpeal about castor was basically saying - pure synthetic "oils " are shit at lubricating anything when the combustion temps are thru the roof ie 650*C in the header.
This is the perfectly normal situation on pump gas with the air cooled KT100, and perfectly normal when running AvGas in a properly tuned race engine of any sort.
In my KT100 dyno tests I had resolution down at 1/10s of a Hp, with a rigorous test procedure that had every run with EXACTLY the same case and head temp at the beginning of each run, ( probes on the case and under the plug - logged continuously ) combined with EXACTLY the same egt in the pipe at run end.
The pure synthetics made a HEAP less power when running lean at 650* C , the worst dropping 1.5 Hp in 18.
Adding more oil made NO difference - still shit.
You MAY not seize the thing, but for sure you are making nowhere near the power potential of the engine when run that way.
The bean oil derivatives were completely the opposite, run hot and no loss of power, run more oil = more power, every time. Understand THAT.
Like I said - pure synthetics are fine when run with unleaded at conservative combustion temps - abuse them and everything turns to shit - real fast.

teazer said:

Klotz claim that BeNol mixes well with methanol, ethanol and E85 and Nitro, and say that it works above 30 degrees (F). They may be a little off with that temperature. Where John lives, that's less of an issue than it is here.

Maxima 927 is also a bean blend with esters to reduce gumming and ash, so that would be an improvement.

Castrol A747 used to be considered the best oil and it's also a Castor/Ester blend for water cooled motors. They do say that running it cooler or in lower performance motors will lead to excessive deposits. I think I may still have the remnants of the last can of A747 I bough about a thousand years ago here somewhere though I have a vague memory of adding it to rental cars to add that elusive aroma.....

I run Motul ester based in our race motors or plain old Yamalube R. That's in a RS125, or TZ350 motor. In our RS250 Apriliaq Cup bikes, we were sponsored by Moto Liberty and used Silkolene race lube which was perfect for a >65hp 250. Schlep over to MotoLiberty sometime and talk to the boss about oils. Good people and great oils. Their Pro2 is castor based I believe. Try it and see.

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Wait....do you know Audrey at Motoliberty?


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Tex, I did back when we race the Cup bikes. Can't say enough good things about her and Moto Liberty. It's been a long time since I was involved with those bikes and haven't been to TX for a very long time.

John, I heard that temps in Sydney hit 41C the other day. How are the hotter summer affecting you and yours? My last CB77 race bike was bought by a guy in Tamworth, not too far from you - relatively speaking.

teazer said:

John, I heard that temps in Sydney hit 41C the other day. How are the hotter summer affecting you and yours? My last CB77 race bike was bought by a guy in Tamworth, not too far from you - relatively speaking.

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Not too bad here, only 34C. My son was working in Cobar that day where it hit 47C.

John Murray said:

I dunno Teaz, I live in Orange NSW where the winters are long and frosty and sometimes snowy. Overnight temps below freezing aren't unusual. On the positive side the summers are bearable.


I follow a particular forum purely because two guys, Frits Overmars and Jan Thiel, also go there. These guys developed the GP winning Aprilia 125cc engines; back then they were making 55hp from 125cc. These days they are well over 60hp from 125cc, or over 480hp per litre. In other words they know what they are doing. Of course they tested many different oils and are very vocal in advocating castor blends - they used 909 - for high outputs and temperatures. Esters simply aren't good enough. Another guy there is a professional kart engine designer, working for VM and he has also built 50+hp 125s. I once mentioned to him how I found measurably more power and measurably more compression after swapping ester for castor. He was like well duh, we found that out years ago. He is very plain spoken about oils for air cooled engines:

As the big shpeal about castor was basically saying - pure synthetic "oils " are shit at lubricating anything when the combustion temps are thru the roof ie 650*C in the header.
This is the perfectly normal situation on pump gas with the air cooled KT100, and perfectly normal when running AvGas in a properly tuned race engine of any sort.
In my KT100 dyno tests I had resolution down at 1/10s of a Hp, with a rigorous test procedure that had every run with EXACTLY the same case and head temp at the beginning of each run, ( probes on the case and under the plug - logged continuously ) combined with EXACTLY the same egt in the pipe at run end.
The pure synthetics made a HEAP less power when running lean at 650* C , the worst dropping 1.5 Hp in 18.
Adding more oil made NO difference - still shit.
You MAY not seize the thing, but for sure you are making nowhere near the power potential of the engine when run that way.
The bean oil derivatives were completely the opposite, run hot and no loss of power, run more oil = more power, every time. Understand THAT.
Like I said - pure synthetics are fine when run with unleaded at conservative combustion temps - abuse them and everything turns to shit - real fast.

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That explains why some of the cart guys are running 16:1. I have no doubt the Benol saved us on a few occasions.

I would like to dyno the 16:1 and see what happens. Picked up some maxima castor 927( they say the sweet smell of 927 will resonate in your chamber) Tomorrow gonna schlep on over to Motoliberty and see Audrey and Peter and have an expresso, talk about castor oil. Need to support them in times like these and I need some new gloves. When I was a kid you couldn’t get me to swallow castor oil.


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Castor Oil vs. Synthetic btw in small fine print on the BeNOL is says do not use below 35 degrees.


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MSDS Maxima 927 Castor


MSDS Klotz BeNOL



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Mystery solved. Klotz BeNOL is Hygroscopic. That makes a lot of sense since it is plant based.

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Several bike magazines have published articles over the years on 2 stroke oils. There are also some on plane engines but they rev so much slower that the results don't mean a lot relative to our application.

What oil does BB use? and what fuel does he mix it with?

teazer said:

Several bike magazines have published articles over the years on 2 stroke oils. There are also some on plane engines but they rev so much slower that the results don't mean a lot relative to our application.

What oil does BB use? and what fuel does he mix it with?

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Well that animal is a different story...and what he is doing is very far advanced compared to the big bore cast iron Bull.

What I really learned this week is fuel management. My wife would like me to find something that smells different. Not going to mix more than I need. That being said. We made the most power we have made on fuel that was hygroscopic. Even DF is surprised. The taco has made 8 runs with time slips in the past three weeks and we are going back Sunday to test. The Meth Big Bore Single TRXhonda will be there. He is in the 6’s. I have a 14 tooth sprocket coming. That will give us 89 in the 1/8.

We all know where this is going over the winter...fuel pump, Electron, and Us Plastics fuel tank, lock up. But let’s see how we do with correct fuel management on Sunday, more torque, and better clutch technique. Shooting for a 1.8 in the 60. Temps will be in the 50’s.


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Oh and the best thing is my pain level for a pinched nerve in my neck is no longer a 7 like the last two outings. My oldest son just graduated Med school and I told him that I felt much better after going to the track both times. He said he had no problem recommending that as physical therapy. Don’t cut the lights and call me in the morning.


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within 5 minutes the oil formed on the top of the Klotz BeNOL 20:1 in C12 race fuel but after 12 hours look what formed on the bottom


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Yep. Fresh fuel and fresh oil are important. What's also important is to keep fuel and oil cool and sealed. And drain the carb and tank after an event - TnT or race.

Lectron might be nice. Not sure you need a fuel pump. Perhaps make a simple aluminum tank with a bung to take a Pingel fuel tap. Don't think they make a single outlet tap, but you could ask. Maybe a new mutiport cast aluminum barrel with nicasil coating......

I am assuming that the mason jar test was with an older can of BeNol. That's interesting that the C12 or the oil has absorbed so much water that it separates out like that. If the water is in the oil, the alcohol in 4.4 seems to be keeping it in phase. That's why we used to add bottles of HEET to car fuel tanks so that the water in our tanks would be absorbed.

That's good news about your neck. BTW, I wasn't suggesting that you share BB's secret formula but rather asking if his experience could shine a light on what you are seeing.

If/when you get 60 foot times down below 2 seconds, the rest of the times will improve as a direct result of that launch improvement.

Have fun at the strip. We expect a full report and detailed analysis on Monday morning first thing.