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View Full Version : Gas, Oil, and Spark


Hotdoggin'
06-10-2009, 11:39 AM
Curious what the best gas to use would be. Reg Unleaded?
The best Oil?
And the best Spark Plugs to buy? I've been told that EGK (i believe) are not very good.... Also would it be found at an auto/motorcycle store or do i have to specially order online?

yay! she's almost ready!

Smithers
06-10-2009, 07:06 PM
Yeah these bikes can run on any gas. It won't make a bit of difference switching between octane ratings that you buy at the pump. I would buy the highest you can though. You only put 2 gallons in so it won't hurt your wallet thankfully. Back in the day it was common to get very high octane at the pump. They didn't even HAVE 87 back then so it's proper to put 91 in. =]

I know the older British cars required 93 according to the manual. And they actually stated that if you cannot find a minimum of 93 that you should then drive as slow as you can until you can buy some! They ran very high compression ratings. I'm not sure about the Honda's compression but they were designed to run on much better fuel than the crap we have today.

Oil: Just regular ol 30wt. or 10-40 it doesn't matter much. Just not synthetic.

Plugs: Stick with NGK. That is the standard for all Honda basically. If you buy it retail they probably want much more money as they will have to order it for you and if they do have it they will probably act like it's solid gold... even though it's just a standard plug. That's the attitude you get at any CA bike shop anyway. You can order a dozen online for like $22. I have a box of them I bought.

Smithers
06-10-2009, 07:10 PM
The plugs are installed without the heads on them of course. If you have any questions or problems with the spark plug caps check out the beginning of this thread... all the old Honda spark plugs and caps have the same configuration.

http://www.fourwheelforum.com/showthread.php?t=222&highlight=spark+plug

http://www.fourwheelperformance.com/honda/ca95_sparkplugs_01.jpg

RobG
06-12-2009, 05:43 AM
The only comment I will make on the gas is try to find someone that sells without ethanol added. This is becoming increasingly difficult. There are plenty of people who will tell you this makes no difference, but in this instance I can tell you it does.

I maintain a 1949 Cessna 140 which runs with an autogas STC allowing us to put 87 octane in it instead of the 100LL you get at airports (pretty good cost savings) however it has been very very clearly stated that running ethanol infused gas violates this STC.

Yes, the Honda isn't an airplane, but it is an engine from a similar era with similar philosophies and materials. The alcohol changes the consistency and the lubrication of the gas. It also doesn't make as much power. I had terrible problems with my carb sticking for a long time. A combination of making it 'super' clean and also keeping the ethanol out of it (even running a lead substitute at first) seems to have fixed the issue.

Its not going to ruin the engine in a pinch, but it would be something to consider for long term use.

If you aren't sure if the fuel has ethanol in it, you can buy a neat little tool (or just homebrew this solution). Basically, take some gas and put it in a test-tube or jar or something where you can mark the fuel level. Slowly add a small amount of water, say 3 inches of fuel, 1 inch of water. The water should sink to the bottom and give you two distinct layers. Mark the separation. Cover your container and shake like hell for a while. Then look again. If the levels have changes (water level should increase, fuel decrease) you have ethanol. Ethanol (like all alcohols) is water soluble. When you shake this dissolves into the water. What you are left with less gas, more water.

You can do some math if you know the diameter of the container to figure out how much, but chances are it is 5-10%. This is basically standard.

Smithers
06-12-2009, 07:19 AM
Good info RG. Ah man the amount of ethanol in the fuel around me is depressing. Our older engine run so much better on fuel without it. The carb on my CA95 is worn out because of the slide losing it's plating - chromium/ nickel plating. My neighbor is an engineer and he told me what it was but I don't remember right now. The slide just sticks and the only fix for that is putting a stronger return spring in there. I'm also going the overkill route and I handed it off to my neighbor to have one of his suppliers re-plate it. So basically I gave him a spare carb which works and the carb that came with the blue 150.

In short I'm sure the thinned out fuel has something to do with the sticking as well. It doesn't help and I tried running a little 2 stroke oil in there just for fun without any luck. I ran a bit of oil in the fuel in my 160 once too and that was horrible. The needle was sticking in the seat and it would starve out and I would have to pull over to tap on the carb. Yeah don't put any 2 stroke oil in your old Honda. :)

Smithers
06-12-2009, 07:22 AM
More on the carbs and plating. If anyone has any explanation about the metallurgy and composition I'm all ears. I'll bug my neighbor some more as I'm sure my parts are sitting on his desk collecting dust. I really want to ride the 150 around this summer at some point and I do remember him saying all he had to do was do some measuring to determine how thick the plating needed to be.

I'm curious if ZDDP or anything like that would help these little engines. I'm sure it will but being able to notice a difference would be cool.

Damn politicians. I'm not saying I'm one way or the other on this issue but they have recently been trying to push towards alternative energy other than petroleum based. They should have been on this bandwagon back in the "Who Killed The Electric Car" days. But back then GM was actually an entity that had some pull (pulled the plug on that electric car momentum that was started by politicians). So instead of looking for something other than fuel they get bought by GM (wanting to never build electric) and the oil companies and ethanol producers. That's a LOT of industry going against electric transportation.

Here is a quick article about what is going on in relation to the fuel subject and how ethanol producers are all pissed about it (yay): http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/california-fuel-move-angers-ethanol-makers/ (http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/california-fuel-move-angers-ethanol-makers/)

But the ethanol industry is concerned that the regulations give a poor emissions score to their corn-based product, in some cases ranking it as a bigger emitter than petroleum.

Ethanol guys are just corn industry people trying to raise the price of their commodity right?

Hotdoggin'
06-21-2009, 07:41 PM
I noticed my oil dipstick does not have a mark on it for a max level.
Anyone know how far up the dip stick it should read?

RobG
07-11-2009, 03:26 AM
Mine has a flat spot. If it is in the flatspot I call it good. As for the ethanol, it is definitely a political issue. There isn't enough corn in the whole of the US every year to dent even 10% of our fuel consumption if we went to 100%. The politicians are adding it to our fuel to make it look like efforts are being made to be 'cleaner' but it is really just a waste. I am all for clean energy, but I can't get behind moves like that which cost so much money in gov't and have no results.

I know owning a 950 ktm doesn't help this argument, but *most* motorcycles are far far more efficient than the Prius. We should all just ride CA95s : )

Hotdoggin'
07-18-2009, 07:01 PM
Thanks rob. i'll keep it within the flat area.