Date:         Thu, 15 May 1997 22:10:13 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         kelphoto@mail.bright.net (mark keller)
Subject:      Re: turbo or supercharger addition?

>  Anyone know a good book on supercharger and turbos that
>will go into detail about the additional stress on the engine due to larger
>than expected air-fuel amounts being burned?

 Dave,

I have read a couple of good articles on the subject in Trailering magazine
archives at the library.  Evidently the RV folks think charged little
thoughts at night whilst waiting on their next hill climb. I

On dat oil, seems the synthetic molecular friction stuff is the exlir of
choice. A good article is in the Archives on it and something called a sub
micron filter system.  I'm interested in the filter if someone knows of it.
I've attached the synthetic archive.  I hope this is Ok,

Regards,

Mark Keller
91' Vanagon Carat Project (tile?)

>From magee2@flash.net  Sat Jan  4 14:21:02 1997
Date: Sat, 04 Jan 1997 14:11:12 -0600
>From: "Mark B. Magee"
Subject: Re: Ok you doubters,  My two cents

Christopher M. Smith wrote:
> > If anyone is still unsure about synthetic oil and you think it's just as
> > good as conventional oil then 1) You're wrong, and; 2) If you do some
> > research like I did you will see how much better the stuff really is.
> > Remember, technology is our friend :)
>
> What research ? I'm curious! I would on intuition think synthetics are
> recyclable, but as for them being "accross-the-board" *better* than
> conventional "cracked" oils ... not necessarily. The specific heat of
> synthetics is relatively lower than conventional oils, thus they are not
> as good conductors/transducers of (engine) heat. Although the primary
> function of oil in an air-cooled engine is lubrication, the secondary is
> "cooling" (c.f., oil-coolers popular with older model buses or baja bugs).
> Thus an oils heat absorbing properties (e.i., specific heat capacity) are
> also a critical component of it's functionality and usefulness in any
> vehicle. Synthetics generally lack this functionality (relative to
> conventional oils). To be just to synthetics, it's also my understanding
> that this "problem"is addressed (to a limited degree) is via the addition
> of "heat-absorbing additives" to their synthetic oils.
>

Chris,
I must say categorically that your intuition referenced above is wrong.
Trust the
facts not your intuition. The facts concerning the -Superiority- of syn-based
lubricating oils is massive. The best way to prove this to yourself is to simply
ask any Indy Car/Nascar/SCCA car/Dragster/Baja-racer etc. what oil they are
using
on thier team vehicles. These folks, with many times upwards of $200K
invested in
one of many team engines have been mostly synthetic for sometime. You may notice
Pennzoil stickers on Indy cars, this means that corporation paid a lot of
money for
that ad space. The contract normally reads they can and will use any oil in
thier
$200K engine they please, and that would be Red Line/Royal Purple/Bel Ray
and other
fully synthetic race oils developed by the Shell's Exxons that are not for
public
consumption.
There is some controversies in this arena, but the vast majority of racing
machinery in the USA today is running fully synthetic for the owners of this
expensive machinery have fully examined the facts and gone with synthetics to
protect thier investments. Most find measurable HP increases in just
switching from
mineral based oils to fully synthetic gained solely from the reduction in
friction
at high rpm. Check for yourself.
> Two other reasons I refrain from using synthetics are costs ($3-4/qt vs.
> $1/quart) and that I change my oil about every 3/4K miles ... not so much
> because of conventional oil breakdown, but because of the grim and dirt
> that accumulates in our oil. Synthetics don't have this breakdown
> "problem" (generally 12K miles/oil change), but I for one wouldn't want
> 12K/miles worth of grim and grit running through my engine. Conventional
> oil is cheap, new engines aren't.Here you are correct. The filter is the
>problem, this is why I have been using
submicronic (1/10 micron) engine oil filtration for over ten years in various
vehicles: all with fantastic results. The normal spin on cartridge removes
down to
30-50 microns. Wear metals, carbon and silica (dirt) are usually in the 1-5
micron
range and freely pass through the spin-on element due to their small size. The
filters I use remove down to the molecular size of the oil and remove any
water as
well. Therefore I use the best synthetics, presently Royal Purple, with Prolong
additive (same molecular size as syn oil). And I have not changed my oil
for years
and after spectrographic laboratory oil analysis the oil is in like-new
condtion. I
only change replaceable elements in the filters. This saves me money while
giving
me the benefits of the superiority of the syn oil.
I used to sell these filters (Frantz, Engine Oil Purifier etc.) but don't
mess with
it any longer for their is no money in it.
You can find many companies selling sub-micronic oil filters on the net by
typing
in sub-micronic oil filtration into your search engine.

Regards
Mark B. Magee
87GL 77K (Royal Purple, Engine Oil Purifier, Prolong)