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I'm certainly not an Airhead expert...
but I do have a lot of experience with oils on air cooled motors
I also race a vintage porsche and have been monitoring oils religiously
(rebuilds are $$$$ and happen regularly with a race car)
So one important piece of info that feels left out in this discussion
oil manufacturers change their formula's all of the time
I used to use mobil 1 in the race car (20/50) back when zinc was common and before we all learned about the effects of removing the zinc in flat tappet engines
back then, I had friends and my mechanic doing oil analysis consistently.
Mobil 1 changed their formula about 5 times in 10 years.
so when you read an article or get advice from a forum about any particular oil
note the date on the article... the information may have been correct the day they sampled/tested it... may have been accurate the day someone spoke with an engineer
but my builder lost motors (cams and lifters) when manufacturers changed formulas without announcing it
and since the 90's... I think this formula change just keeps happening.
we run royal purple in the race car now
the boutique brands were built for zinc levels that are more consistent.
VR1 is in my air cooled street car
but even VR1 has changed formulas a couple of times
brant
Thanks for the informative post. One thing about VR1 (dino and synthetic) is it is very good it oil for Airheads but it is recommended to be changed frequently, like 90 days, as it's a racing oil and doesn't incorporate additives for extended changes. This is from a Valvoline tech I spoke with.
I've been using Valvoline Racing (mineral) 20W50 for years in both airheads and an '03 K1200RS and always changed at 3K miles..... no drips, no runs, no errors. I replaced the insert bearings on my '76 R90/6 at 140K..... didn't really need to but as long as the top end was off why not.