Lucas Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer

I had never heard of this product so looked up its specifications. It certainly claims to be a wonder additive. Sceptical as ever, I would be very interested to learn some technical information about it and if it might be beneficial used on a Norton. Over to you, Charles!

Also - it would seem to be a product sold mostly/only in the USA, or are there UK outlets for it?

There is a dearth of useful information about what is actually in this product. However its main function is to increase dramatically the oil viscosity. This might reduce oil consumption but is sure to cause starting problems, because of viscous drag, and under lubrication of bearings especially on startup. In a dry sump engine it can also cause excess air entrainment which can cause bearing failure.

Most of these products, STP, Slick50 etc, have fallen foul of of the Federal Trade Commission for making unjustified claims.

Many people refer to them as 'Snake Oil'. There are plenty of suitable oils out there to chose from,aftermarket additives are a waste of money.

If your engine is worn enough to make you consider using this stuff, then get your spanners out and refurbish it.

Norton singles always seem to be oily inside, even autojumble engines. I doubt if they very often start dry and unless they've been run without oil, I've seen little in the way of indications that the oil film has broken down.

A full oil change (including removing and washing the oil tank) would be a good idea though.

'Rubbish' in the carb is the most likely cause of your current problems. You'll probably need to gently warm the body (I use hot water) and tap out the jet block as the small drillings there will be the ones that are blocked. Blowing them out without dismantling is not feasible. It's like trying to play a recorder in boxing gloves...

Previously charles_bovington wrote:

" its main function is to increase dramatically the oil viscosity".

The Lucas Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer is designed to retain its viscosity (resist thinning) at high temperatures, NOT to "increase dramatically the oil viscosity"

"Most of these products, STP, Slick50 etc, have fallen foul of of the Federal Trade Commission for making unjustified claims."

Very true sadly (except for STP which is also a great product & still sold at auto parts stores everywhere, they got in trouble for exaggerating what their product can do). The Lucas products are very well made & are used in all aspects of automobile, fleet, racing, and industrial uses. You'd be hard pressed today to find any aspect of automotive racing that isn't using at least one of the Lucas oils products. I have seen no bad claims about their product from the Federal trade commission,, or anyone else for that matter. I do not have any connection with Lucas, but do use several of their products, including a high tack grease I use on magneto bearings.

"aftermarket additives are a waste of money."

You are certainly entitled to you opinion, but thousands of fleet owners disagree with you, including the US Government. Although as a general comment, I think one is better off buying a better oil than buying cheap oil & adding additives.

I do agree however, that some folks use certain additives as a band-aid to get a bit more time until a rebuild, which is fine, but it's not magic & wont make your mechanical parts like new again

Lucas Heavy Duty Stabilizer is also an awesome assembly lube. It is used by many major engine rebuilders, as it adheres very well to the parts to eliminate the long dry start that can cause major issues to newly rebuilt engine parts, such as Norton camshafts.

As far as I can make out, this product is just a very thick oil + a 'tackifier'.

It has a viscosity at 100 C. of 110 cSt which is about five times as viscous as a 50 Grade oil at that temperature. At low temperatures it will be horribly viscous. At a recommended treat rate of 20 to 60% you could be hard pressed to start it at normal winter temperatures. It will also be hard to pump and you may well do more harm than good. I know that it is popular with alcohol fuelled drag racers but this is because they suffer horrendous fuel dilution and hence reduction in viscosity. They also don't run for long periods.

So I stand by my assertion that there is little point in using this stuff.

With regard to the gearbox, any decent 80/90 grade gear oil should do you well. Opie oils website has a selection and Halfords also offer 75/90 and 80/90 grade oils. Look for G4 or G5 quality as performance indicators. It is not as easy to find a good 20W50 engine oil as it once was. Again have a look at the Opie website, At the risk of upsetting some people, go for an API spec. higher than SF. Lots of classic oils advertised are SE or SF, Performance of such oils cannot be guaranteed because you can't test an oil against obsolete specifications, so you have to make a best guess when it comes to formulation. Also at the time when these specs. were issued, test methods and test quality monitoring was pretty poor.

I wouldn't even think about using a modern multigrade, such as GTX, in a pre-war engine (or any Bracebridge St. Norton). There are plenty of straight non-detergent "classic" oils available. I use Exol vintage 50 in the summer and vintage 30 in the winter but only because that is the brand of oil stocked by my usual oil supplier.