Q & A

Q: What oil is recommended for the Mini (new) gearboxes

Racing Synchro 80 from Anglo American Oil Co. meets the specifications for MTF 94, the required oil for the Mini gearbox.

This fully synthetic API GL-4 gear oil has been developed not only to give the very best gear changes with synchromesh gearboxes, but to give the same high quality change no matter how arduous the conditions. Every gear change, from cold oil at the start of practice to the last change before the chequered flag will be perfect.The synthetic basestocks ensure that protection for the gearbox is as good as the gear change. This lightweight oil will also ensure the minimum of powerloss through the transmission.

This gear oil is at home in road car use as it is on the track and will give perfect gear changes from cold in the worst winter weather, as it will in the hottest climates.

BENEFITS:

• Improved gear change, hot and cold.
• Excellent wear protection under all operating conditions.
• Outstanding oxidation resistance.
• Meets manufacturers requirements.

Q: What oil is recommended for the Ford T9 gearbox?

Ford recommend an 80 weight oil for the Type 9 gearbox. ATFs or engine oils are often used to minimise powerloss, but give a poor gear change when hot and poor reliability. Many 80 weight and 90 weight gear oils offer component protection but are too slippery to allow the synchromesh to work properly.

Racing Synchro 80 from Anglo American Oil Co. is a fully synthetic API GL-4 gear oil which has been developed to give the very best gear changes with synchromesh gearboxes under all conditions. The synthetic basestocks ensure that protection for the gearbox is as good as the gear change. This lightweight oil will also ensure the minimum of powerloss through the transmission. This oil is also as good on the road as it is on the racetrack.

BENEFITS

• Improved gear change, hot and cold.
• Excellent wear protection under all operating conditions.
• Outstanding oxidation resistance.
• Lightweight oil for minimum powerloss.

Q: How does a multigrade engine oil work?

To answer this question properly we need to go back to the early days of motoring when no 'multigrade' engine or gearbox oils were available. The only oils available then were 'straight' oils which meant that oils had to be changed depending on summer or winter driving. The basic knowledge of any oil is that it gets thinner by temperature - a lot thinner. This means that the film-strength will be reduced when it gets hot. It also means that when the oil is really cold it is like syrup making it really difficult to lubricate properly. So the thinner the oil is the faster it flow which is good for the lubrication but if it gets too thin it will not be able to keep the moving metal parts inside an engine (or gearbox) apart which will result in bearing and surface damages.

To satisfy the engine and gearbox needs the early motorists had to use an SAE50 grade during summer to protect the engine at operating temperature and an SAE20 or SAE30 during winter to be able to start the engine! The cooler temperatures during winter months enabled the engine to run cooler than during summer motoring and give enough film-strength even with the thinner oil.

With the natural thinning of the oil it is very difficult to satisfy both the fluidity necessary at low temperatures and the film-strength at high temperatures with a normal 'straight oil'. But the 'multigrade' oils can do just that and this is how it works:

A multigrade oil is made from a thin oil to enable easy starting and lower friction inside the engine which also results in lower emissions and fuel consumption.
An multigrade additive is added which is normally a polymer - in layman terms 'liquid plastic'.
This polymer will expand with increased temperature making the thinner oil act (I think that is the best way to describe it) like a thicker oil at operating temperature (100ºC).
So an SAE10W-30 starts its life as an SAE10 oil which is measured at -14ºF.
The multigrade additives are then added to take it up to the same viscosity grade at 100ºC as an SAE30.
With this in mind an SAE10W-40 is made from the same base oil but has got more 'multigrade' additives added to make it 'act' like an SAE40 oil at 100ºC.

In the early days the additives used in multigrade oils were not that clever and the oils had to be changed regularly to avoid 'thinning' (e.g. an SAE20W-50 quickly reverted down to SAE20 when the multigrade additives were consumed causing engine damages). Today good quality multigrade oils protect the engines much better than the oil 'straight' oils due to their better fluidity at lower temperatures and will stay a multigrade oil for its entire service interval.

DANGER!!!! A low quality oil (read supermarket cheap) will have cheap 'multigrade' additives and will damage your engine. Also it is imperative that you have a good quality oil in your racing engine as the cheaper 'multigrade' additives will break up at temperatures over 100ºC.

Q: Why do we need an oil in an engine?

The oil in the engine has in principle three tasks:

1. Lubricate all the moving parts
2. Cool the engine
3. Take care of all the dirt created by the combustion

Q: Why does an engine oil get black?

The oil gets black due to the fact that it is designed to 'suck' up all dirt created by the combustion of the engine. It is important to realise that an engine mostly used in stop-start traffic will get more condensation and fuel into the oil as it never gets the chance to burn it off as it will only occasionally get up to operating temperature (+100ºC).

• A car driven long miles on motorways does not have to change oil as often as a car driven in the city (see above).
• A racing car which is on full throttle all the time will get a lot of fuel in the oil and will dilute the oil faster than the oil will break down.
• A tip! If the oil is very black - change it!

Q: Why should I trust oils from Anglo American Oil Company Ltd?

We have many years of experience working with top motorsport teams throughout Europe.That combined with hands on experience from motor racing at all levels and the fact that we represent 3 large oil brands on the UK market ensures that we do our best to select the best products available.