oils for interpol 2

[shepjock]

New to the supposedly wonderful world of rotary motion and new member I have some questions which ,I'm sure ,have been answered a million times.My newly bought Interpol 2 will very soon need some oil in the tank but living in the south of France none of the recommended oils are available :what modern two stroke oil would be suitable for the engine ?(silkolene comp pre mix not to be found)Would comp 2 SX be ok ?The other stupid question concerns the temperature gauge:it's not working as the wires are just dangling in a most pointless way above the engine .Where is the thermocouple to be found ??? What replacement can be bought and where ??I hope I shall be forgiven for being so ignorant !

[kanonkopdrinker]

Gérard (F1 owner) from Bordeaux reckons that Rotella DD+40 can be bought in France .... and in 20 litre drums too.I'll PM you his email address - and you can parler avec liu and see ou il finds it ....DC

[Interpol2471]

Hi the thermocouple is actually situated just above the spark plug on the right hand rotor housing looking from the front of the bike. Is the thermocouple wire broken and hanging to the front of the engine or the rear? If it is broken from the front you are in a pickle as new thermocouples are not available from Norton but if it has just broken to the rear from the connector a new connector and standard copper wire can be used to lengthen.However a new standard thermocouple can be bought as long as it matches the correct standard I have promised to look back into this as I made a replacement that worked fine using the British F type standard if I remember correctly.The main problem is actually getting the remainder of the old thermocouple out of the housing as it will always break while being removed.I struggled with a flexible drill shaft on a fine electric drill and went very carefully until the old brass fitting was removed and then re-tapped the hole with the closest thread to the replacement I could find.Very pleased in the end but dont want to do it again Never test the temperature with 12v as this damages the gauge as it is designed to work with millivolts and bends the fine instrument coil.

[Steve Gee]

It's a while since I bought motorcycle oil in France but the price was always extortonate, is it worth ordering from the uk, http://www.opieoils.co.uk/ have comp 2 premix and do a discount for forum members, they also list France on the postage charges, not sure if Graham at Startrights can post abroad it's certainly worth buying from him just for the help and advice he can offer !

[shepjock]

Thanks to all for answers:have just ordered some Comp2 premix via the indicated web site to solve immediate problem.Had a look at the engine as indicated by Mr 2471 and found a small hole with a M5 thread (more or less 6mm deep) about 20mm above the spark plug . Is this the place where the thermocouple is situated or am I being completely daft? I would have thought a thermocouple would be inside the casting rather than sitting proud in the air stream?

[Interpol2471]

You have found the correct hole but by the sounds of things someone has already broken the thermocouple off as the hole should be much deeper around a cm or slightly more. The thermocouple part of the wire when in the casting is pressed home against the alloy just above the spark so does read relative remperatures quite truthfully but you are correct it does appear to be cooled by the airstream but I guess engine temperatures are much higher and therefore the dominant force. This is a similar type of thermocouple that I tested and found to work well but please be careful when fitting as the thread is tight and it is as easy to break it off putting it in as taking it out if you are heavy handed. I ran a new tap of the correct thread to clean up the hole prior to fitting and used loctite 272 to locate in place.http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10-ft-K-Type-Ther ... a5cdee534I hope this helps.Paul

[Richard Negus]

Both rotor housings are the same, so each will have a hole, threaded M6 x 1.0, above the spark plug ; the thermocouple can fit in either hole.If you can't see a threaded hole in one of your housings, it means that a thermocouple body has already been broken off in that one.The eBay thermocouple suggested by Paul is a K-type and its characteristic doesn't match the original VDO gauge. The needle may move, but the reading is nonsense. It should be possible to find a K-type 2" gauge with the correct temperature range display, although most popular ones show an upper limit of 150C.If you have a piece of the original thermocouple wire, it is possible to re-make it shorter, using a modified oil pump banjo bolt in place of the original brass body. I've done it recently on an IP2 rebuild and halving the length doesn't affect the reading.

[Interpol2471]

Sorry to confuse I thought I had listed the correct British standard type Richard is correct as usual It is available though I will check again Paul

[Interpol2471]

To confirm the differences looking into my books the K type produces 41 µV/°C while the correct standard for the Norton is British standard type E using brown and blues wires with brown sheath which produces 68 µV/°C therefore the K type would read lower than the correct temperature. A close comparison would be the J type thermocouple which is also available very cheaply which has a design output of 55 µV/°C so thus would probably only give a 15% average less temperature reading on the standard meter which could obviously be noted by the rider and would not be alarming anyway during normal temperature operation between 100-150°C. If it went over 200°C I would be looking at blowing on the engine anyway by the side of the road and not bothering about the gauge The correct modern replacement for type E is the type EX thermocouple which is not easily obtained cheaply but has exactly the smae output parameters.THATS ENOUGH OF THAT NOW TOO MUCH READING REQUIRED!!!!

[shepjock]

All these most informative answers have convinced me that there might be a solution to my temperature gauge problem with a bit of lateral thinking and a lot of optimism ! Rotax produce air cooled 2 stroke engines for microlight airplanes where the need to know the temperature is of some importance. They provide a thermocouple connected to a copper washer which sits under the spark plug and a suitable gauge ( but 57mm in dia.) I have ordered a kit ( £110 incl.VAT) and will let you know if it works or if it was a complete waste of money

[kanonkopdrinker]

Strictly speaking, the Opie Oils discount to which Steve refers above, is allowable ONLY to members of the Rotary Owners' Club - and not to those subscribing to this forum, who are not necessarily ROC members. I would ask that forum members do not claim membership of the ROC when applying for discounts when that is not the case. Thank you! Happy rotoring!DC btw .... the ROC has Rotella DD+40 at £3 per litre and Silkolene Comp 2 at £25 per 4 litre bottle. Beat that!!

[shepjock]

I had sent my membership fee by post before asking for a discount but had I known that the ROC could sell oil to members I would have bought it of the club !Next time ...

[kanonkopdrinker]

The problem would be, how to get it to you ... posting would be very expensive, that's assuming the Royal Mail would agree still to convey it if they knew what it was!But with club members heading to France for summer holidays, it's possible that a method could have been found.Next time you're passing Essex, call in with an empty container!

[johnbirchjar]

This temp:thing seems to have opened up a right old can of worms!! but the micro-flight seems(hopefully)the easiest solution(if not the cheapest)I await further information with interest.J.B.

[shepjock]

The results for the microlight thermocouple are in a new topic "interpol temp gauge"