Car Care - What would be kindest to the Motor?
Discussion
A bit of adivce needed re my first trackday:
The car is a nissan 200SX (S14a - SR20DET) with 90K on it by the time I get to the track. It was serviced at 85K with fully synth oil and it is standard. Next service is due at 91K.
I can only really afford to change the oil once. WOuld it be best to change the oil before the trackday, so it's getting thrashed on clean oil and filter, or change it after the trackday so that for the next 5,000 miles it's not churning oil that may have been cooked on the track?
I know the ideal answer is to change both before and after, but with the trackday (£60) Insurance (£70) 4 wheels and tyres (£50 whole pounds!) and fuel (£100 ish) the costs are starting to mount up. I'm not a fan of running it for the trackday on cheapo oil, as the turbo is old and apparently they are very sensitive....
The car is a nissan 200SX (S14a - SR20DET) with 90K on it by the time I get to the track. It was serviced at 85K with fully synth oil and it is standard. Next service is due at 91K.
I can only really afford to change the oil once. WOuld it be best to change the oil before the trackday, so it's getting thrashed on clean oil and filter, or change it after the trackday so that for the next 5,000 miles it's not churning oil that may have been cooked on the track?
I know the ideal answer is to change both before and after, but with the trackday (£60) Insurance (£70) 4 wheels and tyres (£50 whole pounds!) and fuel (£100 ish) the costs are starting to mount up. I'm not a fan of running it for the trackday on cheapo oil, as the turbo is old and apparently they are very sensitive....
It depends on many things but especially the viscosity of the oil you are using.
0W-30 for example is a more stable oil than 0W-40 which has a higher addition of 'viscosity index improvers' in order to achieve the multigrade performance. These additives are long chain molecules which are coiled up at low temperatures but open out into long chains at high temperatures in order to increase the viscosity - so it doesn't thin out so much when hot. The problem is that these long chains shear under mechanical stress, so that before 10k miles is up, a 0W-40 may have decreased to 0W-30 anyway. A 0W-30, on the other hand, will still likely be close to a 0W-30 at the same mileage as the amount of viscosity index improvers used is far less. Synthetic oils require less viscosity improvers to achieve the same multigrade performance as organic oils. In fact the synthetic base stock oil is around 0W-20.
And as you seem to be very concerned about cost, don't forget to factor in the cost of brake pads which don't last very long on a Trackday.
The Trackday seems VERY cheap at £60, be careful that it's not at a place with a surface
that will give you lots of stone chips.
0W-30 for example is a more stable oil than 0W-40 which has a higher addition of 'viscosity index improvers' in order to achieve the multigrade performance. These additives are long chain molecules which are coiled up at low temperatures but open out into long chains at high temperatures in order to increase the viscosity - so it doesn't thin out so much when hot. The problem is that these long chains shear under mechanical stress, so that before 10k miles is up, a 0W-40 may have decreased to 0W-30 anyway. A 0W-30, on the other hand, will still likely be close to a 0W-30 at the same mileage as the amount of viscosity index improvers used is far less. Synthetic oils require less viscosity improvers to achieve the same multigrade performance as organic oils. In fact the synthetic base stock oil is around 0W-20.
And as you seem to be very concerned about cost, don't forget to factor in the cost of brake pads which don't last very long on a Trackday.
The Trackday seems VERY cheap at £60, be careful that it's not at a place with a surface
that will give you lots of stone chips.
Having raced a 200sx S14 for the past 4 years in one form or another, there are a few key things you will need to do.
- Oil Change before you go. Period, use a 10w40 good quality oil. Don't use anything too thin as the valve train on the SR20DET does not like it when hot.
- Brake pads: They wear out VERY quickly (if standard) on track and quickly (if they are aftermarket), if you have not done so already, replace for upgraded items. Be carefull not to use a specilist race pad that requires a grooved disk or warming up, otherwise when you drive it on the road it's going to be shockly shite. Stay away from EBC Redstuff or any of the red ferodo's
- Brake and clutch fluid, if it has not been done recently, bleed them through with 5.1 grade fluid or under repeated heavy braking old H20 contaminated brake fluid will boil.
- Make sure you have PLENTY of tread left on your tires. Tracks eat rubber. Full stop.
Edited by Bizzle on Tuesday 31st July 12:05
Also depends on the age of the oil - mileage is a factor but oil will degarde over time too.
If the oil in there is less than six months old and has only covered 5K miles, then IMO I would use it on the track and change the oil after - perhaps do just a filter change before (and again when you change the oil - filters are cheap..). If older than 6 months, then I'd change both oil and filter before as it's probably not at it's best now and will degrade quickly on track.
All IMO.
If the oil in there is less than six months old and has only covered 5K miles, then IMO I would use it on the track and change the oil after - perhaps do just a filter change before (and again when you change the oil - filters are cheap..). If older than 6 months, then I'd change both oil and filter before as it's probably not at it's best now and will degrade quickly on track.
All IMO.
Edited by richardb.jones on Tuesday 31st July 12:13
Thanks for all the advice!
- Re Brake pads: I run Ferodo DS2500's on the road, and they have less than 1,000 miles on them. I very much hope that they will survive the day, but will take my old standard pads as a "get me home" option.
- Re Tyres, I scored four wheels with Pirelli P6000 tyres which I will take along, to keep my F1's in roadworthy condition. (I take it you can fit 4 wheels and tyres in a 200SX!)
- Re the oil, there seems to be two schools of thought on it, so I'll play it safe and change it beforehand and as soon as I can afterwards. I may see if I can get a job lot online and I'll change it myself to keep costs down...
- re the stonechips.... The car has plenty of them already! Yes, it is a cheap trackday, but we all have to start somewhere. Besides, at around £250 expenditure for the day I can see me only doing one a year or so! It's a track not an airfield, so I hope it'll be fine.
Seasider said:
Bizzle said:
Stay away from EBC Redstuff
Why is that Bizzle ??Bizzle said:
Seasider said:
Bizzle said:
Stay away from EBC Redstuff
Why is that Bizzle ??Certainly not an ice age to warm up but i run them with grooved & dimpled
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