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I remember being told many years ago that Castrol R was a vegetable based oil, so if used cooking oil is used as a diesel fuel does it smell like R? And if not, why not?
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If you are thinking of frying your chips in Castrol R, I would advise against it.
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It only ever really generated a decent smell with a screaming two stroke engine
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It only ever really generated a decent smell with a screaming two stroke engine
I don't know.
When I had my Ford Anglia 1200 Super fitted with a bored out 1500cc to 1650 cc, I used to put an cup full of 'R' into a full tank and got the same smell as you could at a race track in the 60s & 70s with the Mini's and Anglia's with no problems.
Lovely smell as I remembered it, they were the days.
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Castrol R is based on Castor Oil, the vile stuff fed to kids at school in the 50's. Chips fried in 'R' would be revolting.
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Diesels running on soyabean oil smell similar, especially when on the open road and not just idling. Rapeseed oil smells a bit more linseedy. I used to have loads of Castrol R given to me by a motorcyclists who switched to 4 smokes, I used it in the hedge clippers as it doesn't pollute the leaves :o)
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Can you still get this stuff anywhere? I keep reading about it and feel like I'm missing out. ;o)
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You`re missing out on a gummed up engine :)
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Can you still get this stuff anywhere? I keep reading about it and feel like I'm missing out. ;o)
Castrol Classic R40 is still available. For example, see tinyurl.com/35jf4q
In my experience (in the 1960s) it's highly over-rated if you want it just for the smell, but don't let that stop you!
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L\'escargot.
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As a lad who could not afford castrol R, me and my gang of yoof discovered that ground nut oil (we called it peanut oil) had a similar smell, had the side effect of being quite excitingly smokey, and my mate could nick it from fine fair where he stacked shelves, so it was priced at our kind of level.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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A teaspoonful or two of castor oil in your tank will create the smell.
It may also gum up your engine, but it'll be worth it.
V
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It's also used in classic 4-stroke racers, such as Manx Nortons and G50s. Castor has very high film strength so is good at lubricating under very very extreme conditions where even synthetic oils would be scuffed away, apparently
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You can still get the smell at speedway events. Don't know if the main lubrication or just added to the fuel. That's methanol, so it's quite a treat, olfactorily speaking, although I've always thought the sport a bit daft.
I've also noticed the 'R' smell from some scooters lately - perhaps some modern synthetic 2-stroke oil?
Diesels running vegetable oil smell of, er, frying.
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I've also noticed the 'R' smell from some scooters lately -
I plead guilty ~ I use it to lubricate the axles of my grandson's Triang scooter!
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L\'escargot.
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Interestingly (now for the chemistry) Castor Oil is the triglyceride ester of Ricinoleic acid and, if I remember my analytical days, comprised about 85% of the Castor Oil. As such, it is the only vegetable oil that is miscible with Industrial Methylated Spirits (Alcohol, essentially).
Industrially and in the laboratory we used to dehydrate Castor oil (to remove the -OH group) by heating it with a dehydrating agent thus forming a double bond in the carbon chain. When this has been accomplished, the dehydrated castor oil, so formed, used to polymerise like mad and so one had to be very quick in stopping the whole process before everything gelled in the apparatus in which it was being prepared - this could vary from being a 1 litre flask to a 1 ton industrial kettle.
Can't imagine that it was all that good for combustion engines if left too long as it might become very gooey and sieze up everything. However it did endow any engine using it, with that characteristic odour!
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I seem to remember running radio controlled aircraft on the stuff. Nowadays of course ,I only fly virtual aeroplanes -courtesy of Mr.Gates.Much cheaper.
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