Yes, they did, Cookie. The old rotary engines (tha cranksahft was fixed and the cylinder block rotated) used castor oil in a total loss system. Unburned oil used to be thrown out of the engine back towards the open cockpit.

Pilots flying wirplanes with rotaries didn't usually suffer from constipation!

All sorts of jokes come to mind Frank but I'll try to hold them in.
Prices for those old British singles still seem to be in the stratosphere around here. I quite wish I still had the old 600 Norton single I gave away when I came to CA for lack of storage. I parked the Commando on the street in SF for years, hardly reccomended. I had to redo all chrome.
The other day I saw a 500 BSA single advertised as a Goldstar here in the CL, as a fresh barn find. It had probably been stripped to run another bike and was little more than a rusty frame and an engine block on corroded wheels. I think it was advertised at $3,500 if memory serves. It looked to me that you could easily put $10,000 in it before it ran.

Cookie wrote:Correct me if i'm wrong but didn't WW1 fighters run something like Castrol?

frankdamp wrote:Yes, they did, Cookie. The old rotary engines ... used castor oil in a total loss system.

I googled 'Castrol R' and came across the following in an archive of "Flight" magazine dated December 14, 1922. I found it interesting and so thought others might, too. I also really like the way they wrote back then.

"It is safe to say that with the history of British aviation no individual product has been so closely associated as Wakefield Castrol " R." For that world-famous aero-engine lubricant has played its own important part since the beginning of flying on practically every type of aeroplane, seaplane, flying boat and airship. Working as it often must under greatly varying pressures and temperatures the aero-engine oil has to withstand the severest tests. Indeed, the whole problem of efficient lubrication is one of a highly complicated and technical nature. In this connection Wakefields were able to draw upon their great experience already gained on high-powered racing motor-cars and motor-boats. So that with the data they had gathered they were able to set their research department, with its well-equipped laboratories, to a task which was not so much a new problem as a development; and, of course, the firm enjoyed the active co-operation of engine builders in the form of practical experiments and tests—on the bench and in the air. The outcome of this pioneer work was the production of Castrol " R," the fame of which has extended throughout the entire world of flying The feature of this lubricant is that it is an absolute blend (not merely a mixture of ingredients), the constituents of which do not separate however long they are allowed to stand. Possessing all the lubricating properties of castor oil, and reducing to the minimum the tendency to carbonisation, which is present in all vegetable oils, Castrol " R " has a higher " flash point " and a remarkably low " freezing point." The latter feature is, of course, of vital importance. Castor oil becomes too thick to lubricate at zero Fahrenheit, but Castrol " R " retains its fluidity at a temperature of -26 degrees F., or 58 degrees of frost. This means that the engine continues to be lubricated at any altitude or in any temperature at which flying is practicable—at the time of writing, anyhow!"

Hope this isn't too much off-topic for this thread.

I also really like the way they wrote back then

Yep, we yused to be edukated bak tten

frankdamp wrote:As an ex-Norton Villiers guy, I'd be interested in finding an AJS Stormer that I could restore.

Are you still looking for one, Frank?

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/mcy/1009237452.html

Hi Frank,

Here's another AJS Stormer on e-bay. Just say stop and will send no more.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Motorcyc ... 240%3A1318

Regards,

David

I guess I have to say STOP. IRA's have taken such a hit in the last few weeks, even trying to justify that Craig's-list basket case is near impossible.

Thanks for the responses, guys. At least I know there are people who actually know what a Stormer is. It would be intriguing to find out how that restored one on eBay was enlarged to 410 ccs.

I sent him an eBay question to find out. We managed to get to 344 ccs on our works competition bikes, but the cylinder liner was so thin you could almost bend it just with finger pressure. We campaigned it as a "360" and did quite well. Nobdy ever challenged it.

frankdamp wrote:It would be intriguing to find out how that restored one on eBay was enlarged to 410 ccs.

Frank,

Stormers were produced in both 370 (368cc) and 410 (403cc) engine sizes, as well as 250cc.

I guess that was after my time at N-V. They must have redesigned the Starmaker to get the extra capacity. Maybe they also solved the part-trhottle detoantion problemt that destroyed the cylider barrels if you didn't use Castro R!

My motorcycle purchasing habits have also been severely curtailed.
I'll be making most items I play with for a while and no new bikes are in my future.
I saw a square four for sale the other day and there have been some nice singles in my area, but as George Gobel used to say, "I think it will get worse before it gets better."