SL68 ...continued

[JonB]

It's too bad there isn't enough people interested in Soap Lubes to run a group buy.

Randyrat has been saying for several months, when he gets back into the Biz, he was gonna order 2 or 3 different Microwaxes to sell along with his other lube products. He had some life problems that are finally getting turned around, so he put the whole lube business on hold...I haven't had a conversation with him recently about it, but I suspect he'll get there sooner or later.

 

[Ian]

We don't do group buys here as a rule, but between friends it could certainly be arranged privately. I'll put it out there that I'm in for a few pounds of BW-430. IIRC the order minimum was ten pounds with freight being the same up to 40 or 50 pounds but that was a long time ago.

 

[JonB]

I didn't mean to suggest something that would break the rules. I don't see enough interest from others anyway.
I was just thinking it'd be nice to procure 1 lb each of 3 or 4 different MW. If Randyrat steps up, a newbie could get BW too, in one package one ship fee. The places I got samples from, want to sell it by the pallet.

 

[Ian]

Sooo, nobody's biting on the lithium stearate-coated carbon thickener eh.... I don't blame you all, every time I start digging back into anything other than the recipe I just copied for 5Shot I pretty quickly remind myself that I have much much more pressing work to do with HV powder coated bullets which will probably bring the entire Quest for Extreme Bullet Lube to a satisfactory and definitive conclusion.

 

[5shot]

I hope Randyrat does stock some wax. I'd buy a couple pounds of each.

 

[Hawk]

Ian,
Sorry to be so slow, but what version is the lube you describe in post 135?
SL71B?

 

[5shot]

What is the benefit of the Transmission Assembly Lube? I bought some a while back when I was getting ready to make some lube, but I got sidetracked and never bought the rest of the ingredients.

 

[Ian]

It helps extend the Vaseline into a higher viscosity range and fill in the gap between that and the paraffin. It can sure monkey with bore condition in the presence of a lot of soap so go easy on it.

Hawk, something like SL-71B, super simple version. If you get the right waxes (some soft micros to go with the hard) you don't need the extra oils we been using in most of the SL-67 and later lubes.

 

[358156 hp]

I'm sure I asked this question before on the old board, but what is the difference between engine assembly lube and transmission assembly lube? I can think of some potential differences, but I'm certain Ian has this information right at hand. I should have some engine assembly lube around here somewhere if it's worth looking for.

 

[5shot]

So, not an equal amount to the Vaseline?

 

[Ian]

Not an equal amount. Maybe substitute trans lube for 1/4 of the Vaseline. Might have to add a tablespoon of Dexron III to even out the viscosity.

Engine assembly lube is either zinc oxide #1 grease (the Lubriplate garbage in a tube that people seem to think is somehow good for engine bearings) ora thick mix of oil, polybutene, and ZDDP. Designed to prevent galling of new parts under extreme pressure during initial startup and to stay in place and not run off until then, these engine lubes are very different from the transmission assembly products. Transmission lubes do not have any grease thickeners or stringy polybutene in them at all as they must melt and become invisible in the atf without plugging filters or contaminating the friction plates. Think of it as very thick, sticky Vaseline that us thick by virtue of long carbon chains and not gellants or solid additives. The main purpose of tranny lube is to stick parts like thrust washers and Torrington bearings in place like glue and protect lip seals during installation. It also lubes Teflon and brass sealing rings during initial startup and somewhat protects bearings, bushings, and sprags against corrosion. Typically tranny lube is dyed to differentiate it from atf in the event some external residue melts and runs and is noticed after the test drive. Two grades of tranny lube are available in the Trans-Jel brand for different shop temperatures.

 

[Brad]

Tranny gel is back!

 

[fiver]

hey now that lubriplate no-1 [white lith] is an essential part of the moly complex lube.
it's pretty much all of the mineral oil content of the lube though.

 

[Ian]

Bullet lube is a good use for that thin white stuff along with and distributor and speedometer reduction gears and cables. Brad will probably mention that you can lube your tranny's speedo with it but I'll save him the trouble.

 

[Brad]

Ian has a tranny wearing a Speedo? Damn, is he from Austin or something?

 

[fiver]

another month or two and he might be casting in a speedo.

 

[Ian]

Hey now Brad, I don't judge what YOU do in YOUR garage.....

I did used to cast buckets of .38s in my drawers over the propane stove of my college travel trailer but wore cowboy boots and a leather apron for PPE. Yeah, it was that hot and the ac unit was broke. I didn't go to school in Austin, though, they would have thought that sort of thing to be normal and that scares me.

 

[Brad]

Wow, Ian with a cowboy boot wearing tranny casting in a trailer park.

And the people from Mexico WANT to go there?

 

[Brad]

On a serious note, would some 90 wt gear oil work in place of some of the Vaseline? Another MW of mineral oil.

 

[Ian]

Depends on what you're trying to do. The mineral gear oil was only to make up for the brittleness of the hard microwax I was using. Could have added more Vaseline but it didn't make the wax pliable and stretchy like the heavy oil did. Remember zi was treating the waxes like one component (adjusting to get what I wanted), the soap as one component, and the Vaseline as the paraffin/light wax plasticizer which can be tweaked as needed to control overall final viscosity. The castor oil is the only real liquid lube, you don't want much else for liquid lubrication because you get that from all the waxes once the heat and pressure hits them.