PLEASE HELP - SYNTHETIC OIL OR CASTOR OIL
01-03-2013, 07:28 AM
#166
going from Byron's 30/11 to Werks will almost seem like you went up 10% in nitro.... you will first have to lean the HSN roughly 14 hours just to get the tune back, then your going to notice the engine is radically more powerful and responsive....almost going to feel like you jumped from 30% nitro up to 40% nitro................ Not sure whats in Werk's fuekl, but it makes massive power and still protects extremely well.........Byron`s is also a great fuel, but the Werks is super badass !!! Also you will notice you have to drop the idle gap a little to coming from the Byron`s tot he Werks.......
01-03-2013, 08:34 AM
#167
there is ..they have very different characteristics...but keep in mind the 9% Pro driver would be closer to the Werks then the 11% I was referring to... ...I only compared the 11% as that is what I believe my buddy Jay runs..and by coincidence one of my friends just compared to Werks back to back with the Byron's 11% in a Clocked Bonito....From the 30/11 Byrons he had to lean the HSN 14 hours to get the tune back with the Werks....
01-03-2013, 08:46 AM
#168
there is ..they have very different characteristics...but keep in mind the 9% Pro driver would be closer to the Werks then the 11% I was referring to... ...I only compared the 11% as that is what I believe my buddy Jay runs..and by coincidence one of my friends just compared to Werks back to back with the Byron's 11% in a Clocked Bonito....From the 30/11 Byrons he had to lean the HSN 14 hours to get the tune back with the Werks....
01-03-2013, 08:56 AM
#169
I am not sure on the Werks oil content...If I were to guess it is lower then 9% ...However the residual oil left int he engine would make you believe the oil content is much higher....But how crispy and cool it runs makes me say the oil content is lower then 9..... very unique fuel...
01-03-2013, 10:59 AM
#170
Just to reiterate something important , its not really about oil % but more importantly WHAT oils r used 
14hrs? On the hsn? Ummmm I have NEVER seen that kind of difference switching from byrons to ANY fuel of any kind ever , that's a wee bit ummmm interesting , that's more than a full turn
And yes I have tried that exact same switch on more than one engine
14hrs? On the hsn? Ummmm I have NEVER seen that kind of difference switching from byrons to ANY fuel of any kind ever , that's a wee bit ummmm interesting , that's more than a full turn
And yes I have tried that exact same switch on more than one engine
01-03-2013, 11:34 AM
#171
Just to reiterate something important , its not really about oil % but more importantly WHAT oils r used
14hrs? On the hsn? Ummmm I have NEVER seen that kind of difference switching from byrons to ANY fuel of any kind ever , that's a wee bit ummmm interesting , that's more than a full turn
And yes I have tried that exact same switch on more than one engine
14hrs? On the hsn? Ummmm I have NEVER seen that kind of difference switching from byrons to ANY fuel of any kind ever , that's a wee bit ummmm interesting , that's more than a full turn
And yes I have tried that exact same switch on more than one engine
01-03-2013, 03:06 PM
#172
lsn more than hsn yes
anytime i would perform a fuel switch test i start by just starting the engine at settings and plug as they were , then by my own ear adjust accordingly
rons fuel uses very different oils than byrons , i am sure of that
some fuels do not actually contain "30%" nitro methane as listed either , some 30% listed are only 26% -28% and some are more like 32% and such (this is not saying that i have spectrum analyzed all the fuels but based more on information from people i know "know" these things in the industry) , also the purity and btu rating of the methanol used as well as the flashpoints and burn rates of the fuels oil content have such huge impacts on how the fuel runs/tunes in your rc car engine that you have to take into consideration much more than just "synthetic vs. castor" and/or the performance/protection/tuneability of "synthetic vs. castor" or should i say 101 different synthetics vs. castor
werks fuels tuning as opposed to byrons race 3000 or pro driver 3000 was not anywhere near that far off in the tuning that i see posted , being 14hrs on hsn
fyi: runtime comes from how lean you can run your lsn
anytime i would perform a fuel switch test i start by just starting the engine at settings and plug as they were , then by my own ear adjust accordingly
rons fuel uses very different oils than byrons , i am sure of that
some fuels do not actually contain "30%" nitro methane as listed either , some 30% listed are only 26% -28% and some are more like 32% and such (this is not saying that i have spectrum analyzed all the fuels but based more on information from people i know "know" these things in the industry) , also the purity and btu rating of the methanol used as well as the flashpoints and burn rates of the fuels oil content have such huge impacts on how the fuel runs/tunes in your rc car engine that you have to take into consideration much more than just "synthetic vs. castor" and/or the performance/protection/tuneability of "synthetic vs. castor" or should i say 101 different synthetics vs. castor
werks fuels tuning as opposed to byrons race 3000 or pro driver 3000 was not anywhere near that far off in the tuning that i see posted , being 14hrs on hsn
fyi: runtime comes from how lean you can run your lsn
01-04-2013, 05:58 AM
#174
lsn more than hsn yes
anytime i would perform a fuel switch test i start by just starting the engine at settings and plug as they were , then by my own ear adjust accordingly
rons fuel uses very different oils than byrons , i am sure of that
some fuels do not actually contain "30%" nitro methane as listed either , some 30% listed are only 26% -28% and some are more like 32% and such (this is not saying that i have spectrum analyzed all the fuels but based more on information from people i know "know" these things in the industry) , also the purity and btu rating of the methanol used as well as the flashpoints and burn rates of the fuels oil content have such huge impacts on how the fuel runs/tunes in your rc car engine that you have to take into consideration much more than just "synthetic vs. castor" and/or the performance/protection/tuneability of "synthetic vs. castor" or should i say 101 different synthetics vs. castor
werks fuels tuning as opposed to byrons race 3000 or pro driver 3000 was not anywhere near that far off in the tuning that i see posted , being 14hrs on hsn
fyi: runtime comes from how lean you can run your lsn
anytime i would perform a fuel switch test i start by just starting the engine at settings and plug as they were , then by my own ear adjust accordingly
rons fuel uses very different oils than byrons , i am sure of that
some fuels do not actually contain "30%" nitro methane as listed either , some 30% listed are only 26% -28% and some are more like 32% and such (this is not saying that i have spectrum analyzed all the fuels but based more on information from people i know "know" these things in the industry) , also the purity and btu rating of the methanol used as well as the flashpoints and burn rates of the fuels oil content have such huge impacts on how the fuel runs/tunes in your rc car engine that you have to take into consideration much more than just "synthetic vs. castor" and/or the performance/protection/tuneability of "synthetic vs. castor" or should i say 101 different synthetics vs. castor
werks fuels tuning as opposed to byrons race 3000 or pro driver 3000 was not anywhere near that far off in the tuning that i see posted , being 14hrs on hsn
fyi: runtime comes from how lean you can run your lsn
it is what it is...the Werks wouldn't even run on the needle settings from the Byrons.......So sloppy rich it would hardly do anything but sputter....... 14 hours on the HSN to get the tune back.....................Noticeably stronger throttle response , more power and more RPM...you can actually hear it in the exhaust note..........Maybe you think the Byron's isn't 30% or the Werks is well over 30% ?... either way in terms of raw performance the Byron's 11% doesn't match the Werks...... Now with that being said Byron's is great fuel that I recommend to anyone who can't get Werks........I believe the drastic tune difference is in part to do with viscosity of the fuels...The Byrons is heavier and needs a more open needle setting to get enough fuel flow to feed the engine......either way i guess we can shoot this on video if we have to...... no biggie......
Last edited by Maximo; 01-04-2013 at 06:38 AM.
01-04-2013, 06:43 AM
#175
We run Werks fuel up here, but if we didn't run Werks Byron's would be the only big name brand I would trust in my engines.....
01-18-2013, 02:12 PM
#176
The "package" per say was not changed but the ratios of the same oils within the package were. This was done because of one reason only....HEAT. In years past the pinch on sleeves was very abrupt and close to TDC. Some motor manufacturers have transitioned to a gradual taper that starts just above the exhaust port. Some have very poor quality control and just slap any piston in a sleeve regardless of fit. This creates more friction and excessive heat on the exhaust port side of the piston and sleeve. (the intake side gets cooled by each new charge) The oil starts to varnish because the sleeve/piston temp exceeds the flash point of the oil. So we reduced the percentage of this oil to keep this from happening.
With that being said...OS and WERKS motors absolutely love the original oil package. Nova not so much until there fully lapped in. So in short it was changed to work for everyone regardless of motor brand and the fact that motor heaters are all the rage...They can also (over heat) varnish the oil once the nitro and alcohol is vaporized.
As far as synthetic vs castor oils. You also have to take into consideration how refined the oil in question is. Its really no longer about quantity but rather quality of the oils being used. The best running fuel I have tried with the oils I have ava to me was full synthetic. It tuned crisper,was more throttle responsive,and revved much higher. That was 9 percent oil. I then made fuel that was full synthetic at 4% total oil and ran it with no ill effect. Crank pin/compression/bearings were all fine.
But I don't think synthetic makes nearly as good of a hydraulic seal between the OD of the crank and the ID of the block compared to castor! And since we run in dirt and a front bearing is not a seal I like a combination of both.
Your Fuel needs to provide a balance of power, performance,stability and motor longevity. Any time you tweak one area you are sacrificing another IMO. Run time and power= synthetic longevity and consistency= Castor. The great thing is there are lots of fuels on the market for the consumer to choose from depending on there needs and wants
With that being said...OS and WERKS motors absolutely love the original oil package. Nova not so much until there fully lapped in. So in short it was changed to work for everyone regardless of motor brand and the fact that motor heaters are all the rage...They can also (over heat) varnish the oil once the nitro and alcohol is vaporized.
As far as synthetic vs castor oils. You also have to take into consideration how refined the oil in question is. Its really no longer about quantity but rather quality of the oils being used. The best running fuel I have tried with the oils I have ava to me was full synthetic. It tuned crisper,was more throttle responsive,and revved much higher. That was 9 percent oil. I then made fuel that was full synthetic at 4% total oil and ran it with no ill effect. Crank pin/compression/bearings were all fine.
But I don't think synthetic makes nearly as good of a hydraulic seal between the OD of the crank and the ID of the block compared to castor! And since we run in dirt and a front bearing is not a seal I like a combination of both.
Your Fuel needs to provide a balance of power, performance,stability and motor longevity. Any time you tweak one area you are sacrificing another IMO. Run time and power= synthetic longevity and consistency= Castor. The great thing is there are lots of fuels on the market for the consumer to choose from depending on there needs and wants
excellent info Brian thank you . We tested both scenarios for front bearing engine seal as one brand in particular is notorious for seal leakage, the manufacturer of the bearing asked us to come up with a solution, part of our research was outlined in the following experiement as we were presented with the theory that castor based fuels will seal better by the manufacturer, we had to confirm or disconfirm this theory before looking at the bearing design. the experimentation is a lot more involved than what i describe here but to condense it, we ran an all synthetic through , one tank , and put a seal on the exhaust then pumped 3 psi into the case via the hsn nipple at wot. , we then measured the resistance with a Sphygmomanometer which was in line with the compressor , this measures minute back pressure varyants. we flushed the engine and ran with a fuel mix with a 4% castor component and measured , again one tank. we compared the hydraulic comp lock figures ( back pressure ) and found them to be virtually the same.
we then roated the crank while reading the back pressure and found no seal varyants between the two fuel samples.
This was using an all synthetic which was designed to have the same charachteristics as Castor but its cst value is lower by about 40%.
The wear with this all synthetic from our research and feedback from clients is doubled engine life.
So yes it very much hangs on which ester synthetic you choose. a Good one will have excellent wear properties and this goes hand in hand with hydraulic seal properties as well. In our research better wear properties than castor. And i think in defense of Castor, this is my hypothesis. When castor is used in an engine application such as Micro Engine fuels, you must take into account within Scientific testing the factor if i . This is a scientific term that caters for the interaction within an enviroment being tested. namely human interaction.
What typically happens with eMicro engines is they ar tuned in correctly , this problem has lead fuel manufacturers to use a heavy duty protectant IE Castor. Traditionally castor has always been cheap to buy so its popular in micro engine fuels. Now typically when an engine is tuned from the HSN first , which is the case in most instantces, the engine under goes a " cycling " within the run of every tank.
If the HSN is lean , which it will be if its the first needle tuned, because it has to compensate for rich LSN setings typically. What will happen is when the engine reaches full RPM towards the end of a straight the heat range rises as fuel supply reduces dis proportional to air intake , this raised the heat internally to spike higher than it should be, indicative by blackened piston tops. Where a castor oil is great is it will not burn off as much during this process compared to poly or glycol based synthetics , but where it causes a problem is it will attach to the hot spot, some think this is a good thing , normally on the back of the piston skirt on the exhaust port.
i have a different take on this.
Castor Carbon deposits is like a varnish that almost impossible to get off with solvents. But the problem then is you have a piston that is out of round. only by a few microns but its sill getting fresh layers of varnish on only one side of the piston putting your piston out of round every tank. Now the problem lies in that once the varnish is cooked onto the piston it can then become harder than the chromium lining the sleeve. The sleeve typically gets worn back more so on the exhaust port side as a result of an out of round piston. Once you have enough repetitions of this situation the engine will start to get blow by on the exhaust port side and Flame out.
This is not nessesarily a castor fault but more a fault in tuning process. This wear can also happen with cheaper glycol based synthetics as they just cant stand the heat, they burn off at 140 to 170 c and thats way too cool when the exhaust temps are almost double.
Esters can be designed to withstand extremely high heat, the good ones will not burn off before 500 c which is perfect for this application. Mind you these esters are expensive and would not be economically viable in model fuel unless the manufacturer designs the fuel for quality and performance as opposed to cost.
Thank you again for the info , this thread has been an excellent read
Regards
Mark
01-18-2013, 08:09 PM
#177
just curious r u saying you performed this "hydraulic seal" test with out the engine actually running ?
excellent info Brian thank you . We tested both scenarios for front bearing engine seal as one brand in particular is notorious for seal leakage, the manufacturer of the bearing asked us to come up with a solution, part of our research was outlined in the following experiement as we were presented with the theory that castor based fuels will seal better by the manufacturer, we had to confirm or disconfirm this theory before looking at the bearing design. the experimentation is a lot more involved than what i describe here but to condense it, we ran an all synthetic through , one tank , and put a seal on the exhaust then pumped 3 psi into the case via the hsn nipple at wot. , we then measured the resistance with a Sphygmomanometer which was in line with the compressor , this measures minute back pressure varyants. we flushed the engine and ran with a fuel mix with a 4% castor component and measured , again one tank. we compared the hydraulic comp lock figures ( back pressure ) and found them to be virtually the same.
we then roated the crank while reading the back pressure and found no seal varyants between the two fuel samples.
This was using an all synthetic which was designed to have the same charachteristics as Castor but its cst value is lower by about 40%.
The wear with this all synthetic from our research and feedback from clients is doubled engine life.
So yes it very much hangs on which ester synthetic you choose. a Good one will have excellent wear properties and this goes hand in hand with hydraulic seal properties as well. In our research better wear properties than castor. And i think in defense of Castor, this is my hypothesis. When castor is used in an engine application such as Micro Engine fuels, you must take into account within Scientific testing the factor if i . This is a scientific term that caters for the interaction within an enviroment being tested. namely human interaction.
What typically happens with eMicro engines is they ar tuned in correctly , this problem has lead fuel manufacturers to use a heavy duty protectant IE Castor. Traditionally castor has always been cheap to buy so its popular in micro engine fuels. Now typically when an engine is tuned from the HSN first , which is the case in most instantces, the engine under goes a " cycling " within the run of every tank.
If the HSN is lean , which it will be if its the first needle tuned, because it has to compensate for rich LSN setings typically. What will happen is when the engine reaches full RPM towards the end of a straight the heat range rises as fuel supply reduces dis proportional to air intake , this raised the heat internally to spike higher than it should be, indicative by blackened piston tops. Where a castor oil is great is it will not burn off as much during this process compared to poly or glycol based synthetics , but where it causes a problem is it will attach to the hot spot, some think this is a good thing , normally on the back of the piston skirt on the exhaust port.
i have a different take on this.
Castor Carbon deposits is like a varnish that almost impossible to get off with solvents. But the problem then is you have a piston that is out of round. only by a few microns but its sill getting fresh layers of varnish on only one side of the piston putting your piston out of round every tank. Now the problem lies in that once the varnish is cooked onto the piston it can then become harder than the chromium lining the sleeve. The sleeve typically gets worn back more so on the exhaust port side as a result of an out of round piston. Once you have enough repetitions of this situation the engine will start to get blow by on the exhaust port side and Flame out.
This is not nessesarily a castor fault but more a fault in tuning process. This wear can also happen with cheaper glycol based synthetics as they just cant stand the heat, they burn off at 140 to 170 c and thats way too cool when the exhaust temps are almost double.
Esters can be designed to withstand extremely high heat, the good ones will not burn off before 500 c which is perfect for this application. Mind you these esters are expensive and would not be economically viable in model fuel unless the manufacturer designs the fuel for quality and performance as opposed to cost.
Thank you again for the info , this thread has been an excellent read
Regards
Mark
we then roated the crank while reading the back pressure and found no seal varyants between the two fuel samples.
This was using an all synthetic which was designed to have the same charachteristics as Castor but its cst value is lower by about 40%.
The wear with this all synthetic from our research and feedback from clients is doubled engine life.
So yes it very much hangs on which ester synthetic you choose. a Good one will have excellent wear properties and this goes hand in hand with hydraulic seal properties as well. In our research better wear properties than castor. And i think in defense of Castor, this is my hypothesis. When castor is used in an engine application such as Micro Engine fuels, you must take into account within Scientific testing the factor if i . This is a scientific term that caters for the interaction within an enviroment being tested. namely human interaction.
What typically happens with eMicro engines is they ar tuned in correctly , this problem has lead fuel manufacturers to use a heavy duty protectant IE Castor. Traditionally castor has always been cheap to buy so its popular in micro engine fuels. Now typically when an engine is tuned from the HSN first , which is the case in most instantces, the engine under goes a " cycling " within the run of every tank.
If the HSN is lean , which it will be if its the first needle tuned, because it has to compensate for rich LSN setings typically. What will happen is when the engine reaches full RPM towards the end of a straight the heat range rises as fuel supply reduces dis proportional to air intake , this raised the heat internally to spike higher than it should be, indicative by blackened piston tops. Where a castor oil is great is it will not burn off as much during this process compared to poly or glycol based synthetics , but where it causes a problem is it will attach to the hot spot, some think this is a good thing , normally on the back of the piston skirt on the exhaust port.
i have a different take on this.
Castor Carbon deposits is like a varnish that almost impossible to get off with solvents. But the problem then is you have a piston that is out of round. only by a few microns but its sill getting fresh layers of varnish on only one side of the piston putting your piston out of round every tank. Now the problem lies in that once the varnish is cooked onto the piston it can then become harder than the chromium lining the sleeve. The sleeve typically gets worn back more so on the exhaust port side as a result of an out of round piston. Once you have enough repetitions of this situation the engine will start to get blow by on the exhaust port side and Flame out.
This is not nessesarily a castor fault but more a fault in tuning process. This wear can also happen with cheaper glycol based synthetics as they just cant stand the heat, they burn off at 140 to 170 c and thats way too cool when the exhaust temps are almost double.
Esters can be designed to withstand extremely high heat, the good ones will not burn off before 500 c which is perfect for this application. Mind you these esters are expensive and would not be economically viable in model fuel unless the manufacturer designs the fuel for quality and performance as opposed to cost.
Thank you again for the info , this thread has been an excellent read
Regards
Mark
01-19-2013, 03:30 AM
#178
In running conditions there is a lot more going on inside the engine than only putting some oil in all the parts and giving some sealing.
In running conditions there is first of all a higher temperature but there is a vacuum system at the frontbearing, also the rotating crankshaft is giving a ground effect with the crankcase and most ipmortant of all, the pressure inside the engine is more an up and down pressure by under and over pressure giving resonances.
Oils can work compleetly different in those conditions than giving it one steady pressure.
In running conditions there is first of all a higher temperature but there is a vacuum system at the frontbearing, also the rotating crankshaft is giving a ground effect with the crankcase and most ipmortant of all, the pressure inside the engine is more an up and down pressure by under and over pressure giving resonances.
Oils can work compleetly different in those conditions than giving it one steady pressure.
01-19-2013, 05:35 AM
#179
Tech Fanatic
Well, in a purely subjective view;
After reading on forums and talking to people that fly RC-Heli, they often have bearing problems in their OS engines. Changing bearings 3-5 times on a season is not uncommon from what I've heard and they run 20-23% full synthetics (low visc).
Some have tried 1-2% castor in their fuel and been able to go down to 18-20% of total oil % (low visc + castor). Even doing so they have been running a full season on the same bearings after that.
But, in a objective view;
Has any of you that have all of this fancy equipment done a comparison under microscope to see how a castor oil looks like?
My bet is that although the castor might have a certain viscosity when measuring a couple of cc, itīs molecular build is far from regular compared to a synthetic oil that is precision built to specification.
Itīs noticeable in lower rpm how well the engine seals up, it makes big difference in bottom torque as the time the oil is subjected to pressure increases and the pressure is lower inside the engine so there is less increase in viscosity.
What I've noticed (again in a subjective manner) is that the more synthetics you run the more oil is needed to seal the engine and/or increasing the viscosity of the synthetics will produce more drag (increased spool time) compared to castor before itīs on par when it comes to sealing.
But thatīs just what I've noticed...
After reading on forums and talking to people that fly RC-Heli, they often have bearing problems in their OS engines. Changing bearings 3-5 times on a season is not uncommon from what I've heard and they run 20-23% full synthetics (low visc).
Some have tried 1-2% castor in their fuel and been able to go down to 18-20% of total oil % (low visc + castor). Even doing so they have been running a full season on the same bearings after that.
But, in a objective view;
Has any of you that have all of this fancy equipment done a comparison under microscope to see how a castor oil looks like?
My bet is that although the castor might have a certain viscosity when measuring a couple of cc, itīs molecular build is far from regular compared to a synthetic oil that is precision built to specification.
Itīs noticeable in lower rpm how well the engine seals up, it makes big difference in bottom torque as the time the oil is subjected to pressure increases and the pressure is lower inside the engine so there is less increase in viscosity.
What I've noticed (again in a subjective manner) is that the more synthetics you run the more oil is needed to seal the engine and/or increasing the viscosity of the synthetics will produce more drag (increased spool time) compared to castor before itīs on par when it comes to sealing.
But thatīs just what I've noticed...
01-19-2013, 04:55 PM
#180
Well, in a purely subjective view;
After reading on forums and talking to people that fly RC-Heli, they often have bearing problems in their OS engines. Changing bearings 3-5 times on a season is not uncommon from what I've heard and they run 20-23% full synthetics (low visc).
Some have tried 1-2% castor in their fuel and been able to go down to 18-20% of total oil % (low visc + castor). Even doing so they have been running a full season on the same bearings after that.
But, in a objective view;
Has any of you that have all of this fancy equipment done a comparison under microscope to see how a castor oil looks like?
My bet is that although the castor might have a certain viscosity when measuring a couple of cc, itīs molecular build is far from regular compared to a synthetic oil that is precision built to specification.
Itīs noticeable in lower rpm how well the engine seals up, it makes big difference in bottom torque as the time the oil is subjected to pressure increases and the pressure is lower inside the engine so there is less increase in viscosity.
What I've noticed (again in a subjective manner) is that the more synthetics you run the more oil is needed to seal the engine and/or increasing the viscosity of the synthetics will produce more drag (increased spool time) compared to castor before itīs on par when it comes to sealing.
But thatīs just what I've noticed...
After reading on forums and talking to people that fly RC-Heli, they often have bearing problems in their OS engines. Changing bearings 3-5 times on a season is not uncommon from what I've heard and they run 20-23% full synthetics (low visc).
Some have tried 1-2% castor in their fuel and been able to go down to 18-20% of total oil % (low visc + castor). Even doing so they have been running a full season on the same bearings after that.
But, in a objective view;
Has any of you that have all of this fancy equipment done a comparison under microscope to see how a castor oil looks like?
My bet is that although the castor might have a certain viscosity when measuring a couple of cc, itīs molecular build is far from regular compared to a synthetic oil that is precision built to specification.
Itīs noticeable in lower rpm how well the engine seals up, it makes big difference in bottom torque as the time the oil is subjected to pressure increases and the pressure is lower inside the engine so there is less increase in viscosity.
What I've noticed (again in a subjective manner) is that the more synthetics you run the more oil is needed to seal the engine and/or increasing the viscosity of the synthetics will produce more drag (increased spool time) compared to castor before itīs on par when it comes to sealing.
But thatīs just what I've noticed...
Running a good ester will uniformly reduce wear on all internals. Again if you are finding that a bearing is wearing our pre maturely even before the PRS set it would either be a material problem inherant in the bearing than the fuel used or in some cases the engine has not been mounted properly, this will reduce bearing life too. Of course padding out the oil package with a castor would slow down this process.
For Example , OS engines are notorious for rear engine bearing faliure after about 5 to 10 litres no matter what fuel you use, this is common with about 80% of their 21 range for some reason. Its common for OS users to swap out bearings either straight away or soon after run in. This is the fault of the material quality of the bearing. So its evident they have this problem in their bigger engines as well.
We have found Nova based and Taiwanese based engine tend to have good rear bearings. We used to sell a lot of Go rear bearings to OS owners as a replacement.
Regarding the fancy equipment question, yes we do a filtergram of the oil out the pipe , we collect 3 to 4 ml typically and make slides for a 500 micron scope. This shows you the Shearing or Protective capabilities of the oil package. Its probably the best way to determine actual protective qualities.
Cheers M