gearbox oil

[T.W.R]

1/ I didn't actually say to use ATF in the Vin box - just the clutch and primary of the Kawasaki if they were a separate compartment. BTW I suspect the kawa version of the BSA box has a few more rolling element bearings...

2/ SAE rating is irrelevant - EP90 ain't 90 weight. ATF is formulated for high temps and pressures.

3/ I've used atf in plenty of boxes since the 70's. It was the standard fix for slipping wet clutches in race 2 strokes and is still my first choice for a race post classic 2T engine.

Don't be so precious it was generalised comment about ATF in an old gearbox
But:

1) Kawasaki didn't having anything to do with the original it was Meguro who produced the 1st version and got the design from BSA in 1960, they produced the bike in 65 as the X650 and did quite a few internal upgrades over the BSA A7 design. Kawasaki inherited it from Meguro and produced the W1 in 66 for local market and the exported in 67.

2) Who gives a monkeys about EP90 and what actual viscosity it is. Or we could head down the Dynamic & Kinematic path and really head off track

3) Guess what it's a go to replacement gearbox oil for 2stroke MX bikes too

4) As a genuine Japanese classic and recognised by the Japanese automotive industry as one of their bench mark machines an early W1 deserves to be done properly minus cheap arse short cuts which a lot do with classics kidding themselves they're doing the machines justice.

5) If was a modern machine and a warranty repair it'd be done by the book so why the hell not do it justice as an older machine and keep to that train of thought particularly as it's something a person in-trusts their lives in the machine & fact the job will be done properly, anything short of that is criminal and a sign of no care or consideration for what the consequences could be who does the job.

[sidecar bob]

ATF is not a cheap arse short cut.
Oil is not a clearance reducer or wear compensator in any application, regardless of viscosity, or how much " guts" it has (what silly old men see when they pour it out of the bottle)
You stick to what you know, you obviously have a huge & succesful background in working on highly tuned & exotic machinery.
The factory fill for the transmission in question was a '60's straight 30 motor oil, pretty much just something to stop it going rusty.
If you put that in a modern automatic transmission, the oil & the trans would be totally rooted within 30km. What does that tell you about the quality difference of the oils? Probably something you can google hard enough to argue the point about no doubt.

[Voltaire]

They used to put engine in forks too...
I'm not sure I'd be keen on putting anything other than what BMW recommend in my gearboxes.
I have no experience with highly tuned or erotic machinery but then my gearboxes seem to last a long time.

[Crasherfromwayback]

3/ I've used atf in plenty of boxes since the 70's. It was the standard fix for slipping wet clutches in race 2 strokes and is still my first choice for a race post classic 2T engine.

Yep. Used ATF in most of my 2T gear boxes since the beginning of my love affair with them.

[sidecar bob]

They used to put engine in forks too...
I'm not sure I'd be keen on putting anything other than what BMW recommend in my gearboxes.
I have no experience with highly tuned or erotic machinery but then my gearboxes seem to last a long time.

I used ATF in my BMW race bike gearbox & it was six seconds a lap faster than yours last time we measured. I'm putting that down to frictional losses in the driveline, oh, and your refusal to lie on the tank.

[Voltaire]

I used ATF in my BMW race bike gearbox & it was six seconds a lap faster than yours last time we measured. I'm putting that down to frictional losses in the driveline, oh, and your refusal to lie on the tank.

I suspect your years and years and years of racing and lack of general degradation may have also helped
Six seconds..... worth thinking about though

[T.W.R]

You stick to what you know, you obviously have a huge & succesful background in working on highly tuned & exotic machinery.

You really shouldn't be so smug Steve & my my haven't you changed your tune from a couple of months ago quite amusing really

Don't really have to nor need reason to explain myself to you; but over many years have had to be responsible for the operation & maintenance of machinery & equipment far more technologically advanced and far more expensive than anything you've probably ever laid your hands on. And of recent been responsible for ensuring heavy diesel technicians & engineers have had at their disposal the correct items for their jobs, usually turning over between $80-$130k per month a large majority of which was oils, additives, & other associated fluids for machinery & equipment who's owners depend on running properly and efficiently.
And that also included parts technical, support, procurement, & supply to U.S.A.P technicians and their fleet of machinery that operates in one of the harshest environments possible were one minor fuck-up with anything can potentially put a lot of peoples lives at risk.
Amongst that a lot of oil sampling & testing in conjunction with Goughs laboratories & FUCHS australasia HQ and late on PETRONAS HQ

And as for where some info comes from you'd be surprised at what I have at my disposal and your auntie google is usually only used for quickly sourcing images and rough data.
And I finally located that article on the 1135/400 hybrid and you can fucking whistle for that now too
So you keep to what you think you know about someone & tinker away on your over priced & over rated bavarian drays

[sidecar bob]

You really shouldn't be so smug Steve & my my haven't you changed your tune from a couple of months ago quite amusing really

Don't really have to nor need reason to explain myself to you; but over many years have had to be responsible for the operation & maintenance of machinery & equipment far more technologically advanced and far more expensive than anything you've probably ever laid your hands on. And of recent been responsible for ensuring heavy diesel technicians & engineers have had at their disposal the correct items for their jobs, usually turning over between $80-$130k per month a large majority of which was oils, additives, & other associated fluids for machinery & equipment who's owners depend on running properly and efficiently.
And that also included parts technical, support, procurement, & supply to U.S.A.P technicians and their fleet of machinery that operates in one of the harshest environments possible were one minor fuck-up with anything can potentially put a lot of peoples lives at risk.
Amongst that a lot of oil sampling & testing in conjunction with Goughs laboratories & FUCHS australasia HQ and late on PETRONAS HQ

And as for where some info comes from you'd be surprised at what I have at my disposal and your auntie google is usually only used for quickly sourcing images and rough data.
And I finally located that article on the 1135/400 hybrid and you can fucking whistle for that now too
So you keep to what you think you know about someone & tinker away on your over priced & over rated bavarian drays

Wow, all that & you cant think pragmatically outside the square a wee bit?

The "successful background in working on highly tuned exotic machinery" was referring to Grumph, I just work on road cars.

[T.W.R]

Wow, all that & you cant think pragmatically outside the square a wee bit?

The "successful background in working on highly tuned exotic machinery" was referring to Grumph, I just work on road cars.

took you nearly 3hrs to come back with that after sayin the same lame shit in your rep when you 1st read it and bullshit you were aiming your comments at Greg

[caspernz]

The oil sagas can be mighty amusing. Our work trucks, nice big V8 Scanias, run a fancy synthetic long life engine oil. The hydraulic retarders run on something akin to ATF, albeit by some Scania specific name. Imagine the horror when the Swedish chap who came to visit some time back, that due to our hilly terrain in NZ the retarders were working the ATF too hard and it was starting to degrade quite quickly...so the lead mechanic switched to running engine oil in the retarders. Took the poor Swedish chap a fair while to accept that the viscosity was in the right ballpark, and the ability to run hotter without degradation between fluid changes, this kiwi approach might merit wider application. The lead mechanic chuckled when he shared that he learned this from a colleague working in outback OZ, they'd been doing for some time

Not that long ago we used engine oil, the old single weight stuff, in forks didn't we?

But interesting reading your debates chaps

[sidecar bob]

took you nearly 3hrs to come back with that after sayin the same lame shit in your rep when you 1st read it and bullshit you were aiming your comments at Greg

Really, I don't track my KB quite that closely, but good on you for being that on to it.
Yeah, I was referring to Greg, I send him my engines because Im too stupid to fix them myself.
Then I end up sticking the wrong oil in them & fucking them anyway because im an idiot.

[T.W.R]

Really, I don't track my KB quite that closely, but good on you for being that on to it.
Yeah, I was referring to Greg, I send him my engines because Im too stupid to fix them myself.
Then I end up sticking the wrong oil in them & fucking them anyway because im an idiot.

Ha yeah that really stacks up against the context of your whole post
Someone else was right yesterday when they said you're in a huff presently. Must be a really coarse feather you've got buried up your arse at the moment.

Hole....Shovel.....Deeper scenario seems to be working fine

[sidecar bob]

Ha yeah that really stacks up against the context of your whole post
Someone else was right yesterday when they said you're in a huff presently. Must be a really coarse feather you've got buried up your arse at the moment.

Hole....Shovel.....Deeper scenario seems to be working fine

In a huff??? really? You might need to check your sources a little more thoroughly.
Im in a very happy place presently, probably more so than ever.
And as per your rep comment, Do you really think Katman or someone else, I cant even figure out who you mean, tell me what to post on here?
Sadly, no, its all my own work.

[T.W.R]

Im in a very happy place presently, probably more so than ever.
Sadly, no, its all my own work.

OK Gilmore, glad you've found your happy place

[jellywrestler]

i ended up using spectro heavy duty primary chaincase oil.