Help with oil

[esullivan]

I have a 1920 Cleveland, suppose to take Gargoyle Mobiloil B but don't know if it is still available? Is there an alternate oil I can use? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Pete Gagan]

Any good quality two stroke oil will be an improvement over the original Gargoyle. It probably suggests a 16:1 mix, but less will do with modern oils. I'd suggest 20:1 or even less. Better too much than not enough, though.
Pete Gagan

[Tommo]

Because old two strokes rely on the oil film to seal the crankcase you will have to use a mineral two stroke oil.
Using modern oils designed for crankcases that have modern seals will result in a serious loss of power due to the oil not sealing around the mainshafts and letting the crankcase pressure out.
Castrol Activ 2T , Motul Motomix 100 or any other brand so long as it is a mineral two stroke oil and don't forget the two stroke shake every time before you start the bike.

[esullivan]

Thanks Tommo & Pete,
The cap also calls for the following: "Mix one pint of oil to every one and half gallons of gasoline." Would you recommend doing the same?

[Tommo]

The Cleveland handbook says "A slight blue haze should be visible coming from the exhaust"
Modern mineral 2 stroke oils are designed not to smoke so that sort of mixture would be way too oily.
I probably would try about 500 to 600 mils to a US gallon of gas and wouldn't go below 300 mils.
As a starter more is probably better and if you oil up plugs lower the ratio until you find a happy mixture.
If seeking advice be sure those people you are talking to realize that it is an air cooled engine with a cast iron piston and that it doesn't have modern style crankcase seals.