Fitting an automatic chain oiler

O.K. So this is aimed at you guys with chain drives, but hopefully it'll give you something to think about.

The product I am fitting is a Scottoiler Mk7 Chain oiler it's been sitting in my garage for a couple of years and I thought it was high time I should fit it.

What's included in the kit is 500ml of chain oil, delivery and vacuum piping, a selection of fittings for different applications and a Remote metering valve



The thing that looks like some kind of sweedish enlargement pump (not mine!) Is the RMV

This is your resevoir for the oil, and opens and closes via vacuum from your inlet stubs. It has variable settings to deliver the amount of oil you need. being vacuum controled means that it aint gonna drip oil when the engine isn't running. Also clever because it doesn't open via revs. It has the same flow rate at idle as it does at full revs.



As this isn't a pump, it's a metering valve, Scottoiler recomend that it is fitted 35cm above the delvery tube to give a good pressure head. I spent an hour searching for the best place to mount it. It has to be accessable for adjusting the flow rate and re-filling. I chose the space in the tail above the toolkit. This is accessable for adjusting the flow rate, but not for filling.
Happily the tail comes off after removing three bolts and a plug, so it's no great hardship.



Fitting the vacuum pipe into the end of the RMV



and routing down towards the carbs



The kit comes with a selection of fittings for various setups. The simplist for XJ owners is to use this T-piece and cap



We need to cut through the vacuum take off pipes



and insert the T-peice


Fit the cap and vacuum pipe. And we are done with the vacuum side of things.



Now we have to fit the oil pipe from the RMV down towards the rear sprocket. Scottoiler provide a selection of solutions for doing this.

I chose to use this bracket which mounts to the rear spindle. The two plastic things are for routing the delivery tube along the swing arm. Scottoiler provide glue to glue them to the arm, but there is no way I am gluing to my nice clean arm, I use double sided tape and zip ties to do the job.



and fitted to the spindle and aimed at the chain. (the delivery tube has a strip of metal through it so the pipe can be angled and maintain it's position)



now we have to route the delivery tube back up the bike back to the RMV.
remember to leave slack to compensate for swing arm movement. I zip tied it to the frame, and then followed the rear light cable routing back up the RMV.



Now we fill it with this stuff,


The RMV holds 50ml and Scottoiler recons this is good for 400 - 800 miles depending on how you set up the flow rate.



As I said this is not a pump so we have to pressurise the system by using the oil bottle. held vertically, squeezing the bottle pushes air into the RMV and forces the oil down the delivery tube to the nozzle (takes a little time and is a little tedious)



There should be no air in the system as this impeeds the flow rate.
I set the flow rate to 3 (from 9) and took the bike for a ride to see what it was like.

First thing was vibration knocked the nozzle out of the delivery tube, fortunately there are a few in the kit so I fitted another and heated the delivery tube and closed it tight around the nozzle. Seems to be fine now.

Now just a little adjustment to get the best position on the chain.
According to the instructions, you only need to oil one side of the chain as capilirary action will spread the oil accross the chain.

Temperature affects the thickness of the oil, so this has to be concidered when setting the flow rate. one to two drops a minute should do the trick.
You don't need a constant stream or your going to end up with an oily back tyre and that aint good!

Remember Kids, this is not a substitute for regular chain cleaning and inspection. It is meant as a way of keeping the chain adequatly oiled.

Scotoiler recons that this kit can increase the life of a chain by upto seven times. These kits are held in high regard here in the UK, So who am I to argue? I'll see how it goes and let you good people know!!!!

 

+1 on the Scott oiler.
I had one on my previous bike and worked pretty good. Even though the rear tire and chain needed to be cleaned regularly.
After 20.000 km the chain was still in very good shape, after that i thrashed the bike.

Never used the scott-oiler oil. Used/unused motor oil did the job.