OK, that's better. Gots to get yer juices flowing if you are going to tread the churned earth of an oil war .... kelvar undies helps a bit too.
Suzuki Manual recommends what oil grade again? SF?
That's an issue you get when your owner's manual is over 20 years old and the grade of oil it recommends dropped off the face of the earth 15 years ago.
We are currently in the era of SN oils and all car oils ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR A SAVAGE AT ALL, PERIOD. SJ isn't much better, a smidge or two better yes (1,000 PPM vs 800 PPM generally speaking). SF back in the day had 1,350 to 1,500 PPM of ZDDP in it commonly, but SF had no minimum ZDDP requirement listed, just a 1,500 PPM max that was referred to but not enforced.
So watch out for what is actually in a"claimed modern SF" oil as lots of them are showing up at 800 PPM and are just relabeled SJ through SL car oils .... remember,
no minimum number was given as part of the SF standard.
Additional aggravation comes from expensive bike oils not always being suitable for the Savage as well.
Example: GN4 4-stroke motorcycle oil SAE 10W-40 SJ as distributed by Honda.
Honda may well recommend this oil for their
current bikes as they use roller cam followers and direct actuated buckets in their modern stuff and they may well get away with it.
SJ grade means no more than 1,000 PPM of ZDDP and remember, older grades than SL didn't list an enforced minimum number on ZDDP.
But you don't see the old single cam with flat tappet Honda straight fours and the flat tappet old Goldwing groups recommending that oil, as they are in the exact same boat we are in.
Antique Flat Tappet Rocker Arm Valve Trains .... which require the old 1,350 plus high levels of ZDDP that were common in the SF era.
Even the old flat tappet Honda bike guys don't recommend Honda oil any more. Bobistheoilguy has a Honda dude asking questions about Honda oil, you can catch some info from the Bob's boys concerning using Honda brand oil in Honda motorcycles.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=14525...
Now, having said all that --- what does SuzukiSavage.com in their Tech Section recommend for oil for use in the 1980's designed Antique Flat Tappet Savage Engine?
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