On Fri, 05 Feb 2016 08:18:41 -0600, CRNG
wrote:

On Fri, 5 Feb 2016 09:11:03 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote
in

Many years ago my brother and I did some testing on small displacement
air cooled 2 cycle engines. (model aircraft and race car). With regular
lubricants they would run in the 12,000 to 15,000 RPM range. With
synthetics, we could get 15,000 to 18,000 RPM.

Just curious, How did you measure the RPM? When I was a kid (55 years
ago) I use to fly those model airplanes with the small gas engines (we
call them "U-control", they were at the end of 60' of double wire). I
used to read all the model airplane magazines and don't recall ever
seeing a device to measure RPM. Not that I would have been able to
afford it.

But I don't remember much anymore.
Photo-tachs were the old way. Audio tacks also work today (can be as
simple as a program on a laptop and a microphone - or I assume, an app
on a smartphone.