Topic: Oil Cooler Thread

[Patrick]

I want to add an oil cooler to my K0 750. Unlike on my K5 750, however, I was thinking of connecting some old oil line connectors I have to a longer line and running the oil cooler off the oil return line, instead of using that plate that fits under the oil filter. It seems easier and cleaner this way, along with not having to buy the plate. Would there be any drawbacks to this setup that I'm not seeing?

Patrick

[rbmgf7]

kinda like this:

[voxonda]

Hi Patrick,

No drawbacks, it's the way the CR750 has it and many others among my replica. Just wondering if it is easier and cleaner this way on a otherwise standardbike. Look at the oillines running on the pictured bike. Think the setup with take-off plate is a nice, specially with Goodridge lines and couplings. But your suggestion has been done.

Good luck.

Cheers, Rob

[Patrick]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was thinking. I was considering, though, concealing the lines somehow, like maybe under the tank or run along the inside of the frame.

Patrick

[hymodyne]

there's a nice oil cooler for the cb750 on ebay right now...looks to be designed to fit to the lines coming from the oil tank.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Honda-CB-750-SOHC-Oil-Cooler-Kit_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ35595QQihZ024QQitemZ370068879348QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

hym

[bwaller]

Whose ride is that? Cool pipes.

[voxonda]

there's a nice oil cooler for the cb750 on ebay right now...looks to be designed to fit to the lines coming from the oil tank.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Honda-CB-750-SOHC-Oil-Cooler-Kit_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ35595QQihZ024QQitemZ370068879348QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

hym

That's a cooler from a CB900, is mounted up side down in this picture. I use one to in one of my bikes.

[mrbreeze]

Whose ride is that? Cool pipes.

Yeah...and cool swingarm,forks,brakes,etc........all with a ducktail.......haven't seen this bike yet.

[rbmgf7]

the pic of that bike came from here:
http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~sbmr0201/

here's what it sounds like:

[Patrick]

My vision is an oil cooler run through new lines replacing the oil return line. I know it has been done, but I wonder about limits. The return line attaches to the engine through a fitting with offset bolt holes, so it only goes on one way. To use this fitting, I will need to run the line from the engine backward and then forward to the cooler radiator. The line from the tank will go down and then forward. This arrangement will add several feet to the return line. I am not an engineer, but it occurs to me that adding several feet of line will reduce the pressure through the return line. How many feet can I add before I start compromsing oil flow?

I could shorten the line by a couple feet if I ran the line from the engine forward instead of backward, but the fitting only goes on one way. Are there fitting with this offset mounting pattern that runs forward instead of backward? Or at least straight out from the engine?

Patrick

[crazypj]

putting it on the return line wont lose any pressure where it matters.
Use larger diameter fittings so flow is not restricted.
You'll probably need quite a bit more oil but as long as it gets back to the tank it wont matter.
 have you done modifications to make a cooler necessary?
You could cause more problems than you solve if oil isn't getting hot enough
PJ

[Patrick]

Hi PJ, the main modification is this is an air-cooled bike that needs to run in the summer in Central Texas. It's 11:24 a.m. and the temp is 93F. That means it's not particularly hot today.

In addition, however, the bike has an 810 bore and a hotter than average cam. I'm anticipating that it will spend a lot of its life at 6,000 rpm and above.

I want as much pulling heat off the engine as I can get. I'm thinking of mounting some PC case fans on the frame and/or the oil cooler too.

Patrick

[scondon]

I want as much pulling heat off the engine as I can get. I'm thinking of mounting some PC case fans on the frame and/or the oil cooler too.

Patrick

   For those 5 minute stoplights? Frickinn' cool idea Patrick, If you go through with it I want pics

[Skonnie Boy]

I'd also love to see some pics.  I have a bored out 750 and also reside in the Hades known as Austin.  Been thinking of an oil cooler ever since I overheated some month or so back.  What type of oil cooler are you thinking of using?

[mystic_1]

The return line attaches to the engine through a fitting with offset bolt holes, so it only goes on one way. To use this fitting, I will need to run the line from the engine backward and then forward to the cooler radiator.

They sell these at www.cyclexchange.net:



Add 90 degree fittings of your choice and you'll be all set.

mystic_1

[Patrick]

I've got a cooler from a 198X CB900, Skonnie Boy. It will mount to the frame easily, I just need to plumb it. I have an oil cooler on my K5 750 that connects via a sandwich plate under the oil filter housing, but I was going for a different lapplication on this bike since it's more high performance. I figure the length of oil line will also provide some cooling. And yes, Sean, it's the stoplights and stop and go traffic that have me thinking case fans.

[scondon]

   Went to Vegas recently and stayed on the "old" strip. My buddies took me to the "new" strip, 'cause I had never been. A mile or two of stop and go/crawl(no lane splitting in Nevada) and we were all well past safe op temps. Even the water cooled bikes. Had to pull over and rest the bikes at Caesars Palace with nothing to do but wander about the place, bummer. I would definitely be happy to lose my shirt at the Pussycat Doll tables

[TwoTired]

Does anyone have any measurement data to show that an oil cooler actually lowered cylinder head temps?

[Skonnie Boy]

Does anyone have any measurement data to show that an oil cooler actually lowered cylinder head temps?

I have solid measurement data showing that moving the hell outta Texass back to the Midwest actually lowers cylinder head temps.

[crazypj]

Hi PJ, the main modification is this is an air-cooled bike that needs to run in the summer in Central Texas. It's 11:24 a.m. and the temp is 93F. That means it's not particularly hot today.

In addition, however, the bike has an 810 bore and a hotter than average cam. I'm anticipating that it will spend a lot of its life at 6,000 rpm and above.

I want as much pulling heat off the engine as I can get. I'm thinking of mounting some PC case fans on the frame and/or the oil cooler too.

Patrick

 Hi Patrick,
probably a good idea for modified bike.
Its 'only' 91 in central Florida but its cooled down to 78 degrees with 85% humidity,according to weatherman.
 I think thats wrong as is only just stopped raining which would be 100% humidity, my thermometer says is 84 degrees 
Two Tired asked about cylinder head temps, this is what I think, although I have no data to back me up
I don't think cyl head temp is actually too much of an issue as heat can radiate away to surrounding air which will probably be at least 250~300 degrees cooler (even on 100 degree days)
The main problem will be piston crown temp as there are no oil jets to cool pistons as on modern bikes (Suzuki used it from 1986 but just about everything I've had apart has them in one form or other)
In my opinion, anything thats going to lower oil temp will help. Buell use a 12v fan mounted on the oil cooler on XB12 (maybe XBR12?) but that is mounted to rear, just about under the seat so doesnt get direct airflow as far as I'm aware?
PJ

[Terry in Australia]

Hmmnnnn. Well like Voxy says, that cooler set up has been around forever, but it's pretty impractical on stock-ish street bikes, and that's why I didn't pursue it myself.

Dan Fischer (a member here) sells them, but I'd hate to have to change a centre spark plug with the hoses like that, it must have been a baastard routing the hoses like that? Great for race bikes I'm sure, but definitely not simpler than the traditional plate type adapter. Cheers, Terry.  

[Patrick]

I've got the plate adaptor on my K5 750, Terry, and I can't say that I've had an issue with it. I want my K0 to be different, though. Why? Just because, I suppose.

Hampered by the fact that I am not an engineer, nor was I blessed with a superior intellect, I'm now thinking about efficiency. Do you suupose it makes a difference WHERE the oil is cooled? Austin's climate is not dissimilar to the climate in northern Australia, I've been told, and it gets damn hot here for a good portion of the year. I wonder if the plate adaptor cools the oil at a better location in the circuit for best benefit to the top end than the oil return ine.

I also looked at the picture son Ebay. That is one of the scenarios I was envisioning. I wonder where he got that skinny oil line....

Patrick

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, $125.00 for the kit and no bids, I started mine (with the "Doctor Frankenstein plate", whatever that means) at $149.00, and sold all of them! Why is is necessary for some folk to run down one type of product, in order to sell another? Oh well, that's "Marketing", I guess?

Anyway, these kits must work OK, I've seen plenty of race bikes with them, maybe because the oil lines aren't exposed to rocks, or maybe they do cool more efficiently?

My concern on a road bike would of course be convenience (installation, plug changes, removal for winter etc) and running the lines (including the cooled oil line) back over the top of the hot engine doesn't seem all that smart to me, but like you Pat, I wasn't born with a superior intellect, so I'll be happy to listen to the "boffins" in this case, who know about things like "thermal dynamics" and other fancy terms that I don't understand, ha ha! Cheers, Terry.

 

[WFO]

kinda like this:

I wonder if the oil even gets cooled with the lines running next to the pipes almost the whole distance to the cooler only to get heated back up on the return trip back to the motor.

[LWATCDR]

Funny but I was thinking that running the lines that near the pipes would be a bad thing.