Oil cooler relocation 97 vfr750

[MorrisJ879]

Hi everyone new to the forum. I'm currently building a streetfighter out of my 1997 vfr 750

 

Where have people relocated to oil cooler to? Any guides, advice or pics would all be greatly received.

 

Thanks in advance

[Andy Griff]

Hi, I was thinking the same thing for my track bike, as I have a larger one from an RC51 to fit.

Was thinking of fitting it below the std radiator using goodridge style hoses, mated to the original block mounted flanges, but this location is very closer to the exhaust and may not be ideal for a road bike. However on a track bike this might be a positive move, allowing faster warm up from the radiated exhaust heat. 

If money was no object I'd have a bespoke 2 piece HRC style rad with an oil cooler integrated into the lower rad. 

Another possible option for a streetfighter might be to mount a larger aftermarket cooler towards the rear of the bike, perhaps up under the rear subframe area ? A good excuse for some sexy plumbing !

 

Griff.

[Dutchy]

Or do a Britten!

 

 

 

Using the drag/vacuum (or whatever it is called) to pull air through...

[MorrisJ879]

Can the Goodrich hoses be mated relatively easy to the standard flanges and block?

[MorrisJ879]

Good ideas but I how hoping to do something slightly simpler. As I am new to the mechanical game

[Andy Griff]

5 hours ago, MorrisJ879 said:

Can the Goodrich hoses be mated relatively easy to the standard flanges and block?

 

On a budget have to either cut and flare the original steel cooler lines to take a rubber hose, or weld an appropriate steel fitting to the pipe flange to accept a goodridge fitting. 

Alternativly get a machine shop to make up some nice aluminium fittings based on the OEM pipe flanges to bolt up directly to the ports on the block. 

There where aftermarket fittings of this kind available for GSX-R etc, but i'm pretty sure RC36 are slightly different dimensions.

Often used where motorcycle engines are used in kit car installations, so maybe CBR1100x would do but I've not seen them myself.

 

[MorrisJ879]

Thanks for the advice 

After some research the hoses seem fairly easy to sort out with hardline AN adapters and a weld on fitting it the cooler end.

Now just the issue of placement haha

[JZH]

IIRC, you can drill and tap the oil cooler to accept different fittings (adapters, I mean).  I think maybe Mohawk has done this?

 

IASTR that NC30 guru Rick Oliver developed some sort of oil cooler alternative using BSP fittings (my gripe with that being that BSP was not very common outside of Blighty).

 

But of course (no acronym, sorry), if you have a friendly machinist who can mill you a set of fittings, you're golden.  Although I'm not sure, I would expect all of the Hondas to use the same fittings; Goodridge used to list some for the XX in their big catalogue, but I don't think they are actually available anywhere. 

 

Ciao,

[RC36Rider]

On 16/11/2016 at 9:43 AM, JZH said:

 

IASTR that NC30 guru Rick Oliver developed some sort of oil cooler alternative using BSP fittings (my gripe with that being that BSP was not very common outside of Blighty).

 

AFAIK, BSP fittings are commonly used on the Old Continent as gas fittings. 

 

They may go by another name (G ?) but they're BSP. Dunno about the US and not sure if hydraulic hoses use them, though. 

 

Edit: : Ah, the US have the NPT standard for pipe thread which uses a different thread profile. Not compatible.

[JZH]

Yes, to revive this thread and confirm my speculation above, it was indeed Mohawk who cut off the OEM flanges and drilled the oil cooler to accept some sort of pipe threaded adapters.  I think I will do something similar on my long-suffering FP re-build, due to the different triples I'm using (VFR1200F), as well as the engine runs a bit hotter, having been big-bored many moons ago.  Somewhere along the line I acquired a CBR1000F oil cooler, which is bigger than the OEM RC36 oil cooler, but not quite as large as an RC51 SP1/SP2 oil coolers most people seem to have used.

 

In choosing how to plumb it in I've encountered the usual frustration with online suppliers of aftermarket parts almost never providing actual dimensions of their products.  Lazy barstewards...  I have learned that there are at least three different specifications commonly available: GSXR 1000 '01-'08, GSXR 1000 '09-'16 and Hayabusa.  I've also seen occasional references to Yamaha R1 and Kawasaki ZX10 fitments (supposedly the same as the later GSXR 1000), but the only actual dimensions I've found were for the two GSXR types (and those were incomprehensibly expressed in inches!), neither of which corresponded to the RC36's dimensions (which are engine-side: 26mm bolt-spacing; cooler-side: 30mm bolt-spacing).  (FYI, the early GSXR engine-side flanges supposedly have bolts 1.10" apart, and the later ones 1.25".  I don't know about the Hayabusa ones or the oil-cooler side dimensions.)

 

Mohawk's cut-drill-thread method eliminates the need for matching the oil-cooler side flange, which leaves the fairly narrow engine case flange only to be dealt with.  Barring custom machining, I think I will use Veefer800Canuck's idea of using 10mm compression fittings on the OEM take offs (picture in the same thread as above).  I've found some 10mm compression-AN adapters, which will allow me to use standard AN-hose ends and braided stainless steel hose (I think -6 will be sufficient, given that the ID of the OEM oil line narrows all the way down to 7mm at the cooler end!).  I have a 3/8 NPT tap already, so I think I will just get some AN adapters and fit them to my cut, drilled and tapped CBR1000F oil cooler.  

 

 

 

Ciao,

[JZH]

On 11/16/2016 at 8:43 AM, JZH said:

Goodridge used to list some for the XX in their big catalogue, but I don't think they are actually available anywhere. 

 

Just confirmed with Goodridge UK that the MCC-010 and MCC-011 oil cooler take-offs shown in their catalogue are indeed NLA.  Shame, they would have been a perfect way to fit AN-6 braided stainless steel oil lines to many different Hondas, including many VFRs...

 

 

The engine side has two M6 bolt holes 26mm apart, with a protruding 10mm OD length of tubing to locate the o-ring seal.  (Looking at the Goodridge design, maybe they were discontinued because they leaked?  I don't see how the o-ring would seal much without the raised area the OEM flanges have.)

 

Another option might be to hack up the OEM lines and (at least on the engine side) thread the flange for an NPT, BSP or metric -AN adapter.  Has to have an 8mm ID and be able to clear the two M6 bolt heads, though....

 

 

Data on adapter IDs is not easy to come by, so I think I will have to just buy some and see what I get.  Maybe M12x1.5, since I already have a tap in that size?  Hmmm...

 

Or make some simple block-off plates from aluminium plate and drill and thread that to fit one of the above adapters instead.  Sealing would have to be by gasket instead of o-ring, though, unless some thin wall tubing could be pressed into the inside of the adapter...

 

Or...weld some AN bungs onto the engine case?  (My TIG-ego obviously getting carried away here!)

 

 

Or...thread the engine case itself...but, I don't think I'd want to take a chance that I'd removed absolutely all of the swarf.  (Unless there's access to the inside via the oil pan?)

 

Ciao,

[keef]

On my 5th gen, i ran an SP1 oil cooler for a while, but have just upgraded to a generic 7 row, 50mm thick one from ebay with an10 threads.

Mounted low behind the headers.

 

I took the engine fittings, removed the lines. Had some an6 bungs welded on.

my lines run

oil cooler>an10 to an6 adapter>90*an 6 fitting> braided hose>90* an6 fitting> OEM fitting with an6 bung