Member Contributer Marooncobra Posted March 24, 2021 Member Contributer Share Posted March 24, 2021 On 3/24/2021 at 2:33 AM, Mohawk said: There is nothing wrong with side mount rads, they are efficient. I had a chat a few years ago with the designer of the Vyrus racer. Due to using a swingarm frontend they could not mount traditional rad. So mounted side mount rads in the belly pan. I queried their efficiency & was informed they actually made them smaller during testing because they were more efficient than they had calculated. Plus they save a lot of drag & improve the engines thermal efficiency. Traditional rads are not very aero dynamic, the last lane with a barn door rad was of WW1 vintage. They also take cool air from in front of a vehicle & make it warm, THEN it flows over & through the bike not really cooling the engine much at all, that raises the engine temp which means you need a bigger radiator to make sure the coolant returns at a low enough temp to cool the engines insides & its outside from the rads own heat soak. Side rads avoid reheating the engine with its own waste heat. They are low drag, but less efficient at low speeds unless angled off the vertical to alloy hot air to rise naturally through them. Thats why Vyrus has themmin the angled sides of the belly pan, when moving air enters between them & passes from inside to outside. When slow or static the air flow reverses flowing from outside to inside & out through a gap between engine & belly pan. That setup is fine on a race bike, as they don't do slow speeds, only stop or fast! On a road bike they would be best mounted out at the bottom so the airflow was always inside to out regardless of speed. Honda mounted them vertical to avoid damage in a tip over. That is also why the fan is on the inside. This is why I replaced the stock fan with 4 small puller fans on the outside of the rads air flow is always one way & no risk of a stone getting caught between fan & rad ! Mohawk, Can you post some photos of you 4 x puller fans set up please? I assume you have 2 x fans on each rad? cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Mohawk Posted March 25, 2021 Member Contributer Share Posted March 25, 2021 Here ya go, yes 2 fans per rad. The front ones are 140mm & tbe back ones are 120mm between them they cover approx 90% of the rad area. Combined Ft/s is greater than the stock fan & they are IP67 waterproof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer boOZZIE Posted March 26, 2021 Member Contributer Share Posted March 26, 2021 Does cleaning the radiators yield any benefits? Been meaning to do this for a while, mite give it a try on weekend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Cogswell Posted March 26, 2021 Member Contributer Share Posted March 26, 2021 It's surprising what gets trapped in the back of the rads, particularly the right one. I removed it once and found a dried leaf and a candy wrapper. There was a fair amount of fine grit built up that came out by back flushing the fins with water and some larger particles that required a fine pick to remove. Lastly a flat blade dental tool straightened up a number of fins that were bent by debris strikes. I can't say that I noticed a difference after doing all that, but it seems as though it all adds up and is good maintenance to do once in a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magneto Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 9 hours ago, boOZZIE said: Does cleaning the radiators yield any benefits? Been meaning to do this for a while, mite give it a try on weekend Definitely. It supposed to be part of routine maintenance. Cleaning and making sure fins are straight Cogswell mentioned. Be careful with that pressure cleaner wand though 😉 Dirt act like insulation blanked for heat transfer and if is bad enough restricts air flow that compounds the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Cogswell Posted March 26, 2021 Member Contributer Share Posted March 26, 2021 8 hours ago, Magneto said: Definitely. It supposed to be part of routine maintenance. Cleaning and making sure fins are straight Cogswell mentioned. Be careful with that pressure cleaner wand though 😉 Dirt act like insulation blanked for heat transfer and if is bad enough restricts air flow that compounds the problem. Great point on washing - I should clarify what I meant by "backflush" - I had the rad in a deep scrub sink and ran tap water through the fins the opposite direction of the air flow. I would definitely recommend to not use a pressure washer on them for that task, either while they're installed or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer boOZZIE Posted March 27, 2021 Member Contributer Share Posted March 27, 2021 Sorry bit of post jack Just finished cleaning the rads, including oil rad, they weren't that dirty at all. Mostly because I am a fair weather rider. I used a steam cleaner with a small brush attachment which worked well. Most of the dirt/grime was in the oil radiator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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