Oil cooler

I've decided to build an oil cooler for my 650. I have the plans for the fittings off of the 650info site. I'm thinking of one I saw on a chopper the other day. It was an aluminum shaft that was drilled out and had cooling fins turned into the outside. Has anyone used this style? This should work right? I like this one.



Post edited by: Powder Keg, at: 2007/08/14 19:31

Post edited by: Powder Keg, at: 2007/08/14 20:17

I'll bet that it will work for your bike.
Heck, just about anything can be made to work.

With it sticking out to the side like that, I'd imagine it would probably be more efficient in cooling the oil than where most folks mount their oil coolers.
But being exposed like that, it's obviously more prone to being damaged or possibly burning your leg if you should bump it. :pinch:

FWIW, any year (KZ or ZX model) GPz750 and 750 Zephyr has an OEM oil cooler that's routed into the front of the oil pan, and those pans are a direct fit onto the 650's.
All you'd need to do is fab a bracket up to mount the cooler itself and you're ready to go!
I've already mounted this set-up on my KZ650 and ZN700, and they work great.
Plus it looks like it came with the oil cooler from the factory, not something added on as an afterthought.
ZN700 oil cooler:

And where it fits to the oil pan:


KZ650 oil cooler:

And oil pan fitting (sorry about poor pic quality:S):


But to each their own, right.
And if that cooler in the link you posted is what you want for your bike, then I say go for it!

It would be interesting to see how much
heat that oil cooler actualy removed from
the oil.Being near the motor and exhaust
even the best oil coolers don't do alot.
I can remember some KZ1000 superbikes running
their coolers back on the duckbill.

WWW.oldkawman.com has a page showing how to buy the parts, build and mount an oil cooler. Looks like it would work great. Check it out and see if it might be what you want. I've seen some coolers off sprotbikes mounted on KZ's too. They are curves to keep them small in width but have large cooling fin area. Just another idea to think about.

tjettim wrote:

It would be interesting to see how much
heat that oil cooler actualy removed from
the oil.Being near the motor and exhaust
even the best oil coolers don't do alot.
I can remember some KZ1000 superbikes running
their coolers back on the duckbill.

Well, I live in south texas and it regularly goes over 100 in the summer. And when i was riding around on summer days for a few hours, the bike would get so hot that any oil that might be on the engine would start to smoke and burn off. Not a problem if i'm riding, but at a stop the problem was exacerbated and it looked like my engine was on fire.

After i rebuilt my engine and installed an oil cooler, i never had that problem again. Even if i let it sit in one spot while idling, it never gets that hot.

racer54 wrote:

WWW.oldkawman.com has a page showing how to buy the parts, build and mount an oil cooler. Looks like it would work great. Check it out and see if it might be what you want. I've seen some coolers off sprotbikes mounted on KZ's too. They are curves to keep them small in width but have large cooling fin area. Just another idea to think about.

i cant stand how that guy (old kaw man) took pics of his daughter and posted them on the internet :sick:

back on the subject, was your bike avaliable with a facotry or aftermarket oilcooler, housings pop up on ebay occasionally and you can have custom lines made at local hydralic service centers at an ok price.

my 10$ housing came all the way from austrailia off of an 82 gpz 1100, no modifying needed to fit the 19$ 1100 cooler.

The oil pan off of a GPZ750 will fit as well as the oil cooler. But I haven't been able to locate one. I don't like how they look? Plus I love to build stuff;) I have the aluminum shaft and I can have the hoses made at work. It should only take me 4 or 5 hours to machine everything? Then a little more to cast some brackets to mount it onto my bike. I think It will look and work pretty good.

Ride safe

Chris,I do believe that We have the same fork brace Bud.Does Yours say,"Forged" on the top of it?

The oil pan off of a GPZ750 will fit as well as the oil cooler. But I haven't been able to locate one. I don't like how they look? Plus I love to build stuff;) I have the aluminum shaft and I can have the hoses made at work. It should only take me 4 or 5 hours to machine everything? Then a little more to cast some brackets to mount it onto my bike. I think It will look and work pretty good.

Ride safe

tjettim wrote:

It would be interesting to see how much
heat that oil cooler actualy removed from
the oil.Being near the motor and exhaust
even the best oil coolers don't do alot.
I can remember some KZ1000 superbikes running
their coolers back on the duckbill.

I mount mine just like R4's. If the factory mounts them there it's good enough for me. When your moving most of the heat is blown back and the cooler gets nice cool air. I remember the superbikes with the cooler on the tail, I always thought it looked trick back there.
Mark

Getting started on this project. Here are the shafts on my dirty lathe. I'll start cutting the fins first.



Should a oil cooler like this have a check valve in it?

I was able to get some work started on this project. I have the fins turned and the hole drilled through the shaft.




I plan on rounding every other fin and polishing it up a bit. I need to decide what to do for fittings. I'm having trouble finding the oddball bolts. But I have a lead on them. The coolers will have brass caps on them and I'm thinking of casting the mounts, to mount them on my bike. I might run copper lines to the coolers also? I haven't decided yet.