Engine Temperature

Laser Temp gun...

1 trip down Main Street during Bike Week was all the convincing I needed that an oil cooler was next on my list of mods. It was one of the coldest Marches on record and all of the stop and go so little people with big bikes could get them up on the sidewalk really got the Ole Girl heated up and I wasn't the only one saw a couple of Shovels and Evos that were so hot they were starting to smoke and their owners were oblivious to the fact that they were destroying their engines. During normal street riding I haven't had any issues but that stop and go stuff has convinced me that a cooler and possibly a fan are in order.

dejavoodo41: Amen! I was on A1A near Main St. in Daytona during Bike Week on my 987cc '73 Z1-900 with mild cams, Yosh pistons, a big-ass oil cooler, and VDO oil temp gauge in stop and go, mostly stop, traffic at night with air temp at 45 degrees and the wind blowing off the Atlantic. My oil temp was approaching 230 F. I can just imagine someone with a bigger motor, bigger cams, etc. in those very same conditions!

Yeah it was the first time I had really done any riding during Bike Week but my friends were like after work let's go riding. So it was an ok I did it let's go somewhere else now thing. It was fun to see the looks on the Harley guy's faces when they're fighting to get their Ultra's up over the curb and a guy on a K1200LT pulls up puts it in reverse and backs it right up....lol

dejavoodo41 wrote:

1 trip down Main Street during Bike Week was all the convincing I needed that an oil cooler was next on my list of mods. It was one of the coldest Marches on record and all of the stop and go so little people with big bikes could get them up on the sidewalk really got the Ole Girl heated up and I wasn't the only one saw a couple of Shovels and Evos that were so hot they were starting to smoke and their owners were oblivious to the fact that they were destroying their engines. During normal street riding I haven't had any issues but that stop and go stuff has convinced me that a cooler and possibly a fan are in order.

Here is a vidio I took with the cam mounted to the fork ears of my Z1 going down main st Daytona a few years ago. This is true stop and go and an evil heat maker.

[youtube][/youtube]

Here's my heat solution for the 1075 in city traffic. Works really well. The fan is controlled off oil temperature and it moves enough air over the engine to drop engine temp in stop/go traffic. Overheating is not an issue.

The oil cooler is effective but doesn't do much unless you're moving. I've found it more important to keep air moving over the engine. There isn't enough oil circulating through the cooler to keep the engine temp down especially at low RPM

Old Man Rock wrote:

Interesting indeed... One thing for sure... Oil is kept at cooler temps, oil breakdown is decreased thus engine runs smoother thus equates to cooler engine temps.....

That only applies to dino oil. Synthetic (real synthetic) was designed specifically for aircraft engines that literally cooked regular oil in minutes. Real syn oil will not break down at temps that would fry your engine.

That said, a lot of oil sold as synthetic is actually dino oil run through a filter thanks to a court ruling but that's another problem..... real syn oil will live way beyond where the engine will not.

davel wrote:

The oil cooler is effective but doesn't do much unless you're moving. I've found it more important to keep air moving over the engine. There isn't enough oil circulating through the cooler to keep the engine temp down especially at low RPM

Good point: the oil cooler blocks airflow to the head and "pre heats" what air it does get.... there ain't no free lunch in the engineering world.

Stop & go traffic, no doubt air cooler isn't doing much...

Davel, I like that design you have there, current draw on that DC fan?

OMR

Old Man Rock wrote:

Davel, I like that design you have there, current draw on that DC fan?

OMR

It's listed at 4.8 amps but that's startup draw. Only uses about 3 amps while running. Moves 400CFM air.
www.summitracing.com/parts/DER-16507/

bountyhunter wrote:

Good point: the oil cooler blocks airflow to the head and "pre heats" what air it does get.... there ain't no free lunch in the engineering world.

Yeah, I've thought about this and have considered moving the oil cooler behind the cylinder block between the intake filters and rear wheel. Never seen it done but there's enough room, it's a lot closer to the the oil pump and it leaves the head completely unobstructed from cool air flow....maybe later this season.

davel wrote:

bountyhunter wrote:

Good point: the oil cooler blocks airflow to the head and "pre heats" what air it does get.... there ain't no free lunch in the engineering world.

Yeah, I've thought about this and have considered moving the oil cooler behind the cylinder block between the intake filters and rear wheel. Never seen it done but there's enough room, it's a lot closer to the the oil pump and it leaves the head completely unobstructed from cool air flow....maybe later this season.

i doubt cooler would do much good on back side of motor since it would just be picking up air heated by the motor,i still wonder if a fan mounted behind motor would be more affective though as a puller instead of a pusher