Oil Cooler

Pick this up off Craigslist dirt cheep. I don’t know if it’s for my era bikes or not but for $42 shipped to my door I had to have it if for nothing else just to see it. Anyone know any details about it. It look like it fits the top of the oil transfer tube in place of the pressure switch then the switch screws into the adapter. The second line looks like it will fit the main oil gallery plug. Cool item regardless. 

That's cool. 

What's the date on the bottom right side of the sheet? 79'? That's period...

I'm not finding this specific style, but it's in really good shape... dare I say "new", as in unused? 42 bones? You stole that... but do you need it in Michigan? There were some discussions (at the now defunct site) about using an oil cooler at northern latitudes. IIRC, some said it took far too long for the engine to get up to temp, with a cooler installed. I still have mine, for the 650, but doubt I'll install it in WA... YMMV...

!Seymore wrote:

What's the date on the bottom right side of the sheet? 79'? That period...

I'm not finding this specific style, but it's in really good shape... dare I say "new", as in unused? 42 bones? You stole that... but do you need it in Michigan? There were some discussions (at the now defunct site) about using an oil cooler at northern latitudes. IIRC, some said it took far too long for the engine to get up to temp, with a cooler installed. I still have mine, for the 650, but doubt I'll install it in WA... YMMV...

Great catch. As printed says;

J-160 11/75
PRINTED IN U.S.A. 

...and there's part of your answer. That is "period"! Good snag!

But I'm finding NOTHING, based on the number on the box. Probably some 3rd party parts supplier, that is no longer...

 

A couple searches find nothing either. I’ve cross posted on a few forums. Woul$ be cool to find out it’s NOS Z1 aftermarket 

1975? Hmmmm...  H2? KZ-400? Early 900's? ...or 750 twins?

I guess the key point is if it flows enough for a roller bearing crank or if it's intended for a "shell bearing" crank with higher pressure and less flow ?????

That's a cool piece (pun intended)!  Nice find.  Haven't seen that particular feed / return setup before.

Oil needs to get above ~212 deg. F. to evaporate the moisture contamination from blowby.  Takes time & lots of heat energy to get all the combined mass of the oil plus the motor & sump itself that hot.  Then, that temperature must be held long enough to evaporate the moisture in the oil & on internal surfaces.  Those necessary conditions will vary widely on air-cooled motors depending on ambient air temperature.

  There were a some guys who frequented the old shop (southern IN / northern KY) slmjim hung out at in the day who had oil coolers on their Z1's & late '70's & 80's. K-bikes.  Many of their clutch cover sight glasses were white with moisture contamination because they didn't run them long enough to get the oil & motor hot enough to evaporate the blowby condensation.  Pull the clutch cover from such a bike & there was a very thin layer of white goo on the inside.

Stock big block Z-bike motors don't really run that hot; the compression is too low.  Aim a laser thermometer at the bottom of the sump of a stock Z-bike motor that's been running for 50 highway miles on a warm day.  You might be surprised at how low the sump temp really is.  There's lots of surface area there to keep things cooler.  One exception might be in very hot climates when air temps are around, say, 100 F. or above, but we're not Ridin' then anyway.  No fun when it feels like Ridin' through a hot oven. 

Oil coolers are much more useful when running big bore / high compression setups because more compression makes more waste heat.  Vintage bike road racers running built motors install oil coolers on their hotted-up (pun intended... again ) air-cooled bikes because they're needed for longevity. 

Oil coolers are ubiquitous on bikes running at the Barber & Mid-Ohio vintage races. Those Riders would be very interested in OP's period oil cooler.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Thank you all so far. Hopefully some one will recognize this and identify the bike model is designed for.

!Seymore wrote:

1975? Hmmmm...  H2? KZ-400? Early 900's? ...or 750 twins?

If the instruction manual is dated 1975, that limits the number of models that this could be for.  I'm pretty sure all of the 2-strokes are out of the running.  Some had oil injection pumps, but they don't have circulating oil that needs cooling.  

Looking at the kit instructions, it doesn't exactly show the specific location but it does say "remove oil passage plug from the right side crankcase"  The Z1 (900/1000) does have this plug on the right side.  

Looking at the KZ750 twin, I don't see any oil galley plug on the right side.  And the same is true for the KZ400 twin.  Same for the KZ200.

bringatrailer.com/listing/1976-kawasaki-kz-750-b1-twin/
bringatrailer.com/listing/1975-kawasaki-kz400/
bringatrailer.com/listing/1978-kawasaki-kz200-a1-2/

I had an oil cooler kit for the KZ650 that had a similar banjo fitting for the oil return.  It went in place of a plug under the timing cover.  

kz650files.kz650.info/adobe/KZ650OilCooler.pdf

But if this kit is from 1975, that's a bit early for the '77 KZ650.  I don't see any other mid-70s KZ bikes that have a similar oil galley plug on the right side.


Here is another question I have about this kit.  Most oil cooler kits remove the oil transfer pipe and split the connection at this point.  Oil flows from the block, to the cooler, and back to the oil galley tube and up to the head.  But this kit doesn't remove the existing oil transfer pipe.  It seems like it adds the cooler in parallel with the existing oil path. 

The directions mention a piston and spring, but I don't see those in the kit.  Does this piston located under the "engine adapter" somehow block oil from flowing in the oil galley tube?  Maybe if there is enough pressure behind the piston it moves up and opens up the original oil flow path, but otherwise diverts oil to the cooler?  
 

DOHC wrote:

!Seymore wrote:

1975? Hmmmm...  H2? KZ-400? Early 900's? ...or 750 twins?

If the instruction manual is dated 1975, that limits the number of models that this could be for.  I'm pretty sure all of the 2-strokes are out of the running.  Some had oil injection pumps, but they don't have circulating oil that needs cooling.  

Looking at the kit instructions, it doesn't exactly show the specific location but it does say "remove oil passage plug from the right side crankcase"  The Z1 (900/1000) does have this plug on the right side.  

Looking at the KZ750 twin, I don't see any oil galley plug on the right side.  And the same is true for the KZ400 twin.  Same for the KZ200.

bringatrailer.com/listing/1976-kawasaki-kz-750-b1-twin/
bringatrailer.com/listing/1975-kawasaki-kz400/
bringatrailer.com/listing/1978-kawasaki-kz200-a1-2/

I had an oil cooler kit for the KZ650 that had a similar banjo fitting for the oil return.  It went in place of a plug under the timing cover.  

kz650files.kz650.info/adobe/KZ650OilCooler.pdf

But if this kit is from 1975, that's a bit early for the '77 KZ650.  I don't see any other mid-70s KZ bikes that have a similar oil galley plug on the right side.


Here is another question I have about this kit.  Most oil cooler kits remove the oil transfer pipe and split the connection at this point.  Oil flows from the block, to the cooler, and back to the oil galley tube and up to the head.  But this kit doesn't remove the existing oil transfer pipe.  It seems like it adds the cooler in parallel with the existing oil path. 

The directions mention a piston and spring, but I don't see those in the kit.  Does this piston located under the "engine adapter" somehow block oil from flowing in the oil galley tube?  Maybe if there is enough pressure behind the piston it moves up and opens up the original oil flow path, but otherwise diverts oil to the cooler?  

 

Some quality research, very sound reasoning. Blister pack seemed intact I’m hoping the piston and spring are shipped/stored in the adapter. I’ll look this evening. Thanks