I learned this the hard way. My radiator is pretty bad after a season of racing without a guard. I took it off and sprayed water and compressed air from the back and was amazed at how much little rocks and pieces of rubber fell out. Holding it up to the light you could see how much junk was packed into the middle of it. I started trying to straighten the fins but after a few hours gave up I will just have to get a new one and keep this as a spare. I recently made a guard but the mesh was too tight and it made it run a little warmer. I'll check out the gutter mesh thanks for the idea.
Go to officemax or walmart and buy a black wire mesh office trash can....cut to size for the guard....works great.
So... I looked at my radiator a little closer, and it is just as you described, chucked full of rubber/rocks/etc. There are a few fins that are kinked over (which is to be expected), so I'm going to drain the coolant, remove the radiator, and clean it up and straighten those fins. I went to home depot and bought a piece of gutter screen and will make a radiator guard using that. I guess I'll see in a couple of weeks if that helps or not. My instincts say it should help.
This. Also Target, etc. Ikea also has some mesh wastebaskets for under $5 and will match your Ikea throw cushions for your pit lounge.
Yeah... and I went with your suggestion. They're all just sore losers. *** Although... Now I'm going to have to pull out a can of spray paint so it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb... maybe the black trash can was the better idea.
What I tried for the last weekend was the screen/filter for a large vent/fan above a cooktop. Found them in Lowe's, one was opened and the guy charged me $5. looked great but I think it was a little to fine and blocked too much air. Bike ran >200F usually runs at <195 and this was after cleaning the radiator. See pics below my radiator fins are beyond repair though.
yea dude, that looks a bit restrictive but was worth a try. Go back to lowes/hd and get some gutter cover.
So after a weekend in very similar temps to last the last event (maybe a couple degrees warmer), the bike was running a tad warmer. I cleaned the radiator, and combed all the fins that were damaged, and then installed a guard. I think the guard is restricting too much airflow like black's, because during the races I was running 210+ at least (more like 220 in some slower sections of the track). I'm going to take that guard off and see what the difference is for next weekend. I low-sided on Sunday so I have to go thru the bike... anyone ever used those silicone hoses that claim to drop the water temp?
During the last round at Blackhawk, my bike was up to 126 degrees celcius when I flipped the power back on after post tech. The bike started, then shut off a couple seconds after firing up. Since having it back in the garage, it won't start. We haven't looked under the tank yet, but I'm a little worried ..
Holy ish... 260 F is a tad warm. Hope that didn't do serious damage. So... I'm running water and water wetter... maybe I'll try some other additives like mocool.
Yeah, well whatever you do, DON"T cut the center out your t-stat cause that MIGHT fix your problem...:tut:
Well I'm just not quite sold on the t-stat just yet. I'll do it if it get's to that point, but I was hoping to figure something else out first. My biggest concern is that water flow will be too fast, like someone said, and not cool the engine properly. Like I said, if I can't get the temps down any other way, that will be my next attempt. After that, the only thing I can think of is dropping some coin on an HRC piggy-back radiator. But damn those are expensive.
I would start with cheap and easy first and you wont get much easier than wiring up the fan switch :up: You could even get a cheap temp adjustable fan switch so it turns the fan on at say 195' or something.
HUH? For real... I did not know that the thermal conductivity of water decreased with the increase in velocity. Removing the T-stat doesn't increase the speed, just the volume.
