New, New Oil Cooler Adapter!

[terry]

"Quote" Is there enough room to install it without removing the carbs?

Yeah mate, no worries, as long as you have about 6 fingers no thicker than 6MM in dia, with at least two fitted with eyeballs, one with a 4MM hex key and an average of 7 knuckles per finger! Ha ha, nah, just taking the p*ss, sadly the carbs will have to come off to make it fit. Cheers, Terry. :twisted:

 

[Anonymous]

That is some good work. I'd like to get my hands on a milling machine eventually.

Anyway, I was thinking about oil capacity after seeing the pictures. Did you add more oil to your motor to make up for the cooler? I imagine that your sight glass would show full when the engine is not running (the filter would drain itself unless a valve is put in) but would be short atleast a litre when running. When my 400 is down a litre the warning light comes on at idle (not when riding for some reason :? ).

Steve

 

[terry]

G'Day Steve, yes I've added an additional 500 mls (about a pint) of oil to make up for the cooler, with no problems encountered so far. I need to update my webpage, I'm now up to the MK4 and MK 4.5 (machined for oil temp probe) versions of the adapter, but I'm currently burning the candle at both ends with my new (non Suzuki) project.
Cheers, Terry. :twisted:

 

[Anonymous]

Does my 2 valve 750 have a high or low oil pressure pump? Would the 4 valve pump work as well or be better than my stock pump? Does the '79 GS750 really need an oil cooler or would it just increase longevity?
I'm just asking 'cause I really like the work Terry has done and would like to incorporate the unit on my bike if it's ANY kind of enhancement.

Harrison

 

[Anonymous]

That is some good work. I'd like to get my hands on a milling machine eventually.

Anyway, I was thinking about oil capacity after seeing the pictures. Did you add more oil to your motor to make up for the cooler? I imagine that your sight glass would show full when the engine is not running (the filter would drain itself unless a valve is put in) but would be short atleast a litre when running. When my 400 is down a litre the warning light comes on at idle (not when riding for some reason :? ).

Steve

Steve what can you tell me about a milling machine. I have often thought of buying one. What could i make with a small machine.
I have no idea what can be done with them.

 

[Paul]

Steve what can you tell me about a milling machine. I have often thought of buying one. What could i make with a small machine.
I have no idea what can be done with them.

IF you know how to operate a miller, you can make any flat/square surface item (well, within reason!), BUT if you don't know anything about them, it would be safer to get some sort of training first.
You only have one set of fingers!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Scotty,
A milling machine is more or less a drill press with a moving deck and fixed piece of raw material. It's compliment is the lathe with has a fixed tool and moving piece of raw material. I bet Harbour Freight sells a combination of both of these although cheap equipment has poor tolerances.

I don't have any experience using either but you can plane a surface to make it even or thinner, and cut elongated holes such as arcs and slots. Come to think of it, it's just like a wood router. If you buy one you want to get a good used one with tooling. Buying the different tools is supposed to be very expensive. You need a grinder/polisher to resurface the tools too. Terry's oil distribution block is an excellent example of what you can make. If you watch American Chopper you've seen that a CNC Mill is used to make the wheels for the bikes. If it isn't cast or stamped it's gonna have to have been made with a mill and lathe.

Steve

 

[terry]

IF you know how to operate a miller, you can make any flat/square surface item (well, within reason!), BUT if you don't know anything about them, it would be safer to get some sort of training first.
You only have one set of fingers![/quote]

Words of wisdom for sure, I've had no formal training, just a healthy curiosity and a wicked imagination. (and no money to buy trick parts) Actually I've had no major problems with smashed/gashed fingies, but I've certainly learned the value of good eye protection.

My mill is only a cheapie, and you can buy one at Harbour freight. The tooling is expensive, so I buy much of mine on ebay, and the tools will last a real long time for me, because most of my work is on alloy, as opposed to steel. The trick with lesser quality machines is to set them up properly and use the "measure twice, cut once" principal, and you'll be ok.

The assumption that cheaper machines mean poorer tolerances isn't always the rule though, my lathe comes from China, and is built like a Western Star Prime Mover! German precision it might not have, but the company I bought mine from here in Australia are selling them by the truck load to trade schools, so they must be pretty good. (Harbour Freight sells them too)

I remember using an English "Myford" lathe years ago, and admittedly it was pretty old, but my "Shanghai Special" would kick it's butt.

My advice, for what it's worth, is to buy a lathe first, then the mill later. After awhile, you'll be inventing reasons to build stuff like I do. (how about some nice rear-sets, or some wider triple trees, or maybe a trick new points cover?) And have fun, it really is cheap therapy! Cheers, Terry. :twisted:

 

[Paul]

I've worked in engineering all my life, & I tend to forget that a lot of people use my everyday worktools for pleasure!
But I'm spoilt, because if I want something for myself I have everything there to hand to make it
We don't have any CNC or automatic machines, as we are a 1 off jobbing shop, but the equipment still has to earn its money!
Chinese machines are a lot better now than a few years ago, when they were made from inferior materials, and were not at all accurate.
Like it or not, the Chinese improve their products very quickly, and become extremely good quality equipment within a short space of time. And they are so cheap that they are unbeatable value!
Make no mistake the Chinese are going to put an awful lot of us in the unemployment queue sooner or later. (unless we're in the army :wink: :roll: )

 

[Anonymous]

Ok guys I just recieved my oil cooler adapter from terry and got it on the bike. Looks awsome. Can't beat the price for it. just add the cooler, filler up and go. great job on the machining! SWEET!!

Thanks Terry!

 

[terry]

Ok guys I just recieved my oil cooler adapter from terry and got it on the bike. Looks awsome. Can't beat the price for it. just add the cooler, filler up and go. great job on the machining! SWEET!!

Thanks Terry!

With nice words like that mate, you're always welcome, enjoy! :twisted:

 

[simon lambert]

oil cooler

oil cooler

I have seen a couple of oil coolers fitted, one in particular had the return line into the oil filler. Would there be any benefit to this.. I assume the idea is the cooler oil on to the clutch basket is a benefit.

Mate do you have a fairing for your 1000St?

Simon

 

[terry]

Re: oil cooler

Re: oil cooler

I have seen a couple of oil coolers fitted, one in particular had the return line into the oil filler. Would there be any benefit to this.. I assume the idea is the cooler oil on to the clutch basket is a benefit.

Mate do you have a fairing for your 1000St?

Simon

G'Day Simon,

Well this question takes me back to when I first started thinking about coolers on my GS, I thought that I could use the oil pressure take off under the cylinder block to feed the oil to the cooler, then dump it back in the filler like you described, but sadly, it was a "no-go", because the end result would be starving the whole top end of your engine of oil.

I too have seen what appears to be an oil return line that feeds into the filler, but in fact it is a crankcase breather with a little filter on the other end.

I've looked at all the popular oil cooler adapters from the 1970's and 1980's (in fact, mine is pretty much a rip-off of the now obsolete Earls ED40) and they all took off from, and returned to, the oil pressure switch plate behind the cylinder block just below the cam chain tensioner.

I do have the original fairing for my GS1000ST, but not on the bike, it's hanging up in my garage with a new screen that I bought for it all those years ago.

I need to repaint the fairing, it's had a light scrape down one side, only a scratch really but the paint is really bad, the white has "yellowed", and doesn't match the rest of the paint at all. It's the original fairing for the bike (I'm only the second owner from new) No biggie though, I don't intend putting it back on the bike anyway. :wink:

 

[simon lambert]

Hey Terry, I understand the thinking, I am sure I saw the oil cooler return
via the oil filler on Tony Armstrongs Turbocharged 1000s.
Good luck with the fairing painting, I did have some stuff in the painters and they have made a mess of it.. Now its going to cost me another 1500 to get it fixed.. but I have 40 metres of the white/orange and black pin striping..
Simon

 

[terry]

G'Day Simon, I suppose it's possible that you could run a "splitter" hose directing the cooled oil to the clutch as well as the top end, but I'd be wary of not feeding sufficient oil to that area as a priority.

Interesting concept, but I wouldn't be keen to gamble on possibly trashing an engine as an experiment........

I wouldn't mind a couple of metres of that striping tape though, I have plans to paint a spare tank and ancillaries that I've got hanging in the garage for my second bike, let me know if we can do a deal? Cheers, Terry. :twisted:

 

[simon lambert]

Oil cooler

Oil cooler

Terry if you email your address to me simon.lambert@volvo.com
I will roll off a couple of metres and post it to you for nix..
Simon

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Terry, I understand the thinking, I am sure I saw the oil cooler return
via the oil filler on Tony Armstrongs Turbocharged 1000s.

Simon

Is it possible that this is a seperate oil return from the turbo?
On a GS you may want to use a seperate pump to generate enough oil pressure for the turbo, due to the low pressure in a GS engine.

 

[Anonymous]

Oil cooler

Oil cooler

Ok so now I found someone who builds that adapters and a cost. Now, How well do they work? I only ask as I got into a discussion with a chap here about them and he says that the engines did well without them. So, educate me folks.

 

[saaz]

Yes, the engines can go without an oil cooler.

But...

have a look at later air cooled motors (Bandit, GSX14 etc) they have large oil coolers. If you want the engine to last and make power consistently, an oil cooler will keep it going longer. particulalryl if you do any modifications as the extra heat produced is very noticeable.

I had to rebuilt my standard 78 Gs1000 after 70,000kms, no oil cooler, full fairing a lot of the time. Since the rebuilt, far more power, larger oil cooler most of the time, after another 80,000kms, compression is as good as when I rebuilt it.

Make up you own mind. If you don't ride much or are not going to keep the bike for long (I think in decades) an oil cooler may not suit you.

 

[dpep]

Re: Oil cooler

Re: Oil cooler

Ok so now I found someone who builds that adapters and a cost. Now, How well do they work? I only ask as I got into a discussion with a chap here about them and he says that the engines did well without them. So, educate me folks.

There are many members of this forum more technically qualified to speak on this subject than I am. What knowledge I have comes from having an oil cooler on my 850 for 95,000 miles. I installed it with 5,000 miles on the bike and had it taken off when I had a complete rebuild of the engine at 100,000 miles. The bike was still running good; I just wanted to make it new for the next 100,000.

So I can say from experience that an oil cooler at least doesn't harm your engine. And given that our engines are air cooled my reasoning is that anything that reduces or dissipates heat is pobably a good thing. The only words I have read contrary suggest that in colder weather an oil cooler may delay or prevent the oil from reaching optimum operating temprature. Since I live in Florida I have not given that as much thought as someone further north might. I suppose one could cover the cooler on cold days if that were a problem. I would suggest running a multi-grade oil (10W40 or 15W50) with or without a cooler. I also ran synthetic oil when I had the cooler.

It is coming up on 10,000 miles since the rebuild. Now that it is fully broken in I will remount the cooler and go back to synthetic oil. My previous experience and my gut feeling is that they lengthen the performance life of the engine. Even if they made no difference for 90% of the riding I do, it is worth it to me for that little extra peace of mind when I do encounter extreme riding conditions or when I'm not able to do maintenance right on time.