My Honda XR650L Oil Cooler Project

[FastDoc]

Buy the tie downs. :wink:

Easier and safer and less messy and faster and less risk of a complication than removing the caps.

Also gives a real world in situ diagnosis. You won't be riding the bike with the caps off so results may not be applicable.

[Weldangrind]

X2. Besides, a pair of decent ratchet tie downs are usually less than $10.00. They're very handy to have.

[SpudRider]

I don't think I would have enough leverage to ratchet the tie downs to achieve maximum fork compression. :?

I am starting to become convinced I will never hit this oil cooler with the front wheel. Here is a photograph of a rider who bottomed out the suspension of his XR650L after a jump. 8O



However, please note, he replaced the stock forks with USD forks.

Here are two doctored photographs showing how far I would need to compress the forks to get the wheel to hit my oil cooler.





I think I am going to trim the rear of my front fender a bit more, so the wheel would contact the oil cooler before it caught the fender. I don't want to catch the wheel on the fender, and go flying over the handlebars. 8O If the fender is trimmed short enough, do you guys think I will ever impact this oil cooler with my front wheel? :?: In my retouched photographs I'm almost as close to hitting the exhaust header as I am to hitting the oil cooler. :roll:

Spud

[katoranger]

its an XR lowrider.

[Weldangrind]

Spud, I wouldn't worry about it, unless you catch major air when riding. I don't; I'm too old for that nonsense.

You can certainly get enough leverage with ratchet tie-downs to fully compress the forks. Like Doc says, load it in your trailer and crank the tie-downs. If you have a helper, you can even do it with cam buckle tie downs.

[MICRider]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...58829241_n.jpg

Wow! That is major bottoming! It almost looks like a Z50 now!

[Weldangrind]

I think that's cool that he fit USD forks on that XR. I wonder if it will be a major challenge to fit USD forks on the KLR250. Hmmm...

/hijack

[SpudRider]

Yesterday I decided to figure out how much the forks could compress before the front wheel impacted my oil cooler. I removed the front fender, placed my XR650L on a stand, and measured the free sag at 1-1/8 inches. Taking the bike off the stand, I measured the travel from the wheel to the bottom of the oil cooler at 9-1/2 inches.



Adding the free sag to the last measurement, I got a total wheel travel of 10-5/8 inches. The front forks of my XR650L have a total travel of 11-5/8 inches. Therefore, the wheel will impact my oil cooler in the last inch of travel. I'm convinced I would be flipping over the handlebars long before I used up 10-5/8 inches of fork travel, so I have decided my oil cooler is high enough. 8)

Since the weather was nice, I rode my XR650L for 56 miles on the freeway, without the fender, to discover the highest level of cooling I could expect.



I maintained 75-80 mph the entire time, and passed a lot of automobiles along the way. :P My oil temperature did not exceed 255 degrees; I am pleased with this result.



I am going to trim my front fender a bit more, to ensure the wheel will not impact the fender well before it would impact the oil cooler. I will also drill a few more holes in the fender, and test to discover if the drilled fender allows cooling similar to a fenderless setup. If the level of cooling is close, I will call the job complete. If the cooling is significantly less with my drilled fender, I will cut a large hole in the fender and install the aluminum mesh sent to me by Katoranger.

Spud

[Weldangrind]

I'm still shocked at that baseline number. 8O Most cars would be in trouble at that level. What is the psi rating on the cap?

[FastDoc]

This is where the advantage of L/C comes into play. The downside is complexity, the payoff is performance. It's all a balance...

Spud, I'm curious if it handled better on the freeway without the fender. I've therorized and read that D/S bikes with large floppy high front fenders suffer from the wind affecting the steering at highway speeds and I bet it's true to some degree.

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

I'm still shocked at that baseline number. 8O Most cars would be in trouble at that level. What is the psi rating on the cap?

Please remember, I am measuring the oil temperature at the point closest to the engine,before the oil enters my cooler. When pushed hard, these XR650Ls run hot, Weld. 8O I have heard reports of gasoline boiling in the fuel tank after a tough workout. The XR650L will drop valves seats when run hot, repeatedly. 8O FastDoc's XR250L cracked the cylinder head after repeated, high-rpm trips down the freeway. :(

The oil system is very low pressure in these bikes; there is no psi rating on the oil dipstick. Brother Andy tells me he see oil temperatures of 300 degrees in the transmissions of diesel tractors. He is pleased with the results I have obtain with my oil cooler.

Spud

[FastDoc]

I don't recall Spud, do you run synthetic in the BRP? I think I would. :wink:

[SpudRider]

No, I am currently using Mobil Delvac, 15W/40 diesel oil. So far, the engine oil is faring much better with my oil cooler, even though I am running the bike hard during testing.

Spud

[gloud]

The temp sensor on the lifan motor from my vapor was in the 230+ range.
(this is from the spark plug area. the sensor replaces the washer for the plug.) this was in cool weather,

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by SpudRider

Please remember, I am measuring the oil temperature at the point closest to the engine,before the oil enters my cooler. When pushed hard, these XR650Ls run hot, Weld. 8O I have heard reports of gasoline boiling in the fuel tank after a tough workout. The XR650L will drop valves seats when run hot, repeatedly. 8O FastDoc's XR250L cracked the cylinder head after repeated, high-rpm trips down the freeway. :(

The oil system is very low pressure in these bikes; there is no psi rating on the oil dipstick. Brother Andy tells me he see oil temperatures of 300 degrees in the transmissions of diesel tractors. He is pleased with the results I have obtain with my oil cooler.

Spud

Of course. I had a slight brain malfunction and began to confuse your bike with liquid cooled bikes. Duhh.