Oil cooler repair

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Had a leaking oil cooler on my Suzuki TL1000S so off to the breakers for a replacement.They wanted € 150,- for a used, oil soaked one with the argument that a new one would cost about € 350,-, so take it or leave it. I told them to stuff it and went to another breaker to take a € 20,- Kawasaki GPX750 oil cooler with me, put some Ford Sierra diesel filter banjo bolts in it (1/2" instead of the Suzook's M12x1,5 or so) and made me a custom bracket because the cooler hinges were different.Did a short test drive and everything was fine.Yesterday I wanted to have a go again and I saw some oil on one of the banjo's, took a short ride and had to return again because I was loosing oil quickly. At home I checked the banjo bolts, cleaned things out with brake cleaner and discovered there was a leak on the lower row inside the oil cooler. I removed some finns and discovered the leak was on a place where I couldn't reach it with the TIG welder. The cooler was 1 row too high anyway so I took the old saw and cut off the lower row, cleaned things up, recovered the 1/2" fittings from the old suzuki cooler and welded the Suzuki fittings on the Kawasaki cooler at 20%EP, 45 amps and 1,6mm electrode with 1,6mm 5356 filler. It passed my leak test at once, and I was ready to roll again in a short while.Last edited by ElGuapo; 07-06-2008 at 04:09 PM.
Reply:Looks like it will work just fine to me.you have a stainless surface on your work table?
Reply:Yep, stainless surface, why the question? I was surprised how good the amps would go through the cooler without getting stuck to the plate. I've seen the earh clamp melting on an anodised and coated subframe.
Reply:The reason I ask is because its pretty rare due to cost. Even some companies that primarily do stainless that I have seen don't use them even though they should. Basically, I am just jealous of your table surfaceLast edited by Mark...; 07-14-2008 at 07:43 AM.
Reply:Excellent job. To me this is what welding is about. People usually raving about how well the weld is looking while applying it to some 1" thk piece. I'd rather see the stuff you did - smart and money saver - which requires not only steady welding hand but also some engineering!On the cooler itself - my understanding you have reduced cooling capacity by 15%. Is it OK?
Reply:Originally Posted by Mark...The reason I ask is because its pretty rare due to cost. Even some companies that primarily do stainless that I have seen don't use them even though they should. Basically, I am just jealous of your table surface
Reply:Originally Posted by ElGuapoGF was so kind to take the plate from work. She thought it might be of use for our own welding table.Already modified a CBR600 cooler into a Suzuki TL1000 cooler and repaired a Yamaha TDM900 cooler. The 1000cc Suzuki it's applied to uses only the amount of pipes which are left over now. The cooler so from a 750cc Kawasaki.I'm actually looking for an Aluminium cooler core supplier, that's the difficult part. Most of that is made in SEA which should be OK, but when it's over here the prices have multiplied.
Reply:Over here is in the tax-happy Netherlands.I even suspect some 'protectionism' with foreign core suppliers, not wanting to spoil their importers earings.
Reply:i would love to finda good aluminum core supplier , cant even find one in the states that willsell onesies twosies, or even 12sies.I want to buil a combo radiator, oil cooler for my Speed Triple.  curved just a littledoes anyone know for sure what the black coating is on an aluminum radiator ?insert thoughtful quote from someone else2000 Thermal Arc 300GTSW 3.5 hours1946 Monarch 20 x 54 Lathe1998 Supermax 10x54 Mill2004 Haco Atlantic 1/2" Capacity Lasernot mine but i get to play with it
Reply:Originally Posted by ElGuapoOver here is in the tax-happy Netherlands.I even suspect some 'protectionism' with foreign core suppliers, not wanting to spoil their importers earings.
Reply:All black coating on coolers I encountered was easily removable, if necessary with thinner. A wire brush allways does the trick.Respray with a rattlecan.
Reply:Originally Posted by chenryi would love to finda good aluminum core supplier , cant even find one in the states that willsell onesies twosies, or even 12sies.I want to buil a combo radiator, oil cooler for my Speed Triple.  curved just a littledoes anyone know for sure what the black coating is on an aluminum radiator ?
Reply:Painting 'em flat black is more about heat transfer than protecting the Al. There is 'radiator' paint available, in the UK Frostautomotive sell it but i think Eastwood do the same stuff (at exhorbitant cost in both cases). The few people i know that bother just use a THIN coat of flat black paint and accept that it'll fall off easilyNo direct use to you guys as i'm in the UK but cores are available with a little looking around. I use Pace Products, they'll even produce custom sizes (usually a couple of weeks lead time) and sell single unitsLaminova (Sweden although cores come up on eBay from time to time) produce excellent kit, not cheap though. Only used there product once, did a chargecooler for a turbocharged Hayabusa a couple of years ago. Completely different approach to traditional heat exchangers, very impressive kit- google will get you their websiteOh, nice fix!
Reply:most likely the paint is a powder coat.  Black, at least for cars, is purely aesthetic.  The OEM's specify black so the condenser (in front of the radiator) does not show through the grill.  Probably the same for MC oems, makes the rad blend in.Look at the factory race bikes, no black on the rads.  I it really was to promote better heat transfer, the race bikes would have it.I work for the largest OEM heat exchanger supplier, but my info is still only worth $0.02R"I heard that!!"
Reply:That is an interesting looking vise. Looks like it is built up from steel sections. Any brand name?
Reply:It's a Gedore, top notch tools in Europe however this model hasn't got the quality I expected. The head of the spindle will grind itself into the steel, and there's quite some freeplay on the linear guiding planes. (not quite parallel).I bought this model because it was quite cheap for such a big vise. I payed 80euo's in toda's money about 10 years ago. It's still available, see page 204.http://www.gedore.nl/Prijzen%202008/...ereedschap.pdf
Reply:Nice repair ElGuapo  and interesting to see that you could modify it to suit, as you have. It seems that breakers (wreckers in New Zealand) are the same the world over and demand high prices.We used to get Gedore tools here but then some of their spanners were made in India and weren't anywhere near as good as the originals. Not in the same league as Stahlwille or Snap On."One of the things we have to be thankful for is that we don't get as much government as we pay for." (Charles Kettering)Mitch 180 (NZ)Lincoln SAM-400-220 + ?-400 Fordson Major + 2 x Tractapac Humber 80 + Procut 40 PlasmaMiller Spectrum 375