Radiator Upgrade RZ421

[Kawtriplefreak]

My son paid for this and an LED headlight bulb for me for Christmas.  They both arrived today. The radiator was $69 shipped from Ebay. I haven't had any heating problems with the slightly oversized radiator installed but when I saw this one twice the size (42MM vs 19) I figured it might be good insurance when it gets hot outside.

Pure Chinesium no doubt. The fit is good, not perfect. The top pin only goes halfway into the rubber but it isn't moving once installed. The hose fitting for the hose that goes from the radiator to the head is angled slightly different and nearly strikes my cooling fan bracket so some finaggling will be required to complete the install.

[85RZwade]

I have two of those radiators, and I am baffled as to how they can be (apparently) so well made and be so inexpensive. Waiting to hear your performance review.

[Kawtriplefreak]

I spent all afternoon redoing the cooling fan bracket. I made the 1st one and tightened everything down and didn't take the coolant reservoir I had removed to gain access into account. So back to the drawing board it was.


Bracket #2 fits well and gives me good clearance. All that's left is installing the hose clamps and pour in some coolant.

[rodneya]

I have two of those radiators, and I am baffled as to how they can be (apparently) so well made and be so inexpensive. Waiting to hear your performance review.

I had a LC version on my 421 and you are right to say that they are really cheap and quite well made. My bike still ran really hot in traffic in summer with the fan running constantly, so I ended up replacing it with a curved R6 rad which made a huge difference.

[Kawtriplefreak]

Radiator install complete. Filled with coolant. It held nearly 2 quarts. Squeezed the hoses and burped out quite a bit of air. Ran it up with the cap off and got some more air. No leaks noted. Put the cap on and it took about 8 minutes to reach 140 degrees. Let it cool and topped it off again
Next I turned my attention to fitting the factory radiator cover.

I made a bracket to space it out properly and ended up putting a couple pieces of foam between the cover and the tank on the bottom to keep the cover from touching the fins. Then I used cable ties as before to secure the bottom to the factory cover rubbers on each side. I was concerned about the forks striking the cover at full lock but ended up with about 1/2 inch of clearence.

Thanks M in SC for the advice as always.

[RDryan]

Looks well done. Getting to be a well sorted highly modified bike you have as I live vicariously thru your posts of the Gray Ghost 

Getting back to what you said about not having any cooling issues. So when I see some of your ride videos they conjure up bike lust, wander lust at least for me. I figure living in a rural area like that the bike is always on the move and never stuck in traffic.

FWIW I acquired a similar kinda radiator on Ebay to repair my GSXR 1000. Gotta love it for the quality and value and ironically how can be a bad thing to increase the coolant capacity?

[Kawtriplefreak]

Thanks for the kind words. I have spent some time in traffic and we did have some 65 degree days here and no issues with the other radiator. The way it was explained to me is the thicker core can flow less air and exacerbate cooling issues instead of alleviating them. A lot of the guys in the UK with these conversions are running similar radiators with great success. We will see. M in SC please elaborate if I explained that wrong.
 

[Kawtriplefreak]

After speaking with M in SC I decided to go with the self adhesive foam for isolating the cover in lieu of the foam I had laying around the shop that I stuffed in there. I grabbed some today and am well pleased with the results

[SoCal250]

Nice and beefy! Looks good on there 

[Kawtriplefreak]

I like it. Hopefully get to test ride today or tomorrow.

[Kawtriplefreak]

Auxito LED headlight bulb installed.

[Kawtriplefreak]

All back together. Test ride hopefully today.

[Simmons1]

 

[Kawtriplefreak]

I am pleased to report that the 42 MM radiator operational check is a complete success. It was in the 50s here today and I ran it pretty hard. Max temperature observed was 140 degrees. No leaks noted.

[1976RD400C]

Next up, the stuck in traffic temperature rise??