Monday, August 13, 2012

Success!

Well, that comment might be premature, but I have finally installed the oil cooler, it doesn't leak, and the fairings still fit.  What will follow are a pile of photos that I am sharing with you all, as well as an explanation of how I did it.  Your results may vary, but hopefully if you try to tackle this project it will go a bit smoothly once you've skipped some of the mis-steps I took.
In order to complete this project, you need the following components:
Oil Cooler:  I chose one from a Ducati, but other bike models will work.
Sandwich adapter:  this is tricky.  Most are too big to fit in the very tight confines of the case of the ex650.  I believe a HEL model will bolt right on, but the smallest one I could find in North America, an Earls model, was still to large.  I had to get 1/8" machined off the outside flange, and it fit well.  The Earl's part number was:  514.  This has the m20x1.5 thread.  Anything bigger won't fit, and remember, this required machining to work properly.
Oil lines:  an6 is the proper size -- this is what ducati uses on their machines as well.
Fittings:  I used the following:
     a.  2 an6 to M14x1.5:  this fits the hoses to the oil cooler.  This is Ducati specific -- other coolers will require other fittings.  These use the m14 crush washers to make it oil tight.
     b.  1 an6 straight fitting
     c.  1 an 6 90 degree fitting
     d.  2 an6 120 degree fittings
     e.  2 3/8 npt to an6 fittings:  this fits the hoses to the sandwich plate
     f.  Yamaha Raptor 660 oil filter.  The ex650 filter is too long to thread onto the sandwich adapter and clear the headers.  This is shorter by about an inch, so it works.  However, and this will be a PITA, the header pipes need to be removed for install.  It is a tight clearance, but it works.

One of the big hassles is cutting the stainless lines.  There are lots of ideas out there, even specific tools for the job.  Some suggestions DID not work for me -- the fine metal hacksaw was a distaster, as well as the "electrical tape and dremel tool" -- the end frayed, and as a bonus, there were bits of rubber from the inside casing all over the place.  Before I cut the hose for real, I practiced, and found 2 techniques that actually work:
1.  Masonary chisel:  I bought a smallish one from Canadian tire.  I sharpened it as much as I could on the bench grinder, even finishing it with a sharpening stone.  Then I placed the hose on some alu plate, and after locating the cutting end on the mark, I pounded the heck out of the chisel end.  Surprisingly, the end result was a clean cut, albeit a slightly ovalized hose.  I still was able to put it onto the fittings as advertised.  You can google this and there are some videos demonstrating the process.  I looks pretty cro-magnon, but I can testify it does work well.
2.  Cutting tool.  I was mussing about in my toolkit, and found much smaller versions of this tool:
Note that it has both ends with a concave cutting edge.  I was worried mine were a bit weedy and small to work, but they worked great.  I can't remember where I bought these, or even why -- it wasn't to cut stainless hose, but they do work.  I'd recommend trying to track down or borrow a tool like this to do this project.




In previous posts you have seen the oil cooler and the mounting location.  The following pics show everything attached:

 The sandwich adapter gave me the most headaches... here is the npt to an adapters, and the 120 degree fittings.  Without the tight radius, the hoses bow outwards, and would be damaged in a crash, and also don't allow the lower fairing to be mounted!
 Note tight clearance -- these are arrow pipes, but I think stock headers would have a clearance issue.  Yes, I will safety-wire the filter prior to the race weekend.
 For 8 bucks, I made sure I went ziptie-less. These are proper an6 rubber bushed clamps.
These appear to be close to the header, but there should be enough clearance.
 90 degree fitting on the right in the picture, straight one on the left.
Stay mount is straight, honest!  The pic makes it look crooked for some reason.
 Hole in hotbodies fairing should allow the cooler to get a nice blast of air.
There is the hose clamp for the safety wire.
Sandwich adapter is fitting like an oil filter.  There is an o-ring that you wet with oil, and a center male/female bolt that threads the assembly on and fixes it to the case.  The filter itself then threads onto the adapter.





Upper has been painted, and its ready to go for the weekend!  Note the black wheels... look much better than burgundy!  Email me if you have any questions about the oil cooler install.  This weekend's race will be the true test.  While the forecast is for temps not as hot as round 3, it will be in the high 20s C, so I will keep an eye on the temps to compare.

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