Bikesure_adrianflux

Oil cooler stone guard

Mr Gazza

Mr Gazza

Lord of the Rings
Joined
May 26, 2013
Messages
6,197
Location
Norwich
Bike
M900sie
A quite long winded project has just come to conclusion.
It started by worrying about the state of my 21 year old oil cooler and it's vulnerability to damage. I've carefully cleaned it up and painted it once, but it doesn't really stay nice very long in the blast of road muck from the front wheel. The tiny delicate fins on the matrix are quite bent over the years from many tiny impacts and I can't make it look nice anymore. Most I have seen are in no better shape and there is the constant fear of a puncture going un-noticed on a long run and losing oil pressure and/or all the oil, never mind just the replacement cost of the cooler assuming the damage was noticed in time and confined to the cooler.
So to both add a bit of bling and protect the aging cooler I came up with an idea to make a stainless mesh screen of some sort. One thing led to another and in my search for stainless mesh I discovered a company that provides bespoke industrial screens or filters in stainless with any gauge mesh. The first quote was for £68 each for two, which I thought was a bit much, but the more I was to order the better the price per unit gets.. You're ahead of me aren't you? Yes I went and ordered too many!! :hissy:
So the upshot is that these will be for sale to members soon once I've found out how much they are to post... You can put your own design on.





 
Bless you Jezza, you're a man of style and taste.. :devil:

Edit; The cooler guards now include replacement screws to ensure they have enough length to hold properly, as we have found that sometimes the original screws are barely long enough in the first place. Screws are A2-70 stainless steel.
Guards inclusive of screws and postage are now £31.
If you want more than one however, the postage stays the same, so a slight saving with a multi buy. If I can deliver by hand at a club meet up somewhere I will of course and save the postage.

Dacs has already taken two away and will be fitting those to the later type coolers with the rounded ends that replaced the boxy ones, so looking forward to seeing how they look on those.

Fitting probably needs no explanation; they just fit under the alloy cup washers of the oil cooler mounts.
Unfortunately, they will not fit in the lower position as on the SS models, as the handing of the brackets is reversed on the lower mount oil coolers. I could supply spare brackets to reverse the handing of the guard if required if you have TIG skills and equipment.
By rights they should fit the Hypermotards I believe? As they use the same valve cover bracket and cooler.
Not sure how long that cooler was fitted, probably till about 2006? Maybe someone could help with that please?

They are stainless throughout with "5 mesh" woven screen. (5 wires per inch) The frame is 4mm wire, the mesh is welded on the back on every wire and is very neat indeed.. Clever stuff.
The brackets are laser cut and CNC folded. A friend TIGed those on for me using a jig I made. They fit well and should deflect a hefty blow from road debris as well as looking shiny. :thumbsup:

Really hoping to sell all these as I seem to be financially embarrassed by the project!!

 
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What partly inspired the project was the idea to emulate the racing numbers and sometimes makers names, stencilled onto the radiator grills of vintage racers particularly those lovely early Alfas. It probably worked better on the large car grills as the mesh makes for rather large "pixels" as it were, but I'm still pleased with my efforts and it looks much nicer than the tatty cooler matrix.

You could probably spray the whole thing black and make it disappear while still protecting the cooler and tidying it up at the same time.. Looking forward to seeing how folk decorate them.
 
Top quality, Mr G - very "Blower Bentley"!

If I still had my M900, I'd definitely have one. :thumbsup:
 
I just looked up (brand leader) Evotech oil cooler guards (and after a fairly cursory search could see none actually advertised for M900 M900Sie or 900SS /Sie) and they are about the same price as yours but they are powder-coated aluminium, so lighter than your design BUT not as mechanically or aesthetically robust and the larger holes are hexagonal pressings so the grit that bends the foil fins in the oil cooler is only marginally impeded. Nice project - nicely executed
 
Would they fit an S4R? Or could you give me the measurements of the brackets and I’ll check?
 
S2r 1000

,hey Gaz, top job mate, what’s the measurement between the mounting lugs?, I am thinking one would look smart on the S2R,:thumbsup:
 
I will take one right away so send me details for payment Gazza ,, maybe a 2nd one in a couple of months

so you have 10,000 of these cluttering up your home ha ha
 
Ha ha. 9999 now Jerry!

Thanks for the positive response my friends and your support. I'll get the pms sent.

I think the only different cooler fitted to Monsters was the low slung triangular one, which was probably nicked from the 916 or something?

Space between brackets is 154mm to tuck under the alloy washers.
The screen is 180 long x 90mm tall

The grill covers the matrix of the early "boxy" coolers but you will still see the round ends of the later rounded ones, the cooler is still protected from the detritus blast though!
 
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Mr Gazza made me promise to take a photo for the forum, so here is one of the two guards in my possession, fitted to the M1000 -



note the added blind of the ends of the oil lines, courtesy of 10 minutes in the steaming nickel vats of Gazza's Norfolk Bling Emporium, or shed as we call them here in Norfolk.
Here is the other one I got, this will go on the 750. Note the optional extra "Norfolk" fitting kit -



I will let the forum know how they stand up to flying sugar beet.
 
Mr Gazza said:
Thanks Rob, I had a feeling the liquid cooled ones had a different oil cooler.
Click to expand...

S4 challenge and S4R have a curved (KTM) oil cooler, S4RS has a triangular one much like 749/999.

You should be good to go with all the air-cooled models
 
I would like one, please. I've sent you a PM, but in case it doesn't arrive my phone number is 07768-941222.

Martin
 
dacs said:
Mr Gazza made me promise to take a photo for the forum, so here is one of the two guards in my possession, fitted to the M1000 -

Click to expand...

Many thanks for posting that dacs. Pleased to see they look okay and cover the matrix on that type too. Quite a different appearance though. The guards seem to need a black background to set the shiny off?
The end covers on my cooler were scruffy and didn't really paint very well, so I very carefully covered them with aluminium foil tape of the type supplied with foil backed insulation sheets to continue the vapour barrier on the joins of the sheets. (Available from reputable builders merchants.) We used to use this to cover model planes to get a metal finish, then lightly score in panel lines and rivets, but it's a black art to get it on wrinkle free. The beauty is that it polishes up like ali. because it is ali!

Thanks for all your orders guys... It's off the post office with a pannier full of cooler guards tomorrow.. :thumbsup:
 
One more in the Lanier please ,!

Hi Gaz, thanks for posting the measurements, news is good,it will fit so can I have one please?:thumbsup: PM sent
 
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