No More Side Radiators - Period!

After fitting a modified NC30 lower radiator a couple of years ago, with Gen 8 second hand parts become available, I thought I'd do the entire "Front Radiator" thing and ditch the side rads.

Basically got hold of an upper and lower radiator off eBay and bought the rest of the hardware, brackets, hoses etc. from Partzilla from the Gen 8 parts list.

I had to make the top bracket, up against the head stock and as the fan on the Gen 8 is controlled from the ECU, I had to put a thermo switch in the new top hose.

Since completing the job, it has run extremely well with me only seeing a top temp of 98 dec C and this is during our summer in New Zealand.

Here are some photos of the finished job.

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Thermo switch

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Top rad with guard

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Had to shorten the bottom bracket by 15mm to fit within the Gen 6 fairing

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Modded Gen 8 radiator guard on the bottom

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Fashioned some expanded aluminium sheet to fill the fairing ports where the side rads were.

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Had to fit a relay to run the fan off the thermo switch as it's current rating was a little low.

Wow! Nice job, thanks for sharing.

Awesomeness!

Wow... If you can share more about the build I would be very excited to hear what exact parts you bought. Part of me is scared to do some BFE touring on my VFR because crashing means no coolant.

Nice one, have plans to do the same and was curious about the 8th gen headers fitting inside the 6g body side panels.

Waiting for my TBR style header to be made, nice to have one question answered, thanks. 

The highlighted items are what I used to do the job.

As I said, the radiators were from ebay but all the other hardware was new.

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The top bracket #20 I cut the ends off and welded them to a length of 12mm square tube with a bracket welded to it that I bolted directly to 2 M8 tapped holes in the underside of the headstock.

All other brackets either bolt directly to the Gen 6 frame or fit over the frame pins that the original radiators mounted on to.

So I'd have to say that the Gen 6 and Gen 8 frames are generally the same, at least around the head area.

Cheers

Phil

Phil, did you use the 8th gen header to make room for the rads, or did you keep the 6th gen units? 

2 hours ago, Stray

Phil, did you use the 8th gen header to make room for the rads, or did you keep the 6th gen units? 

I believe he modified RC45 headers to fit. The 8th gen headers are modeled after the RC30 and 45, which both employed front mounted upper and lower radiators. 

Thanks Seb. I now recall reading he did it without gaskets. 

Wonder if this setup fowls the 5th-6th gen headers or not? I believe VFROZ is running a front rad on his naked VFR but has no fairings to deal with. 

5 hours ago, Stray

Thanks Seb. I now recall reading he did it without gaskets. 

Wonder if this setup fowls the 5th-6th gen headers or not? I believe VFROZ is running a front rad on his naked VFR but has no fairings to deal with. 

No, not me.

That would be Keef and his naked 5G.

I'm using the top rad from a suzuki TL1000R. Commuted yesterday on it for the first time in a while. 84*C while moving, up to 97*C in bumper to bumper/gridlock, then back to mid 80s again once i was rolling.

Curved rad, and its about 440mm wide.

Also have a larger oil cooler mounted low, originally sp1, but now a generic double thick ebay special. Tempted to go to a water cooled oil cooler.

Hi all

My pipes are modded RC45 and as such have the splayed front headers just like the Gen 8.

You can't do the upper/lower radiator mod with stock Gen5/6 headers.

Phil

20 hours ago, VFROZ

No, not me.

That would be Keef and his naked 5G.

18 hours ago, keef

I'm using the top rad from a suzuki TL1000R. Commuted yesterday on it for the first time in a while. 84*C while moving, up to 97*C in bumper to bumper/gridlock, then back to mid 80s again once i was rolling.

Curved rad, and its about 440mm wide.

Also have a larger oil cooler mounted low, originally sp1, but now a generic double thick ebay special. Tempted to go to a water cooled oil cooler.

Thanks for setting me straight, chaps. Really sorry (and embarrassed) about the mixup. 

Keef, what headers are you using? 

Are you not fully satisfied with the TL1000 rad setup? Will the water cooled oil cooler be in addition to the existing oil cooler, or instead of it? 

Yours is the most lightweight system I’ve seen here - only one water rad and one oil cooler, as opposed to double water rads (5th, 6th and 8th gens). Despite having half the radiators (and half the coolant?) you seem to be keeping nice and cool in the Australian heat. 

In an earlier post one of your mates on a naked with an SV rad got rid of the fan entirely! Are you still running a fan on your VFR? 

I’m wondering if the fairings would aid or hinder cooling with your setup. Was thinking of following your lead (with fairings) and also swapping out the water pump for an electric one. 

So no side rads, no fan, no mechanical water pump and no thermostat.

Just one decent front rad, RC51 oil cooler, electric water pump (with some sort of control module) and possibly a few laminova inline coolers thrown in. 

That’s the long-term plan for track days and fast road use. What do you think? 

Stray

I love the TL rad. So good i think it will handle oil temps as well, so id swap the air/oil cooler for a water/oil cooler.

Its a big curved rad, so its really good at forcing air through it, especially on a fighter. I have a single TLR fan mounted out of the 2 a TL normally has, and it works well. Only goes above 95C when im in gridlock traffic, and drops quick once im moving again.

Rad was $110 aus (china) but i did have to have inlets/outlets swapped over, and custom brackets, etc.

Mine isnt a big bore motor like highsides, so works fine. It runs low to mid 80'sCelsius, so could cope with a big bore motor IMO. No fairings helps, obviously.

Using 5th gen delk headers, but would like to do 8th gen performance headers when they are available to stop any heat soak from the headers on the low mount oil cooler.

I built mine for track days and fast road use. If it handles heat soak from commuting, it is fine for fun stuff, too.

The other option is using a vfr750 rad like seb.

Aftermarket VFR750 (90-97) radiator with custom brackets, on a 99 VFR800. Coupled with a larger aftermarket (air) oil cooler. No idea if it'll fit under fairings, of course...

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Very helpful info, Keef and Seb - THANKS! 

I’ve read both your build threads several times with great enthusiasm. Creative engineering at its best!

Will have to figure out if either solution fits under 5th gen fairings and how much air they’ll get under there. The TL1000 needed a second bigger rad to cope in full trim but the 4th gen seems to do fine with just the one. 

Lots to do but my project wouldn’t be possible without you guys pioneering the hard stuff first. Great stuff coming out of Australasia and the US! 

Awesome builds guys.  The side radiators is truly one of Honda's engineering solutions that didn't need to be solved.  Wish they had stuck with the front mount radiator.