Adjustable Oil Cooler Cover

Sorry if this is a repeat, but a quick search didn't find anything.

I was just reviewing new products on the MG Cycle website, and came across this:

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Currently out of stock, but thought it might be of interest.

Cheers,
Shaun

Neat! Hopefully by next winter I will of fitted thermostats to Mark and my bikes but it's nice to see someone else has noticed the same things as me and done something about it!

Pete

I'd forgotten about those stats.


That's a neat bit of kit, Shaun. Better than shoving a piece of cardboard into the front of the cooler like I'm doing now. It's a struggle to keep the temps above 90 at the moment.

When I dropped the sump off my shitbox there were oysters living in the sump! Bleargh! And I'd been making sure to keep the oil temp up but it was still as smeggy as all get-out.

Pete

Gentlemen, while that cooler cover looks a dandy piece of engineering, it still allows air to enter from the forward facing air scoop, and even though that side plate may restrict some air flow on the exit side, I have serious doubt about its effectiveness. But I'm happy to be proven wrong.

Auto thermo bypass keeping the oil in the sump is a much better solution, in my eye.

Wayne, it will work as the less flow through the cooler, the more a dam effect will be present, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the cooler (or heater in the summer). Still it is a nice bit of kit.

Is it possible to make one for the front instead? I like the look of the side with the grill and cooler vanes visible. This one (my 2c naturally) makes it look like a space age breadbox. Of course function over form first and if it extends the life of the engine then looks are secondary.

JUST putting this out there but .....how about removing the oil cooler ...did not the Guzzis of before not have one and just let the jugs cool in the breeze...or is the cooler necessary

It's necessary. It's just not necessary all the time. The cooler only cools the oil from the cooling circuit and that needs to be as cool as you like as it is delivered with the very specific task of removing heat from sound the exhaust valve seats. The problem is that in cooler weather it will over-cool the oil which shares its cooling function with the lubrication function.

Without the cooler in hot weather the oil will cook and degrade and at any time it will be flash-heated to extreme temperatures as it passes through the galleries around the valves which is the reason a full ester synthetic oil is so important.

It's annoying and the best solution is a thermostat to bypass the cooler when the oil isn't up to temperature but fitting one isn't that easy, at least on the GRiSO, due to the perennial problem of lack of space.

Pete

While I can relate to Wayne's comment, a small piece at the entrance of the cooler would be more efficient and not "uglying" the bike.

I was of the understanding that radiators of any description don't need mass forced air flow to be effective, the gentlest of breeze is enough to carry away any radiated heat from the core/fins.
Therefore, in cold wet conditions when it is imperative to keep the 8V oil hot and un-mayoized or sludgefied, the whole finned area of heads, cylinders, crankcase & sump are already being cooled beyond what is needed.
Best to keep water/cold air from even getting close to the cooler. Thermo bypass again is the best option by far.

Testing by riding in cold weather with temp gauge, vent open, vent closed, and duct tape the fucker until its air tight will be proof if I'm right or wro, can't say that word.

Besides, that thing looks furquen ugly!

Probably a dumb question,
But out of interest does the stelvio run any warmer?
As it has the cooler tucked up high could it be possible that it wouldn't be as efficient?

I can attest to the effectiveness of restricting air flow at the entry of the oil cooler housing.
I have used a sliding restrictor at the front of my bikes whilst monitoring the sump oil temp with a dipstick temp gauge.
Whilst my tests aren't especially scientific there is clear evidence that restricting the air flow in to the cooler reduces the cooling effect and helps to maintain a higher engine oil temperatures in cold / wet weather. You just need to be aware when the ambient temp rises to ensure the restriction is removed or wide enough to allow sufficient cooling flow.
This is not an ideal solution but is certainly better than a cold running engine. How effective this would be in the really cold climates I can't say but it has to be better than the stock installation.
Clearly the best solution is a thermostat to manage the oil flow but installing one would be a real pain in the butt.

My understanding of the oil circuit is the cooled oil is returned to the shared volume in the crankcase sump. Under normal running conditions wouldn't there be an averaging of the oil temperatures ie the supply returning from the engine and cooler would average out with the temp of the crankcase structure.

Is there an issue with inadequate venting of the upper engine and crankcase in the GRiSO engines ? I've not seen this "water contaminated" / mayo looking oil in any engine other than the crankcase breather on my old 69 Triumph Bonneville. This stuff was vented onto the chain.

Does the existing crankcase breather run in a continuous, upward pipe and ultimately into the inlet air tract ? It's not a major effort to induce a little negative pressure into a crankcase breather pipe via it's entry into the inlet tract

There are two oil circuits with two pumps. One for cooling, one for lubrication. The lubricant/coolant is shared.

Pete

So has anyone set up a thermo bypass? Or is it too difficult. I'm in Wisconsin and plan on riding deep into winter.

Mark and I both have thermostats but I haven't had a chance to plumb one in. It's the perenial GRiSO problem. There is not a cubic centimetre of spare space to put the fucking thing, never mind organising the plumbing due to the nature of the cooler fittings.

Pete

I'm going to put a stat on my Sport 8v when I've got time to get some hoses made up, which should be easier than the GRiSO, as its forward facing.  Meantime I made a sliding screen from two sheets of ally, with drilled holes that can be slid shut in varying degrees, and of course an R+R thermo dipstick.
 The Buell produces mayo now and again out of its breather pipe that dumps onto the deck, this is despite never being run on short trips and regularly given the bifters, odd shit man

Oil temp on my 05 Ducati Multistrada is a problem as well on cooler/cold  days it shows 70c so the remedy is to block off the vents in front of the cooler which in this case is in the nose of the fairing ..
there are 4 vents /slots the more you block off the warmer the oil becomes ..I use round 1 1/4 foam cut to fit which is forced into the slots via friction fit ..works well and most of the time I just block off two..that raises the oil temp to 95c
Others have used a thermo bypass with the Multi as well ..
My 1100 GRiSO via the R+R Thermo dip stick usually shows 100c  at an average of 25c outside and 90 c on colder days 16c   I have not seen the mayo in either bike..
Blocking off air to the coolers seems to be a pretty good solution , as for the GRiSO the cooler being mounted length way its a little more difficult to have a direct block as per the Multi..
Best bet I think would be an interior block for the GRiSO that would be very close to the cooler..

the other thing I would mention is that years ago I had a VW beetle.. in the winter -10c to -15c if you ran summer oil the engine would not turn over ..the oil being too thick..if you changed out to winter oil "lighter viscosity" she would start up and warm much quicker..
I wish I could remember the oil viscosities  but that has escaped me ..
In western Canada ...Alberta for  example the temp ranges from -15 to +30 winter to summer so air cooled vehicles are hard pressed to run at optimal temperatures..  
The point is perhaps it could be the same for the GRiSO  10w60 say verses 10w40  for colder temps..
and yes I know that Guzzi is stuck on 10w60 but Italian weather is much warmer than  Canada.
10W60 may be the problem as well for Cold temp riding with a motorcycle especially one that is more over air cooled  ...just saying maybe its just old school ...
What viscosity would you run in an old 850t and did they get the Mayo..no oil cooler on those babies
One of the advantages that Guzzi always had is that their jugs were right out there in the wind pretty efficient air cooled design I would say probably the best of any twin ...and yet...

Thing is the 1100 does have a thermostat. The 1200 doesn't.

Pete

keenerkeen07 wrote:

What viscosity would you run in an old 850t and did they get the Mayo..

20W50 regardless of season. Don't recall seeing much mayo.