oil cooler or no oil cooler

[Max4music]

Ive seen some pics of decent zxr race bikes running no oil coolers. Is it simply a case of whipping it off and blocking off the holes? or is there some serious consequences of overheating? I guess some off you must have done this? Your thoughts please. Is there just a gian from lack of weight or does is have any power benefits? On a seperate note and just out of interest how much more power will a decent RAM system add? opinions seem to vary wildly, You'd think they'd turbo'd their bikes the claims some peeps make

[zimm]

run no oil cooler on mine, made up blanking plates for the sump, still need to tape the rad to keep her warm !

the early ZX4 ran with a tiny rad and no oil cooler, they do run a bit hotter than zxr's, but not a lot... with the large rad that H2's and L's have it shoudnt be a problem

i did it to save weight, and cos its one less thing to break in a spill.. also, makes lowering the rad to fit ram-air easier.

ram-air benefits ? dunno .. i'll let you know when its fitted... expecting to get up to the mid 70's, but its had a bit more than an airbox

[Max4music]

Cheers for the reply zimm. I'm guessing since dumping the oil cooler youve had no problems? Anyone else out there got any experiences of this running no cooler?

[Vic61]

I don't run coolers on any of my bikes and never have done. Not only are they not needed it is just a thing that can burst and leak oil all over your rear tyre. Plus, whats the point in spending loads tuning an engine, spending time warming it up to then go and dump cool oil back into it? Roger Middleton doesn't use them either and he knows whats what!

[owen]

Hi guys, hope you all had a good xmas! One question on the oil cooler: Do i just block off the two holes for the oil cooler or do i need to make a link pipe to allow oil to flow?

I bought Lee Campbells ZXR for next season by the way. getting it freshened up for this season

cheers
Owen

[cargo]

I've now removed the oil coolers from my race bikes..............................An oil leak from where the cooler hose bolts onto the engine cost me a good result ta the Manx last August................and left me on my ar5e...................................

I've just blanked off the holes with some ally plate and a home made gasket. The screws are Loctited and lock wired never to be removed again.

Neatest job would be to get the holes welded up

[Geffro]

Does this save quite a bit of weight then & is there any problems at all by doing this, overheating with too much use? Cheers

[mark400]

I would imagine that Kawasaki fitted it for a reason - But it could be that regular oil changes overcome any damage to the oil. The oil cooler must also cool the engine too ? Not qualified to talk on this subject, but have often wondered...especially as Roger M removes them.

[ratbag56]

i removed the oil cooler last year all i need was make a u shaped piece up from an old split oil cooler pipe works a treat! i removed it coz i fitted ram air!

[lewisdale]

out of interest has anybody ever removed on on there road bike and used it like that long term?

[zimm]

out of interest has anybody ever removed on on there road bike and used it like that long term?

the early ZX4 ran with a tiny rad and no oil cooler, they do run a bit hotter than zxr's, but not a lot... with the large rad that H2's and L's have it shoudnt be a problem

[zimm]

Neatest job would be to get the holes welded up

neatest job is a ZX4 sump

[jake]

ahhhh...


off to ebay!

[cargo]

I reckon the question of over heating is nothing to worry about
Mr Kawasaki built the bike to sell in hot countries like Spain.....................so the bike has to cope with really quite high ambient temperatures............................so here in the colder bits of Europe it shouldn't be a problem.

My race bikes actually sometime run too cold unless I've put a bit of tape on the rad.

And my car has a little cooler for the power steering fluid but it started leaking.....................I just bypassed it ...................no problems at all it's there to deal with more extremes of hot weather that we never get..............

My sole reason for removing it is nothing to do with weight reduction and everything to do with not falling off thanks to an oil leak.

I'd be very careful if you have used the space created by removing the oil cooler to drop the radiator that you don't drop the height of the rad below the level of the coolant needed in the head...................you might find theres no coolant/water in there just a big air gap......................

[rmkd177]

neatest job is a ZX4 sump

Is that a really good idea? or a really bad idea?