Watching a bike show and saw an old biker convert his engine guard to an oil cooler. Tapped into the two lower bars and attached fittings to the ends.attached rubber / stainless lines and routed them to the oil filter fitting .Thought it was a "cool " idea .

 

whare are the fins? to help increase surface area? all he did was increase his oil capacity.

 

According to the "old biker",it did cool the oil .Capacity increased ? yes.This guy restores old HD,s,so I assume he knows what he,s talking about.

 

Saw same show - I would be really concerned about junk inside the engine guard bar - and that getting into the engine. Would not even think about it on a newer bike.

 

I run my RK with the engine guard oil cooler and I think it works great. I drilled and tapped the brackets to accept 1/4" pipe thread to 3/8" barbed hose fittings. I use 3/8" power steering return line hose to carry the hot oil from the engine to one side of the engine guard and then the other side goes back to the tank. When I ride I can barely touch the right side of the bar but I can easily put my hand around the left side. I know it cools the oil and it sure is nice to have at least an extra quart of oil capacity. No coolers work unless you are moving anyway. As for the condition of the inside of the guard; next time you pop open a can of Coke look at the inside the can. Nice, clean, grey color, smooth as silk. That's how my bar looked. After drilling the holes I used a small magnet tool to retrieve the chips while tapping on the bar. Then I washed it out with gasoline and compressed air.

On the negative side:
The dip stick reads different. I find that while resting on the stand the level is usually at the bottom of the words "Do Not Overfill". Just at the "N". I believe that amounts to 5 quarts in mine.

When changing oil I will not be able to drain all of it out without pulling the lines loose at the bar (which I don't want to do). However, I've decided to change the hoses at each 10k service anyway. I change at 3k intervals and the M1 15 - 50 looks great anyway. Not a problem.

I am certain there is some trapped air at the top of the bar. I would rather it was solid oil up there. I believe the oil fills up one side and then sort of flows across to the other side under what ever air is up there. I am considering inserting a small plastic tube into the left side that would go up to the horizontal part to remove the air. The other end of the tube would go all the way back through the oil hose to the tank where I think a slight negative air pressure in the tank from the engine might evacuate the air from the top of the pipe. I would like to hear other's ideas on this. Would that work? The trapped air is not a biggie but if the bar was full of oil it would work even better. The air may even work its way out of there over time.

I've seen an in-line thermostat (looks like an "H") in the catalogs before but now all I can find is one that is just a manual bypass. Up North it will probably be necessary but not sure about Houston. You want the oil to get hot enough to keep moisture from forming in the engine. I'm just going to see how it works this winter (when ever that is - usually between Jan. 15 and Feb. 1).

On the plus side: I have the only heated highway pegs I've seen so far! Ha! Top that you Gold Wingers. I was looking at BMW bikes the other day and saw where at least one of them uses part of the frame as an oil cooler.

I've used this set up for about 1.5k miles now. I like it a lot but if I decide to revert back to Harley's "IF HARLEY THOUGHT IT NEEDED A COOLER THEY WOULD HAVE . . ." all I need is a couple of 1/4" pipe plugs.

 

there you have it square dude.! I checked around and the air trapped is probably gone.Checked with a local indy and his old EG has had this set up for years.old gray headed fart .Hot or cold weather,he says it works great .

 

Thanks Dert. If I remove the oil filler cap soon after riding I can hear a lot of gurgling noise as if the oil drains down from top of the bar to a level even with the oil tank. The gurgling noise is air going back into the bar. So, I guess each time I ride it some of the air works its way out.

I have another idea to insert something into the input side that would go up a ways to cause the oil to swirl as it travels through the bar. Something like a stiff wire doubled back onto itself and twisted around something durable that would fan out as it was inserted into the bar.

Something else to consider about the engine guard cooler. The oil travels rather slowly through the bar due to the large inside diameter of the pipe. Its not like it just shoots through as some might think. The slow flow will allow the oil to transfer more heat to the bar.

They now make an oil filter adapter that has two 3/8" hose fittings as well as an internal thermostat. That is cool. This is on the pressure side of the pump but as big as the guard is I doubt if there would be any pressure drop. Just two short hoses.

 

Oh. And I am also an old grey headed f__t. Thanks.

 

bald and gray too.Called the indy about your suggestions and he said something to swirl the oil is probably not necessary.The gurgling in the oil tank is normal even if it didnt have the'Guard cooler"Its just the oil draining back to the oil bag. Again,air is not an issue to worry about according to him and you are right,it does flow slow so cooling is achieved just fine.No pressure drop .The fitting is for just that,oil coolers no matter what kind you use.I like it !

 

Dert, have you heard the current barber shop wisdom on what causes grey hair? It seems as people get older their brains get larger. And, you have probably heard brains referred to as "grey matter". Well, theory is that the grey just oozzes out the hair causing it to turn grey! Makes perfect sense to me.