Horizontal mounted Oil cooler kit fitting

sprocket2cog

Been Around the Block
i just finished fitting the chinese oil cooler kit to the front of the frame on the ace and thought i would share the bracket plan and fitting tips.

the oil cooler came from china via aliexpress and the oil gauge kit i also fitted came from ebay as well as the aluminium sheet if you cant find 3mm alloy locally.
oil cooler- http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Medium-size-Oil-Cooler-Radiator-Cooling-Parts-Fit-CG125CC-CG150cc-Vertical-Motorcycle-Engine-Dirt-Bike-ATV/1878272075.html
aluminium plate 3mm marine grade http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Aluminium-Sheet-Plate-Marin-Grade-Pvc-Coated-One-Side-300-X200-3-Mm-/221699467427
oil gauge kit- http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Oil-Gauge-Kit-Inculdes-Oil-Tank-Black-Face-Oil-Pressure-Fitting-Motorcycle-/191522085336
banjo bolt adaptor for the oil gauge- http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Russell-640700-M12-x-1-25-Banjo-Bolt-1-8-Fuel-Pressure-Gauge-Take-Off-Honda/231100197078
Materials- you will also need a piece of 3mm thick marine aluminium to fabricate the brackets
2x 25mm, 2x 50mm and 2x 60 M6 bolts, some spring washers and flat washers and a piece of rubber inner tube or similar to protect the frame from scratches.

Tools- i used a flat and round bastard file, a hack saw and coping saw, a center punch and a drill with a pilot drill and a 1/4 inch step drill to ream the holes .
i also used peratex aviation gasket #3 for the npt threads on the oil gauge as it is recommended for thread sealing, but dont use thread sealer on the banjo bolts thats what the crush washers are for.

1- mark out the plan of you aluminium sheet and make sure you have the holes lined up, it pays to experiment with a 3mm plywood template first so you can check it out.

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2.cut it out and drill out the holes, the holes need to 6.5mm to take 6mm bolts. but 1/4 inch will work fine and give you a little wiggle room to fit it. double check the spacing of the holes in the brackets before you drill.

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3.mount up the brackets with the taller front bracket lined up to the smaller back bracket. use a strip of thin rubber between the frame and brackets to stop scratches that will rust later.
slide it up until it hits the frame like in the picture, but you may have to slide it down a few mm to clear the steering lock once you bolt the radiator on, when you have got it all lined up and test fitted, tighten up the center bolts then put on the radiator and do the other 4 bolts, Take note that you need to free the clutch cable from the top frame clip and make sure it goes behind the lower radiator bolt as in the next image. use spring washers on the back of the bolts and flat washers on the front where the bolts press into the rubber radiator mounts. ( i made flat aluminium plates instead as i also installed a grill over the front)

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4. get new hoses made up ! dont trust the cheap hose that came with the kit. get rated hose with pressure fitting, you will thank me later when you dont have a hose blow off 100km from home
the hose length is about 255mm eye to eye center and the banjos are rotated at 90 deg offset to each other. (but take the bike with the radiator fitted before you change the rocker cover over .to the local hydraulics store and they will make sure your hoses will fit the first time.

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5 undo the rocker cover and remove it from the motor , make sure its not too dusty and windy when you do this to keep junk from getting into the motor while its open.
install the new rocker cover to the bike making sure the gasket is in the rocker cover properly and that you have wiped down the head mating surface. dont over tighten the bolts.

6. install the hoses making sure to keep the pressure off the bolts as you insert them so you dont damage the threads in the aluminium. use a second spanner on the nut part of the radiator when you tighten the radiator banjos so you dont twist the alloy tank apart and cause a leak.

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7. Add upgrades ! ,
I installed some wire mesh over the front with some pinch weld striping on the edges to make it look neat to protect it from stones and big bugs taking out the fins.
I also installed a 60psi oil gauge to the right hand side of the radiator using a 1/8npt take off banjo bolt designed for a honda civic under hood fuel pressure gauge.

8. make sure it is working.
I left each hose undone at the radiator end and ran the motor until oil flowed out the first hose, i then bolted that on and fed oil though the radiator till that overflowed. added the last hose at both ends and then undid the bleed bolt on the back of the rocker cover until oil flowed from there.
take it for a 5-10 min ride on the open road and stop to check the oil isnt coming out anywhere, tighten up as needed.

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Greate write up, thanks.

Not something I had looked in to yet.

When changing the oil/topping it up do you need to use slightly more oil because some sits in the radiator?
What pressure does it run at?
Have you been able to measure the temperature difference?

And please can you add the ebay link, to the model you got, to the post?

Cheers
Richard
 
no worries
i lost about 100ml bleeding the radiator and hoses , and added about 200ml extra oil all up, so it added about 100ml of oil
but if you change your oil the oil will stay in the radiator so you wont have to add too much extra during an oil change. but ialways run the engine for a few minutes then check the level again once the system is under pressure.

i havent ran it out on the road yet but will over the weekend but at idle its shows a couple of psi and jumps to 10psi if i rev it a little bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzknpUb8Src

I dont have anyway to measure the difference in temp but it has to help a little bit.

i didnt get it from ebay i got it straight from china via aliexpress
but i have i added the links to the opening post (thanks mate)
 
thanks mate, i had thought about it but i didnt have any aluminium primer handy and wanted to get it fitted for the weekend.
But i like the bare alloy as well so might leave it for now.
 
sounds great on video . looks great , hope it helps cooling..like the oil gauge . like that a lot better than oil light idea.
 
orrible-64 said:
sounds great on video . looks great , hope it helps cooling..like the oil gauge . like that a lot better than oil light idea.
cheers, she is a bit on the loud side, im happy with the way it turned out but i wouldnt want to have mounted lower on the frame so it s a tight fit between the radiator and steering lock.
The hardest part fitting the gauge was finding the right adapter bolt. and no wiring needed for an oil light either which is a bonus.
 
mine is loud to at the moment, nice work my friend, glad I'm not the only silly man modding motor. what i am playing with does not need a big workshop and machinery , love that you do the same.. all done with hand tools. as it should be , an every man project with these bikes
pete
 
would it be worthwhile adding an oil filter to your system. seeing you have full flow going through it. this motor has no real oil filter.
 
yeah you could add one if you wanted to, but i didnt think i needed it , i am still running the stock air box and dont really use dirt roads to get around so there is no issue there and i change the oil every 600-700km and havent found any cause for a filter, nothing in the oil to really warrant it.
and the ones i did see were all a bit big to hang off the side of the ace :D
 
I've looked too, not finding anything small enough. only a thought..btw. if you run stock air box , seriously change the filter foam to mcs brand foam. big difference in response .only 20 bucks from bikeshop. not a high performance rip off part. ill even post you some for free if you pm your address to me
 
sprocket2cog said:
yeah you could add one if you wanted to, but i didnt think i needed it , i am still running the stock air box and dont really use dirt roads to get around so there is no issue there and i change the oil every 600-700km and havent found any cause for a filter, nothing in the oil to really warrant it.
and the ones i did see were all a bit big to hang off the side of the ace :D
orrible-64 said:
would it be worthwhile adding an oil filter to your system. seeing you have full flow going through it. this motor has no real oil filter.

Was actually looking at the Ace manual the other day. The actual reccomended oil change intervals is every 1000km.

Taking into consideration Honda actually tried to make this CG engine as primitive, agricultural and bulletproof as possible to be marketed to third world developing countries, when I think of the operative conditions, roads, Oil quality, and owner neglect that would grant having to change the oil every 1000km only, makes me shudder. What the hell man ;D

And yet we worry about engine longevity, while running state-of-the-art fully synthetic oil, installing Oil coolers, letting the engine warm up for a couple minutes before taking off and sticking to tarmac roads. We're really spoiling our little Aces, I tell you hahaha :D

Ps: Nice mod! I'll be looking into it when summer comes around!
 
yeah i used to own an original honda cg from the 1970's imported from mexico with a heel toe gear change, great little bike :D
i figure oil is cheap and i do a lot of high speed riding for long periods to get to my brothers
3 1/2 hours away, then ill ride back in the same day.. so 7 hours at 80-100kph i figure change the oil .
but yeah you could get alot more out of it for sure.

now i have the oil cooler i might take the interval out a bit more.

we really are spoiling them.. my wife just shakes her head. lol
 
sprocket2cog said:
i figure oil is cheap and i do a lot of high speed riding for long periods to get to my brothers

Totally with you on that one. Our engine takes just north of 1 litre of oil, and nowadays you can get top of the line, fully synthetic oils (amsoil, mobil 1, whatever really) for about 10$/litre or less, so why bother. Heck, I pay 10$ for a single drink at whatever pub I go to on any weekend, so go figure.

Plus, we get to tinker with our Aces, which is one of the (not so) secret reasons a whole lot of us got them in the first place... ;D ;D ;D
 
waketrip said:
Plus, we get to tinker with our Aces, which is one of the (not so) secret reasons a whole lot of us got them in the first place..

yep for sure, when i first found the bike online and was discussing it with my wife , i said to her i plan to never sell the ace but just fix it up as it needs it to make it better and it was cheaper then getting a second hand bike with problems to fix. what with everyone now buying up the old bikes quicker then you can blink.
 
just an update of a couple of little changes for players at home.
The nuts on the back of the bracket were coming loose even with a split washer, so i added a second nut to each bolt and buttoned them up against the other nuts to lock them in place.
The other thing i wasnt happy with was that the 60psi gauge wasnt really moving once the oil got hot
So i swapped it out for a dry 15 psi one. The dry gauges read better when hot as the wet gauges read low due to increased pressure as the fluid heats up in the gauge housing.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNXVZ2pN5bI
 
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