GSXR Radiator Replacement

[Spirit]

I have a 1986 GSXR1100 and I am planning on a mild performance upgrade. One thing I would really like to do though is to replace the standard radiator with an Earl's cooler. I'd like to know, since there's a lot of experience gained in 30+ years, what is the best size Earl's cooler to fit my GSXR? 

[fatblokeonbandit]

Firstly don't fir Earls or Good ridge they are terribly over priced, get a cheap one off of a certain auction site..

 

19 row is what I use, and never had problems.......

 

recent thread all about coolers here,,,,

 

 

Edited October 3, 2017 by fatblokeonbandit

[Oilyspanner]

Not too much has happened in oil cooler design since our engines were made - oil still loses heat at the same rate too - you can increase the surface area of the cooler though, eg. the Slingshot GSXRs had a curved oil cooler that had a greater surface area , alterations probably need to be made if you fit a larger cooler.  Our bike's oil coolers help with heat control, but most of the cooling will be from the engine fins. Unless you live in a hot part of the world, or your engine is heavily tuned, the original size works okay - fitting a larger cooler isn't going to hurt though, some modded motors have a second cooler fitted.

I was just writing a reply and saw the good man, FBOB , had replied - he's done plenty of builds using the trusty OC engines. 

[suzook12]

Having run several gsxr's and bandits over the years, I mostly fit slabby coolers these days as I've found them one of the most robust around. I used to sell HEL kits, and had several failures. This we found, was predominantley down to vibration, so fitting any aftermarket coolers, you need to make sure your cooler is well insulated from vibes. The later coolers I found very susceptible to stone hits. You can of course just make up braided lines for whichever cooler you have or get. The bulk of the price in the kits we found was the lines.

Have used Mocal and Setrab coolers, they seem a bit better quality, but again, vibes will kill them. They are considerably higher priced though. Whatever you fit, take suzuki's lead and rubber mount them and keep the cooler pretty loose in its brackets

Steve

[Spirit]

Thanks to all for the info: I'll be careful to observe flexible rubber mounting. And I'll  use 19 row as a basis. 

[Dezza]

Using a stainless steel bracket instead of an alloy bracket helps eliminate any problems caused by vibration. I have a ss bracket mounting a generic oil cooler on my Harris framed efe  with no rubber mounts and have never had any problems.

Edited October 4, 2017 by Dezza