Adding Oil coolers and oil temp gauges

[PaulJ]

Does anyone have any experience with fitting oil coolers and/or oil temp gaugers? Are these difficult tasks generally speaking?
Info about where oil cooler goes and how it works. Info on where a oil temp gauge would go. I know a lot will depend on the type of bike but general info would be great for a start. (Probably will relate to a XT350)

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Africa Trip web journal

[Geoff van de Merwe]

Not if your bike already has some sort of oil cooling system.
I mounted a larger oil cooler on my Tenere.
see: http://www.catchthepig.co.uk/the_bike.htm#modifications
It was a simple matter of extending thehydraulic hosing to the new cooler location. I mounted the new cooler to the fueltank supporting lugs located on the front of the frame. Then had a company make up a cooler to the dimensions I wanted. The most difficult part of the operation was getting the mounting bracket made.
All-in cost I think was £150

[PaulJ]

the bike in question does not have an existing oil cooler. Am i right in guessing it would involve drilling holes in crank case covers and that sort of thing to put in an oil cooler?
What about just a temp gauge? Where would the sensor go?

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Africa Trip web journal

[RichLees]

besides holes and hoses, you'd need a pump, too. you also need to ensure you don't lose pressure by passing the oil through a cooler

[Chris Scott]

I believe the problem with an XT350 compared to a Tenere is that the smaller bike is wet sump so it does complicate plumbing in a cooler (drilling crankcases like you say - but where?). A Tenere is dry sump and so has all sorts of exterior oil lines to splice a cooler into.
Temp guage senders/sensors can pick up off a replacement drain plug so that is a bit easier on an XT350 - TTEch make a plug conversion (though the whole set up never worked on my XRL..).

Chris S

(You didnt ask - but are you sure you want an XT350? I bought one years ago thinking it would be a 'lightweight Tenere' but it was horrible and luckily soon got nicked - just MHO ;-)