Help with oil cooler advice
 

Hello,
Planning a trip to africa. The organizer says to expect 40C daytime temp.

I have a Canadian model xt 600 1986. The engine is stamped with 34L , small tank, alu rims, drum brake. I say this because here in N. america we never received the model upgrades through the years.

Given the equation above I was thinking about adding an oil cooler as I think some of the european bikes came from Yamaha equipped with coolers.Could the experts here chime in on the necessity/feasibility of this project? Will my bike melt down in the middle of know where without it. How complicated a job is it to install? Would I require an upgraded oil pump ? ..ect

Thanks for your responses. There is very little info in Canada about XT's and no parts to see this project through.

Pawlie

Cooler
 

I cannot really say whether it is necessary or not. To be on the safe side , yes. But, there's some catches with it; the 34L engine has the first XT600 oil pump, later models received +50% or +100% oil pumps. I have heard of a story of an older TT with the first model pump, where a cooler was installed. The cooler apparantely reduced the flow to the big end causing it to fail.
So, if you install a cooler, upgrade the engine with a +100% oil pump. This +100% pump has been installed as of the type number 3AJ, this number is also cast-in into it's housing. Another reason for doing this is that your oil pump is probably pretty worn by now.
As for coolers, anything goes. There's some nice ones with KEDO.com, I would think they also ship to Canada.

Auke

I have the factory cooler on my bike and I ride with some standard xt's Both engines get pretty hot I can't feel any difference between them. I think the factory cooler & hoses would be very expensive to buy. I've spoken to kedo before and sorry they will not ship to canada, to bad because as you have found out there is not much support here for the xt.
Do you need one, I guess it depends how much riding you will do at those tempatures and how hard you will be pushing the bike, carrying luggage or not.
If You can go easy on the bike, use a heavy oil and change it often you might be ok.

Other options
 

You could also use a small oil cooler from any other source. People in europe also use coolers from 2CV citroen cars (that's two cilinder 400 or 600 cc engines) The trick is to plumb it into the oil line from the engine to the oil tank. The cooler's volume should not be too large as then too much of the oil will be in the cooler. Further, it's flow resistance should not be too large, as this will mess up the dry sump system.
Come to think of it, consider also an oil cooler from another comparable bike. There's lots of them around (Ducati, Honda, etc).

Auke

Thanks for the input folks. Keep it comming.

That uprated oil pump sounds like it might be a good idea weather I do the oil cooler or not. Does anyone know if it is a straight swap? If the bike only has 35 000Km would the pump be shot?

I tried to check out the Kedo site but didn't get too far. I have a German friend who can probably translate for me. Kedo I assume produces aftermarket parts. Has anyone used one of their coolers? What did you think of the product?

I could get stuff shipped via USA, GB and in a pinch probably Germany. Any of these ok?

Thanks again for your info. Anyone else want to pipe up with their thoughts on this project?

Pawlie

Alright.
I have arranged for a German friend to speak to the kedo people to see if their oil cooler will work on my bike.
Can anyone confirm through first hand experience weather the oil pump upgrade is required to sucessfully add a cooler?
Will a 3AJ pump just slot into a 34L engine?
Will Kedo have someone that can answer these questions or will I have to figure this out on my own?

Thank you all for the help thus far and in advance for the above questions.

Cheers,
Pawlie

Never sure
 

The oil pump upgrade is highly recommended (wear and higher capacity). While you are talking to Kedo, they can also supply this item. It will fit into the engine casing. Additionally you need the plastic gearwheel that meshes onto the clutch that goes with this type of pump. To be sure, also install a new circlip on the pump shaft.

Succes!
Auke

Auke,
Thanks for your advice. I have spoken with the people at Kedo and we are trying to figure out the right way foreward. I have sent them some pictures of the bike but still don't have the oil pump situation figured out yet. But we're working on it. I have sent them some pictures of my bike and can hopefully figure out a set up for the cooler as well. Communication in different languages is tough!

For any interested north americans Kedo does definatly not ship to Canada/U.S.A. so a good excuse to call up freinds in europe. If you have one of these old bikes and are a bit of a bling junkie be very careful looking at the Kedo catalog. There are lots of tasty bits in here!

Cheers,

Pawlie