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Project oil cooler started more than 20 years ago. I worked at a Yamaha shop at the time and decided to put an oil cooler on the XS Eleven. I ordered a FJ 1100 oil cooler, hoses and the XS850H adaptor plate. It looked like a fairly simple install until I tried to hook up the oil lines. That damn cross brace on the XS 11 was right in the way. I tried re-bending the lines with less than satisfactory results. This is where the project stalled. I started some other things an never got back the cooler.
Last week while cruising 70 mph and seeing the oil temp at 225 on an 80 degree day I decided one way or another that cooler was going on this year. Instead of modifying the old hoses I went with all new ones with AN-10 fittings. The first order of business was coming off that 850 plate nice and clean (and hopefully leak free). I made and adaptor block to handle this. It has "O" ring seals on the front to match the adaptor ports and 3/8" pipe threads on the back. There is an offset downward maybe 3/8" for extra clearance with the cross member. The block is OK but the fittings looked like they would be on the close side. Off the block is 2 3/8" male thread to AN-10 adaptors onto which the el's attach. The second piece of business was coming off the FJ cooler. It's designed for "O" ring seals so two more adaptor blocks needed to be made. These have "O" rings in the front and 3/8" female pipe threads in the rear, again offset downward slightly for connector clearance.
Making the lines up was fairly easy and I was on the road in no time. That FJ cooler is really nice, it's set up for rubber mounting, it's all aluminum and has monster ports in and out. Because of the dimensions extra wide and only 2 1/2 high not much air is blocked from the cylinders. The one problem I ran into was it worked too well. If the outside temp was only 62 degrees I could not get the oil temp past 145 - 150. Originally my goal was to keep it simple and run without any thermostat but I could see after a couple of times out that wasn't going to work. Back to the drawling board. There were a few of the automatic thermostat units out there, but I wanted full control. The last thing to do was make a cable controlled diverter valve. There's not a lot to it, 3/8" pipe threads in and out and a few "O" ring seals. The valve mixes temps so you can dial it in anywhere in between full cooler to full bypass.
Now I'm in XS 11 heaven. The other day I watched the temp go from a little over 200 on bypass to 170 on the cooler the air temp was maybe 74. Warm up time is greatly reduced and that FJ cooler work better than I would have guessed.
For those contemplating a cooler - go for it. You wont believe the difference. The engine even runs smoother.
The moral of my tale of woe I guess would be, if at first you don't succeed try try again.
Last week while cruising 70 mph and seeing the oil temp at 225 on an 80 degree day I decided one way or another that cooler was going on this year. Instead of modifying the old hoses I went with all new ones with AN-10 fittings. The first order of business was coming off that 850 plate nice and clean (and hopefully leak free). I made and adaptor block to handle this. It has "O" ring seals on the front to match the adaptor ports and 3/8" pipe threads on the back. There is an offset downward maybe 3/8" for extra clearance with the cross member. The block is OK but the fittings looked like they would be on the close side. Off the block is 2 3/8" male thread to AN-10 adaptors onto which the el's attach. The second piece of business was coming off the FJ cooler. It's designed for "O" ring seals so two more adaptor blocks needed to be made. These have "O" rings in the front and 3/8" female pipe threads in the rear, again offset downward slightly for connector clearance.
Making the lines up was fairly easy and I was on the road in no time. That FJ cooler is really nice, it's set up for rubber mounting, it's all aluminum and has monster ports in and out. Because of the dimensions extra wide and only 2 1/2 high not much air is blocked from the cylinders. The one problem I ran into was it worked too well. If the outside temp was only 62 degrees I could not get the oil temp past 145 - 150. Originally my goal was to keep it simple and run without any thermostat but I could see after a couple of times out that wasn't going to work. Back to the drawling board. There were a few of the automatic thermostat units out there, but I wanted full control. The last thing to do was make a cable controlled diverter valve. There's not a lot to it, 3/8" pipe threads in and out and a few "O" ring seals. The valve mixes temps so you can dial it in anywhere in between full cooler to full bypass.
Now I'm in XS 11 heaven. The other day I watched the temp go from a little over 200 on bypass to 170 on the cooler the air temp was maybe 74. Warm up time is greatly reduced and that FJ cooler work better than I would have guessed.
For those contemplating a cooler - go for it. You wont believe the difference. The engine even runs smoother.
The moral of my tale of woe I guess would be, if at first you don't succeed try try again.
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