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Adding oil cooler to KZ1100

2K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Hugojose 
#1 ·
Hi Guys

I am showing up as a brand new member although I joined a long time ago but no record of it it seems. I was doing some research on the net and came across an article on the forum so decided to get back in.

I have an 82 KZ1100 spectre of origin. THese days is customized to now having a 76 Z900 front end with new billet triple trees, 70's instruments and spoked front wheel with analogue speed cable etc. Looks and rides beautifully.

I noticed in research that these engines also were made with an oil cooler. (why some and not all !!) doesn;t make too much sense to me - but the engine pan is where it all comes from and research suggest that simply swapping over the engine bottom pan is whats needed.

Has anyone bothered to upgrade their KZ1100 to run an oil cooler? If so - did it make any noticeable difference? What else was needed other than replacing the pan and buying a cooler unit? Was it worth it?

Regards

Greg
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Nobody answered so I'll pitch in...


…………...The oil cooler is mainly to take the extra heat generated by the wet clutch, which is cooled by the oil. In the 70's and 80's bikes going to Europe would have oil coolers, whereas the US bound did not. The reason was in the higher densely populated continent, and narrow winding roads, the rider would have to shift more and generated more heat at the clutch.


Today they include oil coolers on all high performance bikes, even liquid cooled ones because is better having it that not. However, in old bikes like the KZ1000/1100 is probably not worth all the modifications involved, as these bikes are really classics and expected be ridden in a mild manner. The oil cooler would make little difference.

The old KZ750s, however, are easily converted by adopting the oil pan of the GPZ 750, or newer Zephyr 750, or ZR-7. The all had oil coolers flowing from/to the oil pans.
 
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