Can an alternative bike radiator fit?

[dizzyblonde]

I've long wondered about this, with all raptor rads having that lovery nack of peeing coolant when getting a little over excited

Apart from repairing(and failing ) or radweld(with a temp to permanent fix ) has anyone succesfully found another bike that is a suitable donor for the Raptors radiator?
I know the TL1000 certainly doesn't fit, and its the only other curved one I know of.
Its purely a matter of interest. I don't particularly want to go buying a custom made one, and I aren't having this one fixed again. Radweld will do ok for me, but being the stingy northern type, theres always room to do something succesful on the cheap, if I can source a more permanent fix from a donor


Anyone?

[Crap Tartan]

Whilst a rad is a rad at the end of the day and many other bike rads may "fit" in size/shape it is the peculiar mounting points of the rap that is so unlike any other bike.

Whether something close would fit by making brackets to fit the rap brackets to the "other" rad brackets and wether a flat rad would work without restricting the steeering is an expensive way to "suck it and see"!!!

Short of finding a rad manufacturer to make one (probably VVVV expensive) you are left with searching the seconhand market or paying out and........................................................................................................ waiting for Cagiva to get you one (once again VVVVVV expensive)

If there was an easy (cheaper) alternative I reckon it would have been found by now...............

[dizzyblonde]

Yeah this is what I figured, I tried searching threads but couldn't find anything, been hanging around here for years and not seen owt, so I s'pose I answered my own question But ya never know unless you ask!

The radwelds going in anyway, as I said the 'bear with little brain' the other day, theres many an owner, including the house of Dizz, that have used it successfully.
On the subject, I recall Carnivore putting in 125mls, but thats about it. I presume you stick it in the rad itself and not the expansion bottle, then run it upto temp? and keeps yer toes crossed!

[Crap Tartan]

A bottle of radweld will be enough for a set amount of coolant capacity.

As the rap has a comparatively small system you dont need to put all the bottle in! DONT!!!

Depending on size of bottle do a pro-rata calculation to determine how much to put in and YES, only put it into your rad not the Expansion (overflow)!!

Run the engine up to temp so the thermostat opens and let it go to work!!!!!

I also had my rad leaking years ago and as a quick fix used radweld to good effect!!!

I then got it repaired by sending it away to a specialist bike place in Kent. So far so good...............................

[dizzyblonde]

mine was repaired by a radiator place that was recommended to the dealership I bought the bike from....it lasted 800 miles

[Crap Tartan]

seems repair is very hit or miss, I musta got lucky!!!!!

[snapdragon]

I'm told by our italian cousins that the rad is based on Ducati 749 on the Duc it's dished inwards and there are two fans. If you have the skills (or know a man who does) maybe one of those could be adjusted to fit

[dizzyblonde]

Well....according to the instructions, a 125ml bottle of radweld will do 7 litres. So with that in minds I had a look at the rappie manual, which says the cooling system capacity is 2000ml. hmmmmm took a wild guess and stuk 50mls in.

I'm not very good at this sort of thing, and found when opening the rad cap, some red deposits around the thermostat (well I presume that thing in the end of it which is blue is) I do hope them gits at the stealers didn't just stick radweld in there instead of repairing it. Is it normal to be very full of liquid in the top of that??
I poured the radweld in anyway, and loosely put the cap on, and started her up, then tightened it....a little bit came out there.
Ran up to temp, and the fan kicked in at 105 degrees, I left her running for a wee bit as she hovvered around 108.
Funny ticky noises I swear weren't usually there from the engine, were making me nervous anyway!

SHE PEED FROM THE OVER FLOW AGAIN, a few minutes after she was switched off Dunno why shes started doing that either.
Left her sat til she was cool enough to touch, and there is still coolant present on the top left corner of the rad......will that get plugged the longer she is left to cool? bleddy hope so....or the Radweld failed.

[RaptorJo]

When we had to use it (we were stuck in the middle of nowhere in scotland) we started off with a bit, but it just kept pouring out the rad, seemed to be holes everywhere, ended up putting the whole lot in and running the engine hot to seal it all. We were on the poor blokes garage forecourt for about an hour and then I had to ride it for about 80 mile. It was go for it or go home. When we got home though we did empty the system out and put new coolant in.

[superaptor]

Yessss! I have a large radiator on my 07 650. A mechanic told me that it was a honda vfr Radiator when i took it to him to see why my front fender was hitting the radiator. Anyway i had a welder/fabricator trim the mounting on the bottom to push the radiator back in since then i havent had any problems. Fyi my fork tree is all the way up . I will lower it when i get a chance to see if the radiator would be ok on stock front setup... I jump the bike often and do lots of roll ons. It seems to be ok and cools better i think. I could measure the radiator if u want because i think this is the largest u can fit in with minor mods.... Let me know if i can help. Cheers ps the mod takes 5 mins with a heck saw and a drill. Its easy

[shedmonkey]

Hi Super this is of great interest(you never quite know when one is gonna fail) could you post pics and maybe a sketch of mountings?

[Plums]

Yes indeed more info on this would be great!

Cheers. Paul

[superaptor]

why didnt you guys send me an email or pm me guys I was just working on my bike trying to sort out the cables. I will take pictures with my sexy iphone and use some ruler next to it so you guys can fantasize about having a big fat radiator like mine anyway I was just told what it was so I have no idea what it is what i know is its not the original!!!! I soon will find some plates and put some carbon on it on the sides and put a grill on the front. anyway I will post pix soon stay tuned and somebody please help me with my Speedometer cable sequence! very very please! please check out my post in the 650 section thank you very much!
Ill be back for the pix

[Plums]

And we'll be waiting!
Sounds great.....

[superaptor]

here you go guys, im also uploading the photo of my side stand mod.
again the radiator is 20 cm X 40 cm and suppose to come from a Honda VFR, please feel free to let us know if it's not from a Honda. It is not the original radiator thats what I know for sure. thanks