4 rows aluminum radiator for GL1000

[cfairweather]

Has anyone bought one of these radiators on eBay? If so, give us your opinion.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/112638359247?h ... R7yd34qwYw

[cfairweather]

I just ordered one and will let you know how it fits and works soon.

[gltriker]

Cedric- I thought about this and remembered one fellow bought this type of aluminum radiator and the 'overflow' hose nipple was incorrectly oriented on the radiator's filler neck . That ebay auction listing photo appears to present the same condition?

[cfairweather]

I should be able to work around that issue, but we shall see. How many rows are in the original radiator? Hopefully this one will cool better than the original.

[heli_madken]

I installed one a couple of years ago. I had to move the coil mount to the other side of the frame and had some 'trickiness' with the cowl wings but in all it was fairly easy and seemed to improve cooling.

In all I would say it was a very good upgrade.

[Old Fogey]

All the ones I've seen are intended for the GL1100. The filler neck is wrong, being vertical and the outlet to the header tank in the wrong place. Relatively easy fix if you can weld aluiminium.
I have also heard that sometimes the mounting holes are not exactly accurate.

[cfairweather]

If it requires any welding, it will be returned .

[redglbx]

Cedric, I believe the OE radiator is a 2 row piece, this aluminum piece should help with cooling but as I remember these were popular a few years ago and mounting it was problematic, but once fitted seem to work well.

Myself, I had a custom 3 row extra thick & dense radiator built that provided it’s own challenges to mount but that was before this aluminum piece was available, the aluminum piece is considerably cheaper. On my 76 it did help some with the consistent overheating I was having on my 76 BUT 2 other things really fixed it.

First my fan was still running but much slower than it should and the oe fan only provides around 400cfm of airflow if it’s optimal. So I replaced it with a new 9” (I think) pancake fan that provides 1800cfm along with a new adjustable thermal switch, this really helped a bunch but it is much noisier than the oe. But for me it is comforting to hear it come on & shut off. It’s not a deafening roar or anything but you can hear it, think of how a drone sounds just quieter.

The thing Thant really fixed the overheating problem for me was dynamically setting the ignition timing. Randakk always claimed that statically timing the wing tends to set the timing 6-10deg over advanced and he was correct. I played with mine to see if I could get the timing correct by statically timing it, I found that it was consistently over advanced 6-8deg. Using a degree wheel to set it dynamically gave me a much smoother and quieter idle and not being over advanced eliminated the over heating problem completely. This is where I found that the timing marks on the flywheel sets were off with the t2 being 6deg off. Setting it dynamically eliminated the thrashing, clutch rattling thing I’d had since new and gave me a butter smooth & quiet idle.

Highly recommended!

[cfairweather]

Good information for sure. I don't have an overheating problem, I just wanted to try one of these radiators since the price was so reasonable. The original fans are probably not the most efficient design, but they run pretty quiet and are adequate when working correctly. That said, if I see a new fan that is more efficient, that will fit this radiator perfectly, I would probably buy it.

[cfairweather]

Steve- I have never used one of those degree wheels, but I have some questions. I watched a video of someone using one and he used the flywheel TDC mark to set the TDC index pointer on the degree wheel. He trusted the mark on the flywheel. Did you use a spark plug micrometer to verify the TDC marks? Again, never used one, but it seems to me that there are issues with adjusting both 1-2 and 3-4 using the same wheel on the camshaft. It seems to me, it would be much more accurate to mount the degree wheel on the crankshaft pulley and then use a micrometer to verify TDC. This would remove all the issues of belt tension, camshaft play and other variables from the equation. If the flywheels have been marked incorrectly, I think it would be wise to remark them, so they can be trusted. Are there specific ones that were incorrect, or all of them? It is hard to imagine that Honda would make a mistake like that. I have always trusted the mark and had no issues setting the timing using a static light, but I am not surprised that static timing may result in consistent advanced timing. If static timing consistently results in 6 degrees advanced, would it be better to set the static timing using the TDC mark, which is 5 degrees later? I admit, I would be hesitant to do this.

[dontwantapickle]

... it would be much more accurate to mount the degree wheel on the crankshaft pulley and then use a micrometer to verify TDC. This would remove all the issues of belt tension, camshaft play and other variables from the equation.

Yep.
Having always been suspicious of having the ignition hanging off the end of the cam and the potential issues it could cause,
I've degreed a couple different goldwings (off the crankshaft with a piston stop) and have not found any with a mis marked crank.
Now, I just static time them with the factory marks, get them to run and then adjust to taste.

But since this thread is about the ebay aluminum radiators, Mount it up and let us know how it went.

[redglbx]

Yep Don/Cedric, gotta do a piston stop on #1 to verify that the TDC mark is accurate which mine was/is and then go to the t2 marks which are off on mine, this is what caused mine to be such a thrashing machine because the 2 cylinder pairs were fighting each other hard.

I agree that timing it off the crank pulley is the “correct” way to do it but that would require removing the radiator to do it and my custom built radiator is a giant PITA to put in so I tend to avoid it. And on mine timing it off the cam pulley allows me to balance the cylinder pairs which gives me a better running wing. Is it perfect? No but way better than it was and I believe much more accurate than static timing it.

I do a static time when initially doing the setup and then fine tune things by doing a dynamic time, which I also check the advancer as well. That’s what I do.

[cfairweather]

so the T2 marks are off on the flywheel. I wonder how many are wrong. Is your engine a 1976? If this new Timing Plug design will work, it would just cause people to remark the T2 side or use the T mark when you set timing for 3-4. I am tempted to buy a sparkplug gauge to check mine but I have no desire to use a degree wheel. I will be using the flywheel even if I have to change the marks.

[Old Fogey]

It seems to me, it would be much more accurate to mount the degree wheel on the crankshaft pulley and then use a micrometer to verify TDC. This would remove all the issues of belt tension, camshaft play and other variables from the equation.

Thinking:
That would seem logical to get it accurate, until you start it up and all those issues are immediately brought into play.

[cfairweather]

I have installed the radiator and it went pretty good with some minor issues. First, I am impressed with the overall quality of the radiator. It has a nice look and I am going to leave it unpainted. If you buy one of these, be prepared to make a few adjustments but nothing complicated. The first issue I ran in to was the mounting points for the fan. I had to slightly bend a couple of these. The second issue was when I tried to mount the two side air fins. The first side went ok but the fit was very tight. Take your time and work it into place. The other side was a bigger issue. It would not go on until I filed 1/8" of one of the mount points. Not a big deal. The only other issue was the over flow tube is pointed in the wrong direction. I thought about fixing it but then decided I could live with it. I had to move the Dyna style coils about 1/2 inch and then installed a longer hose. It worked out great. So, for now, I would recommend this radiator to anyone willing to make a few changes. Looks pretty good and soon I will find out if it works.

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