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Looking at some ebay things and saw this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1983-Hon ... 2eb076b38c

It goes behind the cartrige canister that is our oil filter cover and is held on by the same screw. I would just need to order a longer bolt.

Will this fit on a gl1100 or gl1200? Has anybody tried it?

oil coolers are a neat thing for air cooled engines. however on a water cooled engine they serve little purpose. oil needs to be warm to do its job. even on HD air cooled, they often recommend blocking off part of the cooler to allow the oil to reach operating temp

I tried an oil cooler on my 77 a couple years ago as a winter project, It had no effect whatever on my engine temperature. even on long hauls down the freeway...

I know that this is an old thread AND 'Yes' its a European RAT-BIKE.......( So no unnecessary decoration with fur ,horns or old bits of scrap metal ! ) ..........but I just thought that I would add my 2 cents worth. I always change my engine oil with the engine running to make sure that I get as much muck and sediment out as possible, I have one hand on the kill switch and the moment that the sump plug comes loose the engine is killed. The oil always comes out VERY hot and the under engine 'Cooling Fins' that are cast into the block are always very hot after a run. So since I happened to have an oil cooler left over from another project and I was convinced that the oil WOULD get up to a high enough temperature that it was worth cooling I decided to try it and see if it operated at all.
I have fitted an oil cooler to the top of the left hand engine crash bars , and it is controlled by an oil thermostat unit from Mocal, which is a very well known and good brand, so no oil temperature equals no opening The cooler is about 7 inches by 4 inches, and the thermostat opens on EVERY journey !! So the oil is reaching at least 82 Degrees in temperature for the unit to operate.
Based on the Mocal thermostat operating even in cold weather, I would say that ALL Goldwings would benefit from a proper oil-cooler. My radiator is in perfect condition and is actually a rebuilt unit which is slightly larger than the standard Honda rad and my water pump was replaced about a year ago so there is no problem in my water cooling circuit. I did also check the Mocal thermostat in very hot water with a thermometer before fiting the unit, and it worked perfectly..........................So in my opinion an oil cooler is a VERY GOOD idea !

Wow no that's a real rat bike very cool. See to many bikes that have messed up paint so the owner rattle cans it black and calls it a rat bike. The rear fender and the front wheel covers. I agree on the oil cooler, heavy duty trucks all use them, I don't think one is nessasary on a wing and if you got overheating issues adding an oil cooler is treating a symptom not fixing the cause. But as long as you use the thermostatic valve it won't hurt anything.

to answer the question asked yes it will fit but its not a longer bolt its a small bolt that holds the plate to the motor then the filter bolts on like normal. its a strange looking bolt and i cant find a pic of it atm

I was given one of these. I doubt I'll use it unless I move to a warmer clime. I am missing the bolt and like above, I figured it was a longer bolt. It would be nice to see what is supposed to be there.

CYBORG wrote:oil coolers are a neat thing for air cooled engines. however on a water cooled engine they serve little purpose. oil needs to be warm to do its job. even on HD air cooled, they often recommend blocking off part of the cooler to allow the oil to reach operating temp

What Cy said.IMO.

Greg.

backyardbob wrote:I tried an oil cooler on my 77 a couple years ago as a winter project, It had no effect whatever on my engine temperature. even on long hauls down the freeway...

How were you measuring engine temp though?

If you are talking about water temp, it won't make any difference as the water temp is controlled by the water rad and thermostat and the fan.

If you mean oil temperature, I don't see how it could fail to make a difference! In racing an Imp 1000cc engine it will drop the temp from 135°c to a more normal 95-100°c, which is a huge difference as far as the oil is concerned.

It needs to be in a good air flow...and with a good warm-air escape path.

Well Said Hal,
.......and an excellent point that an 'Oil Cooler' will have NO effect on the water temperature, as that is a totally separate system, with the thermostat as its own 'regulator'
My oil cooler is controlled by an inline Thermostat. If the oil reaches 82 degree Centigrade then it opens to cool the oil. It opens and the oil cooler metal gets HOT on EVERY journey even in winter....Therefore...the oil IS getting hot and you need a cooler...especially as I am now in southern France where it is just a bit hotter than England!
It would be interesting to see an oil Temperature gauge fitted to a standard GolgWing..and to have a true reading of the oil temp. ...My money is on it being high, over 100 degrees C.......especially in the southern states of the USA when stuck in traffic
Alb.

We've been into this in depth on Lotus cars. The stock Elise has a quite low powered K series Rover/MG group engine known for being very lightweight. It was developed from a little 1400cc city car lump. The stock S1 Elise had no oil cooler.

Once people started fitting oil temp gauges, they started to notice that on the motorways sometimes the oil was going well over 100°, in some cases pushing towards 130°C, which is far from ideal.

They started fitting a thing called a Laminova, which is a water/oil intercooler.

I don't like these things, you are using boiling (or near) water as the coolant for oil....seems silly when air is free and much cooler, so I got into ducted cold air systems with an oil rad in them.

On my little white Davrian, this duct opens into the rear panel, where a low-pressure area is created by the aerodynamics which helps suck the cold air through the length of the duct, which is fed by a shoulder intake.

On my old 1999 Lotus Elise, which was tuned to over 200bhp from the 1800cc engine, at 155mph on the autobahn, it maintains a nice healthy 90°C oil temperature, where before it would have been off the scale. It has an oil/air cooler fitted in the airstream from the right side intake duct behind the door.

Ideally, oil temp should be about the same as water temp.

Oil will start to lose its lubrication properties at 135°C.