EOT meter for OEM oil cooler

[dsinned_imp]

Today, i went for a longer ride of about 60 miles, including another up hill climb 7 miles long on a different road from yesterday's ride. The OAT was in the mid 70s, little to no wind today. This time the highest EOC temp reached was 205F, 20 degrees less than yesterday. I think it was a bit cooler outside today compared to yesterday's ride.

The CB1100 has a much less stressed engine than my Triumph Bonneville. The low end torque and gearing is much better too for slow paced rides. The CB can cruise almost effortlessly from 2000 to 3000 rpm. These factors contribute to a cooler running engine with less heat load on the oil cooler.

I'm almost now of the opinion, having gotten use to my new bike, that mounting a pusher fan for riding under relatively "pleasant" conditions is unnecessary.

Nevertheless, I decided to be more conservative and try a smaller, low power pusher fan that I obtained for another project but never used. It only draws about 10 watts with an unspecified air flow rating probably around 100 cfm. This fan is super quiet, comparable to a fan used in a desktop computer, although of more rugged construction. It is in a 120 mm square frame with seven paddle blades about 4.5" in diameter and overall depth of about 32 mm. It's quite cheap too, only $19 on Amazon, made by a Chinese company named GooFit.

http://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Univers...Z6MSH2X4WX

I was able to mount this fan in the center of the oil cooler taking up only 1/3rd of the total frontal area. It was much easier to mount as well and fits the front of the cooler perfectly. It has a much lower profile than the Spal fan and is made of black plastic so it blends in with the CB1100's OEM oil cooler quite well.

I wired the fan to the 12V battery using the Trail Tech temp meter as its controller for automatic On/Off operation. Also, I moved the meter to the center of the handlebar directly behind the ignition switch. Btw, the meter can also display battery voltage as an added perk!

I haven't road tested the fan yet - hopefully tomorrow - but programmed the Trail Tech's On/Off set point to 150F, so that I can make sure it works. Ideally, the optimum set point should be higher, say 180F to reduce the duty cycle of the fan.

Frankly, I don't think this less powerful fan has enough air flow to make much difference. However, the 5.2" Spal fan is quite possibly too much fan and puts a rather heavy load on the battery. I now believe Spal's 4" pusher fan might be about right for this application. Unfortunately, I only have a 4" puller and its not reversible. Spal's pusher costs $45 on ebay. At this point, it will be very easy to swap fans if and when necessary to complete this project.