Running hot

[Tengu]

I took the bike to work this morning and all was well

Riding home tho was a little different; even before sitting in the traffic she felt like she was getting a liitle warm and after a few kms of stop start she was very hot...
today is a coolish day and a lot of wind (in Brisbane)

Are there any ideas to help the old girl run a little cooler? She hates traffic

Will one of Randy's larger oil cooler bars work the trick? (when they are ready to go)

[ribbert]

This is the only bike related issue that doesn't affect all FJ's as most seem to live and ride in places where it's not a problem. The old FJ mill will take quite a bit but you can overheat them and do serious damage.  With no temp gauge, there is no benchmark for how hot is too hot and  therefore can't be described. For example, I find 15 mins commuting on an already hot motor (eg. returning to the city after a ride) or 20 - 30 mins from cold on a hot day - say mid 30'sC- is getting too hot for my liking. I am the only one here I know of that has killed a low mileage motor as a direct result of overheating. You could move to synthetic oil and raise the needles one groove to richen it up but neither of these will have a significant effect.  Bigger oil cooler is definitely the go. Pull up a photo of a Suzuki Bandit or most any other modern naked (so you can see) air cooled big bore 4 and look at the size of the coolers on them.
Noel

[Tengu]

thanks Noel
I had thought about richening her up a bit but didnt think it would make that much difference

My 90 FJ does wonderfully even in summer so long as she is moving, and loves the hinterland mountains

I had my eyes on the bigger oil coolers as soon as I saw them on Randy's site, but I think he is still testing them

Too hot for me is when I cant touch the engin ewith bare hands for even a second and when the heat outlet grills inside the fairing are too hot to touch and the bottom of the petrol tank and the side panels are more than warm