Hi Jason!! Good to see you are chipping in here! Actually my DIY project took a 180* turn...I was inspired by your oil cooler project and decided to use my 5.2" spall, wire it in reverse to convert it to puller fan, built a DIY fan shroud and see how it goes. I hope you don't mind applying your idea on my SPAL 5.2" fan. If you have any tips or pointer on this build, please let me know. One thing I know for sure, I need to cut off the middle section of the OEM oil cooler mount to clear the bigger fan.

For the engine cooling, I just put a $50 deposit for you FCS fan!! Look up under 'Andy Gunawan' order, He is my friend living in LA and He is helping me with order and shipping to me. Can't wait to have your fan here!
BTW: I ordered black case and stainless grille, I am having second thought and wanting all black now. Should I ask Andy to call you and change the order or we can consider this post as a notice for you?

Thank you very much!

 

I am OCD, I would go to my garage at 2AM and tear apart my fairing to check if I forget to solder a wire..

 

Agree totally - those fans, small as they are, and as large as the task seems, really seem just the ticket. There is just no downside to FCS, especially considering the cost and payback.

I remember all the hype about how the Segway was going to be such a game changer - without hesitation I'd say the FCS is the real deal, a real plus for our motors, and a lot cheaper than a Segway too!

FCS is that good, well worth it.

 

The spal fans come in pusher and puller configurations, they have a different impeller blade design. Not sure if they are polarity protected and only run one way, but if you can run your pusher "backwards" it will work just probably not as well as the model designed to be a puller. Making that big fan fit was a challenge, when it was done I had about an 1/8" clearance on the front fender, but it cleared. Yes the 5.2" is about 2 1/2 times the displacement as the 4", but I honestly think the 4" will provide all the airflow the heat exchanger can use if it is properly shrouded, and it will be easier to fit in there. Funny thing is after all that work on the oil cooler I don't run it any more. After installing the FCS on my bike, I turned off the oil cooler fan off so I wouldn't get false performance readings for the FCS. After evaluation I decided to set my oil cooler fan to come on at 220F and it rarely ever gets there. Have fun with the project, hit me up if I can help.
I'm traveling so I made a note to change your screens to black, if you don't see it when I send the balance invoice, don't pay it, drop me an email and I will correct and send a new one.

 

Oh well, very common in this hobby to buy something just to find out it's going to sit there in the garage unused........hahahahaha...I'll make it work, I already have it sitting there might as well use it...what do you think about leaving it as pusher and put it in front of the oil cooler? Will it hit the fender on full compression? I can fabricate a fancy cover so it doesn't look fugly...

 

Coat your header with good ceramic coat. That will reduce the heat you feel on right leg...it's all in WPW website, read it front to back.

 

Just for clarification, I am not questioning FCS fan, that many happy customer cannot be wrong, that's why I ordered one. I was questioning the horn location 5.2 Spal fan I am diy ing, majority of the flow is towards that temp sensor...

 

I tried making several different "adapters" to couple the original fan housing to the heat exchanger. I could not gain enough clearance to make it work. After a lot of effort and many attempts I finally thought what about ditching the fan housing and just put the fan and blade into my own billet adapter that attached direct to the heat exchanger. this allowed me bring the fan about 1/64" away from the face of the heat exchanger, which If I remember correctly, gained me about 5/8" clearance over the intermediate adapter technique. I used a Jagg 10 row for my project, the OEM cooler is considerably smaller. I honestly think the 4" fan will be a easier to work with.

 

Ordered the 4" fan already I think my 5.2" will be gathering dust...
I will fabricate mount and shroud from aluminum or stainless sheet, we'll see how it turn out. My aesthetic skill really suck, but I can make almost everything works

Do you recommend ditching the thermostat and plugging the bypass hole on the oil filter adapter to force all oil to go through the cooler? I am not going to worry at all about cold weather, it is non existent here.

 

No I wouldn't disable the thermostat function. Living in a "hot" climate does not automatically negate the benefit of a thermostat. I live in Phoenix AZ now and I still use an oil thermostat. Nobody ONLY rides when the ambient temp is above 90-100F, the weather does change seasonally, even if only a little; we ride at night sometimes, we ride to different locations with different weather, and sometimes we ride in the rain. Even when the ambient temp drops to 70-80F it takes a long time for the oil to warm up. The Oil needs to get up to operating temperature as quickly as possible, my low limit benchmark is 180F, then we can start controlling the oil temp from getting too high. The thermostat provides an automatic control valve to direct oil to the heat exchanger after it warms up. That said, there isn't any published evidence of serious impact from not using a thermostat, that I could find.