I took the fairings off my 'F' to work on it and discovered that many of the soft aluminium 'fins' on my oil cooler were leaning over. I believe some idiot has reached in and pushed them over with his finger! I've tried to bend them back up but it's very hard to do, they are so many in number and so soft to work with. Will this seriously affect my oil cooling? Does anyone know of a fix for this? Thanks in advance.

[attachment deleted by admin]

Those bent fins are caused by insect or stone impact. It is normal and will not affect the cooling performance yet.
Iam a fussy bugger and straighten them out myself. It is not difficult if you arer careful. Use a small "pick" and work very slowly. Patience is the most important tool here!

Macka

Affect yes probably a 'little' .... Seriously affect? No...

Mine is/was the same.... It happens.... If I got time and patience sometimes I'd get out the small flat screwdriver and just ease them straight a little... But it's fiddly and annoying and they get pushed back around by stones flicked up I think?

Move them back and forwards too much and I thought they might fracture and leave a gap deeper into the core... So now I just shrug and go meh ... If it really bugs you then you might be able to engineer a small stone guard mesh in there...

Or upgrade the cooler at same time... There is a thread or two in the forum about that.... looks sweet too... If only I had time and funds .. I still think I have to sell the bike 

When I bought my bike mine where much much worse than that.  They had the forks pushed back into them by the PO and it worked fine.  I picked up a new cooler for 45 bucks on ebay problem solved.

I believe there's a tool for this... someone I know use to work in a radiator plant - that shut down recently. he has a bunch of weird radiator related tools.. one set corrects the fins almost like new. like the others above, I just sat there for a few hours correcting the finds with a dental pick.

Yep......a fin comb   



I wouldn't worry too much about the damaged fins, going out on a hot/cold day and the subsequent ambient temperature will have more off an effect on cooling.

Quote from: sledge on March 24, 2015, 01:23:22 PM
Yep......a fin comb   



I wouldn't worry too much about the damaged fins, going out on a hot/cold day and the subsequent ambient temperature will have more off an effect on cooling.

don't remind me... just had a 90 degree day a few days ago, took the GS around the block. OH GOD THE HEAT FROM THE GS. feels like all the hot air gets blown off the engine into your legs.. I gotta get me one of those combs.... bet I could make profit from un-knowing friends "I can fix those fins for you, 10 bucks..." lol

  A fin comb? I shouldn't be surprised they exist, considering how prevalent air-conditioning is. One of those would come in handy though 

I have had one of those fin combs for over 20 years. In theory they are great but they have very limited applications. If the rows of tubes are close together like the oil cooler and ALL modern cooler units the comb is useless. Also, if the fins are bent over they must first be straightened with a fine pick anyway or you cannot insert the comb. The fin comb works extremely well on commecial applications such as domestic/industrial condensors and radiators where the fins protrude PAST the tubes. Automotive coolers (radiators/condensors etc) do not use protruding fins because of limited space. I am a working mechanic and I have not used my fin comb for about 10 years or more.

Macka