well some news but still not 100% sorted... Evan's coolant is now in there. Started it up no hard hoses or anything like that. Went up to 106 no problem took 10- 13 mins to reach that temp. Then the bloody fan wouldn't turn so was poking it with a screw driver, it was trying but kept stopping. Anyway looks like the RR4 just starts the fan slowly to start with so never had the beans to overcome the slight tight spot I have on the fan... got to 115 with no fan.. poked the fan again and it started spinning hurray!! Anyway short lived as the fan came loose from the motor and the motor then just span without any fan attached argh!!! I wasnt happy Anyway have dropped the rad down now and the plastic fan has melted away from the motor!! managed to sort it removed the spare RR4 fan I have here and transplanted it over. Now no binding of fan so "should" tomorrow be all sorted and I can test if she can cool under the fans power... Bloody right pain this stupid silly issue!!
Well just been on the phone with the MD of the company who is supplying the RCV fairing to the motogp teams for the next two years I ordered a mudguard about a month ago in fiberglass, chaps calls me this morning he went to package it up and it had cracked so hes going to send me a carbon kevlar one from Pedrosa's spare bike (which they have there) for the same money. Im in discussions with him regards the full fairing for the bike too, hes going to put together the fairings from Hayden's bike to measure the frame distance to be sure its going to fit the frame. Anyway, I wont believe it 100% until I have the mudgaurd here in my hand, just seems like dream material at the moment but who knows??? Guy seems genuine and payment are via paypal so protected.. Will await the mudguard before ordering anything else but come on pedrosa's actual mudgaurd on the project!! haha
If its true then thats fantastic news but just to be sure ask him if Pedrosa can come round and fit it..... Whilst Hayden makes the tea....
haha, yeah if he agrees to that then something smells fishy They dont have a website but done some digging on the company and they do have ties to Moto2 and some factory team work so I think its genuine.. Im quite excited Also they can do the fairings for cost if I can get some good publicity How can I say no to that even if it means more delays and expense to the project... too good to turn down IMO
Chain is here and ive ridden it up the road!!! need to lower the rear is very high but apart from that all is good Wheels are forged OZ wheels but a slight older model to the current range, not sure what they are called
ok cheers. why is the rear higher than before? sort the cooling and the fan out now? does the fan cool the engine down?
I think the shock height needs adjustment, the shock was on the 98 frame before and the 96 has different mounting points. Need to just play around with the height till it feels right and go from there.. Fan works thank goodness, holds the bike stable at 103 - 105, while stationary. The plastic fan wheel from the RR4 must be out of balance though as it produces a lot of vibrations and doesnt provide that much air movement.. Im thinking of perhaps an aftermarket uprated fan, once its on the road think it will be ok though.. its border line so a better fan unit could just be enough
the fan should bring the temp down to well under 100°, possibly under 90°, something else is up mate, try manually switching on the fan at 90° and see what it does, as 102-105° is way too hot for the bike
The fan doesnt come on until 106 though Skippy (standard RR4 temp), and I presume will turn off around that temp also... So its never going to bring it down to under 100.. If its cools as well as a standard RR4 should then I dont see any issue. But would like to see that fan turn off again I agree... Perhaps someone could confirm when the RR4 fan should turn off, what temp?
not 100% sure, but I think around about 100, or just under it, but someone will have a test for you soon I think
thanks Skippy but you could be right Just went out there again to look at my side stand cut off switch as it cut out during the test ride when I put it in gear with the side stand up and thought I know I will check the coolant level to be sure its still full. Cracked the rad cap and couldnt see any coolant added 1/2 a litre to bring it back to the top.. Now it either had air trapped in there and now its found its way to the top which is possible I guess. Not checked it for two hot start ups now. Or the head gaskets gone Praying it not the head gasket or thats engine out again but with the rad only half full would explain why the fan wasnt doing a great job of cooling... anyway Will have to retry tomorrow once again
Just a little trick I use when theres a likelihood of air locks is to find a hose that will fit tightly into the top of the rad (past where the cap seals), it needs to be about a foot long. Add the coolant to near to the top of the hose and leave overnight. The pressure of the added height will more often than not help any airlocks to find their way to the highest point
also when filling the rad, leve the cap off and give some throttle you'll see air pockets coming up and the level dropping. When I have to fill mine I always need another few 100 ml to top it off. I bet that will be it, 0.5Ltr is alot of coolant that was missing..... glad you found it and hopefully it'll be a go'er tomorrow If there wasn't any oil in the water the first then I highly doubt that the head gasket has gone, fingers crossed on that one!
Yes I really hope it hasn't was a good half a litre short but with this coolant don't know how it will react with oil anyway.. Looked at the oil level through the sight glass and it also looked clear and clean. Great news if this is just air coming out the system as with another half litre of coolant flowing in there I'm sure the rad will cope
Did my coolant the other weekend. It took less than 3 litres to top up and the book says over 3 litres is needed, You aren't the only one with Malaysian Coolant
