Help relocating my 04.5 500 rad?

[Rubberdown]

I'm sure if I could use that "other" forum this would be easy because it has been disgussed to death over there, but I want to do my rad and it would be great if one of you fine fellows could help me out. What all needs to be done, and where do I get the hoses etc etc. How do I fill it, burp it etc etc.

I plan to make the bracket out of angle iron like Dirtbwm20 would do, but mu machine is an older one, no front storage box. So I'm sure I'll have to bolt it down some how, but are there any things that MUST be done to ensure proper coolant flow and what now? I will have to make sure the overflow bottle is higher than the fill hole right?

Thanks.

[Donut Slayer]

Sorry I cant help RD, but from some of the members here I'm sure they will give you great tips. And I'll be watching too, cause thats one thing I want to do to my popo next.

["Bankrupt"]

as you saw in the rad cleaning thread theres a few tricks i learned.

first off, from the factory your hose has a T where the fill neck connects. be sure to keep the flow of your radiator going through the straight part of the T. having the overflow bottle higher or lower does not matter. having it higher just keeps the system from filling up with creek or muddy water. having the fill neck above the radiator helps alot on burping the system but is not a must. i used a 20 oz coke bottle to do mine. just fill the system up, cut the very bottom of the coke bottle off and stick the neck (where the cap goes) into the fill neck, fill the bottle up and it burped within 45 seconds.

dont skimp and buy the grey pvc fittings from a hardware store. i went to lowes and looked the the lawn sprinkle section and found some 1, 1 1/4, 1 1/2 and bigger brass fittings. they had some straight barbed connectors and some barbed with 1" threads. i used some pipe junction and screwed the brass fittings into them to make a T. the plastic pvc will melt and collapse when the water gets over 160. i had 2 that melted and the hole was less than 1/2 big after it melted.

the brass fittings are close to the pvc and plumbing supplies. they were fittings for a in ground sprinkler i think. the barbed brass fittings worked great. they did 100X better than the plastic and the bike cooled alot better.

as for hose, i went to my local auto parts store where i buy alot of misc stuff and the manager let me walk back and fumble through all their radiator hoses until i found 2 with the right diam i needed.

as for the mount, its all up to what you like. i found it a ton easier to move the rad on my 03 compared to my 07. not having to deal with the new style front box on the 03 made it much better.

if you have any questions you know all you have to do is ask. drop me a pm or post here.

[bmdjmd]

ya know the part about not using anything plastic is the first time i have seen that metioned i got to say thats the smartest thing i think i have read about relocating the rad.

["Bankrupt"]

heres the barbed fittings i used.

http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/659647/659647911059sm.jpg
lowes numbers are Item # 87777 Model # PPMA100 and thats for a 1"



and heres the straight (in-line) ones.

http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/659647/659647911271sm.jpg

lowes numbers. Item # 97420 Model # PPIC100 (thats for a 1")

and this is what happened to a 1" plastic fitting i used. this all happened within 2 or 3 hours of putting it on. those holes were 1" when i started. when i took them off, they were less than 3/8 of a inch. the only reason i even knew it happened was that the plastic melted so much, the fitting shrank and the hoses fell off because the clamps were so loose.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/ereagan2180/P1020072.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/ereagan2180/P1020073.jpg

[bmdjmd]

HOLY CRAPSICLES, that does melt down pretty good, im realllly starting to think about this, of course on my grizz but none the less most if not all this ideas will work for me.

[Dirtbmw20]

Hollar if you need some help, ain't nothing to it.

[Rubberdown]

thanks guys, so basically, I need some brass fittings and longer hoses to extend the factory hoses right? And keep everything basically flowing in the same direction without any new "T's" or elbows to disrupt the flow right? And I can keep the filler neck the way it is as long as I make it to it can pivot forward to an upright position for filling and burping right????

[Dirtbmw20]

yep, you got all the basics down bro. The plastic fittings that are MADE for heater hoses is perfectly fine to use but pvc fittings are not made to handle temps above 160*, you can get the correct plastic fittings at any auto parts store but if you want tot use metal fittings then ain't nothing wrong with that either.