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[LovemyCVOgirl]

When I was on vacation we stopped at a gas station and while fueling this guy pulls in on a 2007 Ultra.  He starts bragging about how he changed out everything in the engine and now he has a 110.  He proceeds to give me advice on how to cool my engine.    I'm pumping gas and he just keeps talking.    He had a two into one exhaust, not sure which brand, but the damn thing was a golden gold in color...I assume his tune was horrible to turn a pipe that color.    Anyway, he showed me where he cut a hole in his highway bars and ran a black tube to the hole, pumped his oil through the bars and ran it through a tube coming out the other side back into his oil pan. He says that it requires another quart of oil to keep full.  I have never seen nor heard of this before but my concerns are what if anything punctured your highway bar or if your bike fell over and highway bar developed a leak?  As anyone else ever seen this done before?

[rayz1951]

A friend of mine did that to a road glide years ago.  He drilled a hole on each side of his crash bars and ran the oil through.  He made sure the bars were cleaned inside by flushing them out several times and used proper fittings.  It supposedly kept the temp. down. I think he did it that way because he was too cheap to buy an oil cooler.  He passed away a couple of years ago so I couldn't tell you if it did the job as well as a cooler.

[grc]

When I was on vacation we stopped at a gas station and while fueling this guy pulls in on a 2007 Ultra.  He starts bragging about how he changed out everything in the engine and now he has a 110.  He proceeds to give me advice on how to cool my engine.    I'm pumping gas and he just keeps talking.    He had a two into one exhaust, not sure which brand, but the damn thing was a golden gold in color...I assume his tune was horrible to turn a pipe that color.    Anyway, he showed me where he cut a hole in his highway bars and ran a black tube to the hole, pumped his oil through the bars and ran it through a tube coming out the other side back into his oil pan. He says that it requires another quart of oil to keep full.  I have never seen nor heard of this before but my concerns are what if anything punctured your highway bar or if your bike fell over and highway bar developed a leak?  As anyone else ever seen this done before?

Yup, there are plenty of folks who have used their crash bars as "oil coolers".  There is more to it than just drilling a couple holes, but if someone really wants to do it, and take the time to do it correctly, it will add some extra oil capacity and a small amount of oil cooling.  The flip side is that the crash bars will get awfully hot.  And as you mentioned, if you bang the crashbar and crack it or knock a fitting or hose loose, you could dump all your oil.  Of course that is also true of real oil coolers like the one mounted on your bike directly behind the front tire.

Personally, I wouldn't bother doing that to my crash bars.  If I want more oil capacity, I'll install a bigger oil pan.  If I want more oil cooling, I'll buy and install a real oil cooler with much higher capacity and performance than the stock Harley part.  IMHO, this is one of those things that tinkerers might want to do just to say they did it, but it isn't worth the effort in terms of real performance.  And if it's done incorrectly, it can cause more problems than it purports to solve.


Jerry

[Fired00d]

Yup, there are plenty of folks who have used their crash bars as "oil coolers".  There is more to it than just drilling a couple holes, but if someone really wants to do it, and take the time to do it correctly, it will add some extra oil capacity and a small amount of oil cooling.  The flip side is that the crash bars will get awfully hot.  And as you mentioned, if you bang the crashbar and crack it or knock a fitting or hose loose, you could dump all your oil.  Of course that is also true of real oil coolers like the one mounted on your bike directly behind the front tire.

Personally, I wouldn't bother doing that to my crash bars.  If I want more oil capacity, I'll install a bigger oil pan.  If I want more oil cooling, I'll buy and install a real oil cooler with much higher capacity and performance than the stock Harley part.  IMHO, this is one of those things that tinkerers might want to do just to say they did it, but it isn't worth the effort in terms of real performance.  And if it's done incorrectly, it can cause more problems than it purports to solve.


Jerry

That was my first thought/concern. Those of us that have/run lowers on our bikes this could cause damage. The other options you speak of IMO would be much better alternatives. The number one thing is to keep the bike moving... nothing you can do or add is going to make much difference unless you getting air movement around an air cooled engine.

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

[DCFIREMANN]

I glad he did it and not me!!!!! A good tune and constant air flow will keep these bikes in the temp range they we designed.

Be Safe

THE DAWG