Thursday 25 August 2016

Evotech Performance: radiator guard

The radiator is a vulnerable component on any motorcycle. Exacerbated by the fact they are almost always located directly behind the front wheel, providing an uninterrupted view to debris. Hmmmm.

A holed radiator will really ruin your day. 
Coolant can be extremely slippery and can take you down before you've realised you have a temperature spike, not to mention the issues with running a bike with a dry cooling system. 

Time to mitigate this risk with a radiator guard. 

Be aware, a radiator guard is not a panacea - it will deflect small rocks and various road detritus, along with bugs - but anything significantly large or determined will get through and cause damage.  

Right then. Introducing the Evotech Performance radiator guard
The company provides a set of 'instructions' via the online PDF (a printed copy is not included) 

For the most part, the instructions are OK - although they do gloss over a fair bit of detail. 

Time for an install post. 

All the required pieces are included, the aluminium brackets are of high quality, as is the hardware and fixings. I appreciate the steel inserts in place of aluminium threads on the guard grill, it shows thought and intent has gone into the design. Gold Star @Evotech. 


First thing to note is that the guard grill is not square. This is not a manufacturing flaw, this is deliberate. 

The grill is a stamped piece of aluminium, as such it is extremely lightweight. The purposeful twist has been created to introduce rigidity when mounted square, thereby providing tension across the face of the guard. Again, thoughtful design. 


Before getting started I recommend cleaning the radiator fins to remove any existing crud and to ensure the surfaces where you will adhere the anti-vibration strips are clean. 


Two brackets are included, one with 2 holes for the right side, one with 1 hole for the left side (rider perspective). The right side goes on first, seated underneath the stock mounting points, in direct contact with the radiator back plate. 


It is important to note - as it is not explicitly declared in the instructions - you must use the supplied hardware when installing the brackets, do not reuse the stock hardware

If you compare the length of the threads, the provided M6 fixings are longer to account for the added offset introduced by the thickness of the brackets.

Get everything in place and finger-tight, do not snug down yet


Next up, cut the anti-vibration strip in half and adhere to the face of the radiator where there is a ridge. Do this on both sides. 


Install the washer onto the M4 hex bolts and locate them on the guard. At this stage, the left side has not been touched at all (other than sticking on the padded strip).



The left-hand side is a bit different in approach. Instead of installing the bracket, then attaching the guard grill, you first locate the grill - attached to the bracket - before bolting the bracket to the rear plate of the radiator. 


This is where the designed twist becomes obvious. Once you align the grill and left-hand bracket with the mounting point there is a noticeable stiffness, giving confidence you've done things right. 

Refit the last (supplied) M6 bolt finger-tight and inspect your work before snugging all fixings down. 

Note - do not over torque any of the hardware. The M6 bolts are threading into the back plate of the radiator and can quite easily strip the treads if over tightened. 

Likewise, the M4 hex bolts are being wound into steal lugs within and aluminium eye in the guard grill - leaning on these fasteners is likely to sheer the lugs out. 

Done and done. 




\BitSar
........only the undetermined are safe, everything else will find a way through. 

3 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for sharing this great blog.Very inspiring and helpful too.Hope you continue to share more of your ideas.I will definitely love to read.
    brandon auto repair

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks good mate. You've convinced me to order one for my MT09 I'm picking up this week :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good stuff Andrew,
      Congrats on the new bike.

      Thanks for reading.

      Delete