[Sidecar Bob]

Here is what My winter machine (AKA The Famous Eccles) looked like last fall. It is a CX650E with a bunch of CX & GL500 parts and the fairing from my '83 GoldWing. It seems like every year it becomes less like a CX650E and more like a GL650I.

One of the few negatives about driving a sidecar outfit when it is really cold out is the wind that blows between the sidecar & the bike and freezes my right leg. The same wind pushes the warm air from the rad across my left leg, roasting it when it is above freezing. I have been thinking about moving the rad for a few years and last fall I figured out the basics but didn't have time to do it. I also want to put on higher handlebars and raise the fairing a bit so that I can sit a bit more upright. I intend to combine these projects by welding sections of U-channel to the fairing bracket (cowl stay) to raise the fairing and adding supports for the radiator to it at the same time. If I have time I intend to put a deflector with a door in it behind the rad & fan so that the heat will be directed below my foot on warm days but across my legs on cold days.

While hosing the rad out I discovered that it has seen one too many winters and the fins have let go of the tubes in several places. I have a good rad to replace it with. This means that I can do whatever I want to the old rad with no consequences - if it doesn't work out I can still mount the new(er) one the way Honda intended. I started by cutting the upper mounting lugs from the old rad so that it will fit between the fairing bracket and the sidecar body.

I have mocked up where I want the rad to go with some square aluminum tubing and wood. Tomorrow I will measure up what I need and I will pick up some steel over the weekend.

 

[reclinedrelic]

Hey Bob, have you ever considered relocating the driver to the sidecar. You could be toasty warm in there! But I guess that would involve a whole lot more work than relocating the rad. It might be too much of an adventure to drive from within the side car, but you would probably get some looks driving down the road!

 

[DanCX500]

I remember you posting about doing this. Glad to see you've got a start on it! It does look a bit strange! Oh well, we'll get used to it!



I got a hair brain idea today! I was reading Randall's thread on his Dual-Sport build and he had posted a pic of a two part radiator.



Here's my thought. What about moving the radiator to the rear of the bike? The radiator would be two smaller ones that would be enclosed in something resembling rear hard bags. A fan in each would cool when not moving. They would be vented from the front. Besides, I really dislike where the radiator cap is located! Putting a cap just about under the frame is one thing. But having the fairing mount make it impossible to remove, PRICELESS!



This way a rider wouldn't get the blast of the radiator.

 

[Sidecar Bob]

Hey Bob, have you ever considered relocating the driver to the sidecar.

If I "relocated the driver to the sidecar" I might as well get a car

The topic has come up before, but never seriously. There are a bunch of good reasons why not to, including: 1) If I was sitting in the sidecar I wouldn't be able to see past the bike unless I removed the fairing and I would never be able to carry a passenger without at least some weather protection for them. I'm pretty sure that the sidecar seat does not meet the Transport Canada/DOT regulation for minimum operator seat height too. 2) As far as my insurance company is concerned, my bike is essentially stock other than having a touring fairing instead of the original small one and having a sidecar attached. I can only imagine what they would say if I modified it enough to drive from the sidecar and what it would do to my rate.

 

[Sidecar Bob]

I remember you posting about doing this. Glad to see you've got a start on it! It does look a bit strange! Oh well, we'll get used to it!

It looks a bit strange now, but when the fairing is back on and I put the left lower on (have you seen my "Rubbermaid" lowers?) + a panel across the front from the rad to the lower (I won't need the right lower with the rad moved) for winter it should look more natural.

What about moving the radiator to the rear of the bike?

I briefly considered moving the rad to the back end but remember, this is the winter machine and it would be a shame to dump all of that heat behind the bike when it could keep me warmer in February.

I really dislike where the radiator cap is located! Putting a cap just about under the frame is one thing. But having the fairing mount make it impossible to remove, PRICELESS!

The whole time I had this sidecar on the GL500 and the first 4 years it was on the 650 I had the frame clamp for the upper front attachment point between the cylinder head and the carb (a less than optimal setup) because I didn't want to put the frame clamp for the upper front mounting point right above the rad cap. When I replaced the Velorex sidecar's original frame with one from a Ural last year I didn't have much choice but to attach it there, but when I thought about it I realized that the only times I had ever removed the rad cap on this machine I was going to remove the rad anyways so it really didn't matter. But even with the frame clamp almost touching the rad cap it rubbed against the inside of the gas tank's tunnel and I had to drain the tank, take it off and solder up the hole twice last winter. When I was trying to grind a little bit more off of the clamp the second time it occurred to me that if the rad cap wasn't in the way there would be lots of room for the clamp so I became determined to move the rad this year.



If you look carefully at the pic of what it looked like last winter, you will see the extension on the right side of the fairing.The front of the sidecar pushes a lot of air upward and the extension deflects most of the wind that causes away from my right arm & face. Even with the extension in place I will still be able to get at the rad cap much more easily.



BTW: You can also barely see the coolant reservoir - the white object next to the cylinder head. Its the original tank, mounted to the sidecar body on spacers instead of in its original location, buried behind the engine. It was much easier to see and fill there. When I replaced the ignition pulsers with the engine in the frame I was glad I had moved it. I will have to move it again because the rad will be where it was so I think I will see if I can find a more regularly shaped one at a car wrecker.

 

[Sidecar Bob]

I got a couple of pieces of 2" wide by 1" deep U channel from a local fabricator. These will be the spacers to raise the fairing and the upper support for the rad will be attached to the right one. Or maybe both - I haven't decided yet.



A trip to Cycle Salvage yielded a rad from some variety of Shadow and a set of forks that will reduce the GoldWing's trail (a weekend project for later on). This rad is longer & narrower and mounts with lugs that are at right angles to the rad so it will be much easier to build to.



I am getting ready to take the cowl stay off so that I can clean it up enough for welding now. After I get it back on, put the fairing on (to line them up), tack weld the channels to the cowl stay and finalize & tack the rad supports I will post more pics.

 

[calrissian]

Have you considered getting some flexible radiator hoses and mounting the radiator on a pivot or slide or something so you can shift it back to its normal spot in the summer?

 

[Sidecar Bob]

I never even considered that. With the rad in its original location, if I keep my right knee tucked in behind the fairing lower it stays reasonably warm in the winter but I would like to be able to move around a bit more. My left leg roasting when it is warm out is a bigger problem. On days like today it would be more than uncomfortable.

Progress report:

The rad I got was made for use with a separate filler neck with a hose. I got out the torch & un-soldered the filler and the lower hose barb from the old rad and then went to the building supply to look for a plumbing part to join them. The part I got required a slight alteration on the lathe and now it is ready to solder to the filler. I will post pics when I put it together.

Here is what it looks like with the new rad and the fairing in place. What do you think - a bit less strange looking now?

The tacked together framework

After I took the pics I removed the fairing again and tacked the framework together more securely. I also added a diagonal brace between where the rad hangs and the U-channel (the filler neck will bolt to this brace - it will be a bit awkward to get at with the fairing in place, but a lot easier than the original setup).

I changed the fairing attachment a bit. It originally had a metal plate with two 6mm bolts welded on inside each side of the fairing so that when you put it onto the cowl stay the bolts went through holes and nuts went on from below. I have always found this awkward so instead I have screwed 5/16" SS bolts (I went up a size because SS bolts are not as strong) up through the channel instead so that I will be able to put the nuts on (inside the fairing) from where I can see them. Because the flanges of the U-channel are tapered I brazed the heads of the bolts to the channels. I will replace the rusty original plates with new ones made from 1.25" flat steel.

Every year I go to the plant for one day of my vacation to "play in the machine shop" and today was that day. I brazed up all of the stuff I had tacked together with the MIG, modified the plumbing part and made a piece to protect where the tach cable used to go from the end of an old cable (I no longer need a tach cable since the new tach takes its signal from the ignition, but I couldn't get it out with the rad in place). Basically, I cut it the turned piece from the end of the cable of and dressed the end flat just past the recess that the cable sheath goes in and tapped the hole so that a 1/4" bolt will seal it.

 

[Sidecar Bob]

Here are the pics of the rad with the fan attached and (other than paint & straightening up a few fins) ready to install and the rad neck I built up from parts of the old rad and the plumbing piece.

I took a closer look at the writing on the rad and realized that it said "'98 VL800" not VT something - this rad is from a Suzuki Intruder 800, not a Shadow. OK. Not important unless I ever need to replace it.

I figured out what rad hoses I think I need so I visited my friendly auto parts guy and we spent some time looking at hoses in the catalogue and he ordered me one that should fit from the rad outlet to the thermostat housing and another that we hope I will be able to cut the bends I need for the other hoses out of.

The next step will be cleaning up the cowl stay and painting it and then I won't be able to do any more until after I change the transmission.

 

[Sidecar Bob]

The transmission is in, the engine is painted (Duplicolor Cast Coat Iron Engine Enamel) and back in the frame and all of the brackets & bits are made & painted so I have started installing the new rad again.

The modified cowl stay, painted & installed. I also replaced the single square tube strut from the engine mount to the right side of the sidecar subframe with one on each side made of angle and then figured out that I could bolt highway pegs to them.

When I rolled it outside to take pics I realized that the forks hit the piece of angle I welded across the front of the cowl stay. This piece only goes all the way across to keep everything lined up so strength isn't really an issue so I got out the grinder and cut a couple of notches to clear them.

The modified cowl stay from the rear

I spent a bunch of time this week figuring out how to make the rad hoses work. I measured wrong and the upper hose I bought was too short. No problem - I'll just cut it and clamp in a piece of steel tubing. Next I messed around with the lower hose and the block heater and realized that there was no way the hose I bought would do what I wanted it to. It has the right bends for the hose from the bottom of the rad to the block heater but there was not enough left to reach to the engine's water pipe. Then I remembered that I had a couple of spare water pipes so I started playing around with one of them to run from the engine's pipe to the heater but that wouldn't quite work either. But it would work for the upper hose!!! Eureka!!!

Some years ago, when I first installed an inline block heater on my GL500, I cut the angled part off of the front end of its water pipe, leaving just enough of the pipe beyond the clamp that holds it to the engine to attach a hose (with the original rad there wasn't much room for the heater & 2 hoses). I spent a lot of time soldering a ring of copper wire to it for the rib that helps keep the hose form coming off. When we put Eccles together I re-used my original shortened pipe.

For the upper rad hose pipe, the end that originally went into the water pump housing will be connected to the thermostat housing by as short a piece of hose as possible so I cut one ring off of that end and cut the other end as close to the bend as possible. This time I brazed a split ring keyring to the end for the rib - much easier and maybe just a bit better. The arm will bolt to the right hand subframe strut for support.

I couldn't quite get any part of the hoses I have to reach from the block heater to the engine's pipe (changing to the original pipe would only make it hit the left subframe strut) so I brazed a keyring to the piece I cut off of the upper hose pipe. It will join the hose from the heater and a short piece of hose to reach the engine's pipe.

And no, that isn't black chrome. I painted them with Krylon black Appliance Epoxy (its not supposed to be used for anything hot or outdoors but I am experimenting with it on a few bits & pieces). It just looks like good gloss black paint but for some reason the combination of overcast outside and halogen shop lighting made it look like that in the picture.

 

[DanCX500]

Any progress? Looking good!

 

[Sidecar Bob]

The bike is almost back together. I have been taking pics and I might get time to post some more of them tomorrow.

 

[Sidecar Bob]

I moved the fan switch to the top of the rad http://cx500forum.com/index.php?/to...ad/page__p__215619__fromsearch__1#entry215619



It has been working pretty well so far except that I probably should have bought a slightly smaller rad. After a typical 20 minute drive, speeds up to 100 Km/h, temp. around freezing the rad is nice & warm at the top but pretty cold at the bottom. Even after idling for an hour I could still put my hand on the bottom for a few seconds.



I had a few minor setbacks that kept me from spending the time to post the pics until about 2 weeks ago when the drive I had temporarily stored the pics on became inaccessible. The pics are probably recoverable, but I won't have them back for a while. I will try to take some more pics of the finished product tomorrow before I modify & install the lowers.

 

[GLBlinded]

Hi Sidecar Bob,

as if you don't have enough to do, have you ever looked at gl1500 radiators/fans ? While reading through your project post I kept thinking "he should look into goldwing cooling system components. You could have split radiators, use the stock fans/shrouds or develop your own(you are incredibly talented with all you've done to your Eccles), maybe put deflector vents on them that would do the towards/away from you thing. Anyway good luck with your endeavors.

PS I'm envious of the sidecar thing. I'd love to build one of the gl's up for that, then take my dog to parades with me. But I'm not made of that kind of money. YET !

 

[Sidecar Bob]

I don't drive cars and I am pretty frugal when I work on my bikes. I figure between the savings in fuel & insurance costs it is less expensive to own 2 sidecar outfits than it would be to have a car.



I didn't seriously look at any specific cooling system parts other than the original (see pics in 1st post). When I realized that the original rad would be difficult to fit into the space available I figured out what maximum size would fit and went to Cycle Salvage. I dug through their bin of assorted rads until I found one that would fit and was in decent shape. As I mentioned above I originally thought it was from a Shadow and I didn't realize it was from an Intruder until I tried to research its temp sender & fan switch.



The coldest I have been out in without my snowmobile pants was a bit below freezing. The wind blew both pant legs about the same and neither of my legs felt particularly cold (or warm) so I guess it isn't balanced too badly - without the lowers. I intend to put the left lower on pretty much as before but if possible I will modify the right one to close the space across the front of the engine, between the left one and the rad.

 

[DanCX500]

Bob, thought you'd like this.

 

[abecedarian]

Can I suggest that instead of trying to move the radiator, you move the air?



The "nose" of the sidecar is rather blunt and symmetrical. What if it weren't so blunt or symmetrical?

A little "S" sort of curve, bike side protruding farther forward than the curb side.

Maybe just a little wedge, a wind deflector sort of like a "\" mounted in front of the sidecar?

Maybe it would split the wind enough so the heat on your legs would be even?

 

[Sidecar Bob]

Dan:

Cool. I have sent that pic to my former kids (they are still mine but they haven't been kids for years) with the note "Wouldn't you guys have loved one of these when you were that age?"



Abecedarian:

I have tried air dams of various types over the years on several of my past outfits and I even built a body for one that was about 6" longer on the side nearest the bike but none of them ever made as much difference as moving the rad has. And that's only my impression before putting the lowers on.

 

[abecedarian]

Abecedarian:

I have tried air dams of various types over the years on several of my past outfits and I even built a body for one that was about 6" longer on the side nearest the bike but none of them ever made as much difference as moving the rad has. And that's only my impression before putting the lowers on.

It was just a thought I had. If you've tried it or something like it, and it didn't' work I've not much else to say other than good luck.

 

[abecedarian]

*duplicate post*



kind of odd since the forum said I couldn't post too often, then made duplicates...



/me don't know