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BCS #641-07 Setrab Horizontal
Mount Cooler
Installed On A Commando
Hello. A little while before Christmas I
purchased a Setrab horizontal oil cooler from you. Not long after I placed the
order I received a phone call from one of your guys, ( I forget who), thanking
me for the order and asking me for some feed back on the installation as this
was a new product. I appreciate the call as this was another example of why I
like doing business with you. Service is always friendly and helpful and there
seems to be a genuine concern for customer satisfaction.
I bought the Setrab because it was exactly the styling I was looking for, clean
and simple. Most of the other oil coolers I had looked at always had that
adapted from an air compressor or refrigerator evaporator look. I was originally
looking to adapt a Triumph Trident unit but it was too large and expensive. I
planned to mount it on my Commando in the same manner and location. When I
received the unit I was impressed by the Quality and feather lightness. As I
started holding the unit up to the bike I grew a little worried. I can't stand
stuff that looks like it was just stuck on. It has to fit right and it has to
look like it belongs there. I have found in the past that adding new things to
my Norton that where not part of the original design is a real challenge as
there really isn't a lot of space or spare room to play with. The original plans
I had for placement meant that I would have to move the coils. Due to their size
I could find no spot to move them to that I found pleasing to the eye. The only
option was a smaller dual lead coil maybe down below the air filter, but I also
did not want to lay out the extra money at this time, besides, I sort of like
where the coils are now.
So that basically left in front of the frame downtubes somewhere. Next
problem...,I have an "S" model which meant precious space was clogged
with header pipes. If I had a low pipe commando I may have gone with a vertical
unit between the frame tubes. This left me with either above the headers or
below. Below would subject it to stones thrown from the front wheel. So above it
was. As both spigots exit from the same side of the cooler I had to fabricate
for a bottom mount so that the oil lines would run on the same side of the bike
as the oil tank fittings. I fabricated a platform from a 6" piece of 1 1\4
x 1\8 aluminum angle and made 1" wide U clips from stainless sheet. The U
clips have 1\16 thick strips of rubber glued to the inside of them so as not to
damage the frame. As I mocked up the whole affair using the template I made
before I built my final bracket I was still having second thoughts about whether
or not I was going to like this, however upon final assembly I was pleasantly
pleased. The unit is rather subtle and out of the way which is fine with me. As
a matter of fact I found it a little difficult to get good pictures of the
result as it sort of blends into the clutter of my messy garage. Any way it's
tucked up safely out of the way but in a place where it should get a good blast
of air.
Most stuff I have read seems to regard oil coolers unnecessary on a regular
street Commando and they are probably right. I do however have the old central
oil tank which was the worst for cooling and on top of this was a little fact I
stumbled across while doing an oil change. The manual lists capacity as 2.8L. It
also says to only fill the level 1\2 way up the stick. I did a volume
calculation on the tank dimensions and found that it was 2.8L if you filled it
to the very brim. If you filled it to 1\2 way up the stick you can get about
1.8L in which would explain why I couldn't get the recommended amount into the
tank. So after a long ride with a half full oil tank that drools even more oil
out the poorly sealing cap, burns some oil, spits some out the breather and
leaks a bit, the small amount of oil that's left might be getting pretty warm.
Better safe than sorry.
C'mon spring. Regards - Norm Fernengel
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