VFR fairings mod

[notme]

I did some stuff to my fairings...... any VFR owners want more details?

[Waylander]

Extra wire mesh. Good for keeping stones out and doesn't look half bad.

[notme]

You were too quick my son, try mr refresh button now.

[Waylander]

Usually don't have that problem.

[notme]

Extra wire mesh. Good for keeping stones out and doesn't look half bad.

A chocolate fish for you, sir.

Also keeps some amount of shit off the front cylinder header pipes.

There are also crash knobs in the second pic....bugger me but cutting expensive fairings is scary!

[Waylander]

A chocolate fish for you, sir.

Also keeps some amount off the front cylinder header pipes.

There are also crash knobs in the second pic....bugger me but cutting expensive fairings is scary!

Just wait till you try painting.

[Swoop]

You modified the coolant bottle as well?

[notme]

You modified the coolant bottle as well?

I did, and got my plastic welding skills down, then a few days later received the replacement coolant bottle that should have been in the kit in the first place!

[sAsLEX]

I understand the extra protection at the front, but why mesh the exhaust vents on the side of the bike?

Wonder how much the through put of airflow will be affected with all the mesh?

[Waylander]

I understand the extra protection at the front, but why mesh the exhaust vents on the side of the bike?

Wonder how much the through put of airflow will be affected with all the mesh?

Exhaust vents on the side WTF? You mean the radiator holes? I'm sure it doesn't affect it much. Honda did it to the SP2.

[sAsLEX]

Exhaust vents on the side WTF? You mean the radiator holes? I'm sure it doesn't affect it much. Honda did it to the SP2.

Exhausting the hot air that has passed through the radiator, not the "exhaust" that you think I am referring to.


Honda did it, yes, Honda employs engineers to test and think about that before doing it I was just raising a possible issue.


Aerodynamics are affected by exhausts/trailing edges as much as leading edges so fiddling with vents will also play with that aspect.

[vifferman]

I like the mesh on the lower guard in front of the headers.
I think that the mesh over the radiators could reduce airflow somewhat - not so much at cruising speeds, but around town it may have a noticeable effect.

But overall, it looks like a well-executed job.

[notme]

Ha, I knew someone would bring up cooling at some point....deservedly I guess.

The mesh on the front mudguard is purely cosmetic, I put it there to continue the theme.

The radiator mesh is there to replace the ugly black plastic OEM guards cos i think it looks better.

The front guard mesh is what i started with after seeing it elsewhere on the net - this one actually has both function AND form as Honda just left that area wide open, so the mesh protects the front cylinders and headers etc from stones and bugs and road shite.

The mesh I used is about 70% open, so compared to the OEM it should allow approx 70% airflow. It is also aluminium which has great thermal conductivity, so I'd expect some more heat to be removed by that method.

All of the above was speculation and guesstimation until the job was done, when I could do the real testing - ride, and watch the temp gauge!

After noting the temp on the ride to work before and after the mod, across a week of varying outside temp, there seems to be approximately 2 deg difference - the bike runs 2 deg hotter. The cooling system still has ample spare capacity, as evidenced on the ride home yesterday in 28deg ambient, when the bike temp got to 103deg pootling thru a heavy stretch of traffic for about 10 mins (and I got to about the same in full leathers....) but then the fan kicks in and it stays at 103 or 104.

So all in all cooling doesn't seem to be affected, I think it looks good, it was cheap to do, and it amused me for a saturday so I'm happy

EDIT: and as for aerodynamics.....the VFR is not exactly a slouch, but it's also not so far out on the bleeding edge of aerodynamic design that any of this affects anything noticable....at least not up to about 230k which is where I get scared and back off!

[vifferman]

The mesh on the front mudguard is purely cosmetic, I put it there to continue the theme.

Oh yeah - I forgot to mention that. It looks kinda interesting. Kind of reminiscent of the vents my VF500 had in the front guard.

The front guard mesh is what i started with after seeing it elsewhere on the net - this one actually has both function AND form as Honda just left that area wide open, so the mesh protects the front cylinders and headers etc from stones and bugs and road shite.

Yeah, I saw that too, and I've considered doing it. I've still got a big piece of aluminium mesh left over from the airscoop on my son's car. (I got about a metre of "insect screen mesh" at Bunnings for $1!)
The 00/01 VFRs have 'suboptimal' headers c.f. the 02-08 models: they're supposedly stainless, but low-grade, so they rust fairly readily. Plus mine started life in UK, which didn't do the metal bits on it any favours.
If/when I get the headers HPC coated, I'll need summat to protect them.

The cooling system still has ample spare capacity, as evidenced on the ride home yesterday in 28deg ambient, when the bike temp got to 103deg pootling thru a heavy stretch of traffic for about 10 mins (and I got to about the same in full leathers....) but then the fan kicks in and it stays at 103 or 104.

It pretty much sux though, dunnit? The problem is that the left-hand radiator fan sucks air in from the outside and blows it across to the right. The thinking is that this is more efficient than sucking hot air off the engine and headers. Fair enough, but if you're moving the fan is working opposite to the airflow generated by moving. If/when I can be bothered, I may put in an override switch that can shut off the fan when I'm moving. One triggered by a signal from the speedo sensor would be smart (and reasonably easy to do). Another thing that would be good is to have another fan that kicks in that works to blow air in the opposite direction when traveling slowly.

[notme]

The fan thing is an interesting one huh?

I might have a play/investigate. Worth noting though is this from

http://vfrworld.com/forums/fifth-gen...direction.html

"I agree that 220F is hot. One of the reasons for this is to clean out the catalatic converter. When it gets hot enough, it will burn out a lot of the carbon which gathers there and stops it up. Engine heat is the only way the converter will work properly. Also hot engines run cleaner. A hot engine burns the fuel more completely. That helps Honda meet the EPA regs. I put a switch on my 83's fan, because that engine is less capable of dealing with that much heat in the top end causing gaulded cams. Honda has learned a lot since the 1st generation as far as operating temps. I hear of people getting 80-90,000 miles on these gen6 bikes with few or no problems, so I guess I'm going to trust Honda on this one. I would feel better seeing 190-200F at most, but Honda knows best (I hope)."