KDXRIDER.NET

I started a separate thread from my build thread as I feel this info will be of value to all water cooled bike owners and don't want it being lost in my other thread.

Anyways, I believe that H series radiators can be used on an E series bike with the addition of one little add on bracket to the fill side radiator to extend the top mount down to the stock position on the E series radiator and vice versa for an E rad on an H bike. This makes finding a replacement radiator (stock or aftermarket) a lot easier as you can get one from either series of bike. Don't take it as gospel yet but I will be either proven right or wrong real soon.

I believe that I am correct so I have ordered a set of H series aftermarket radiators for my E bike. At $160 a pair for new, all aluminum, high capacity radiators, I think this is a damn good deal. I know, I could have mine fixed (fill side needs to re-cored and mounts straightened) locally but the added cooling capacity of the new ones are probably a good idea for riding in AZ during the summer so why not! Plus, aluminum rads will look trick! As soon as they come in I will do a side-by-side comparison between them and the stock units. If I turn out to be right about the H-to-E swap I will also show what I did to make them fit the E series.

BTW, here is the stock pic from the Ebay add.



If anyone else is interested in a set, here are the ones I bought: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kawasaki-KDX200 ... 2c655acbb9

Looking forward to the results! I recently got a less than perfect used right side to replace the smashed one on my 89. I saw lots of good H series ones, and also the aftermarket set you linked, but did not know if they would fit....

SS, can you let us know if they appear to be high quality pieces when you get them? For that price I might spring for a set. Finding good used ones for a reasonable price isn't all that that easy. Thanks.

Will do!

Thank you.

awesome, I will definitely stay posted!

The radiators arrived today. Initial impression is that they seem pretty sturdy and well built especially for mass produced stuff. They feel more solid than the factory rads by a long shot. Checked the hose openings and all appear to be the correct size. They come with a winged plug for bleeding the left rad and a new cap. I don't know how good the quality of the cap is as it appears to be a non-brand name. I checked to see if the the stock cap fit and it does perfectly.

Here is a couple of pics of them after pulling them out and removing the little baggies with rubber bands sealing the hose openings. (click for even bigger pics!)

OK, I'm going to start with the left side comparison first since it is the easiest. The left side is going to be just a bolt on affair minus the possible tweaking that is sometimes necessary to fit them that seems to be the norm with these cheap Ebay radiators. Here are pics of the left side.

Now, things get interesting! The right side (fill side) radiators are significantly different in size and mounting points. Even with those differences I do believe they can be made to work just fine. These have more capacity so that might be one reason the size difference is so dramatic. If I had a stock H series fill side radiator to compare it to I could give a little more insight into that but I don't. (If someone has a spare they would like to send me for comparison purposes, which I would photograph and post in this thread, please let me know!) Anyways, its just going to take a little American ingenuity to get'r done but it shouldn't be too tough. Once my frame is painted I will start fitting them and update this thread at that time showing, in detail, what it took to make them work. Time for more pics!

Thanks for posting this info, SS109. Those rads look pretty good, even the welding. I think I might get a set of these for my H series (not trying to hijack; I know that's not the purpose of this thread). I'm interested to see how they fit up on your rebuild.

I've been concerned that since these are pretty vulnerable components, being able to get good replacements as our bikes age, even with the H series bikes, is going to be a challenge. Seems that most you see on Ebay are bent, and individual radiators are often priced at half the price of these or more.

Not a hijack IMO. This info was to help E and H series owners on the swapability of the radiators between the two, to review some aftermarket radiators, and a little bit of a how-to. I know I didn't say in my earlier posts but I wouldn't hesitate to run these radiators. I'm very happy with my purchase.

OK, I have now installed the Ebay specials on my bike. I can tell ya, it was a pain in the ass to get it all figured out. The left side should have been a bolt on, but being true to the Chinese radiator reputation, the fit was off enough that it wouldn't bolt up. For alignment I used the bottom mount on the left rad and since it gave the best clearance from the fork tube. Now the left top mount is short by about a 1/4" of lining up so I had to ditch the factory grommet with inner sleeve in favor of my homemade offset insulator. After getting that done the center mount was off big time. I said screw it, I marked it, drilled a 6mm hole, and used two pieces I cut from an old inner tube as an insulator along with a large flat washer. Here is a pic of the center mount alignment issue before I got it into its final position.



After thinking the left was going to be a breeze, and finding out it wasn't, I was kind of dreading the right radiator. Clearance issues were a pain due to the extra length of the high capacity right side radiator. I had to make sure it cleared the fuel tank, the expansion chamber, the fork at lock, and the front fender. I first had to cut the center mount bracket off the rad so as to clear the fuel tank. This was a must to even begin to fit it. I ended up making two small flat brackets to extend from the frame mounts to the radiator's mounting points and drilling two holes in each to get the spacing I needed. I ended up with the rad tilted in a more vertical position than stock. This gave me about 1/4" clearance from the expansion chamber and about 1/4" clearance from the front fender at any point when turning the front end. Unfortunately, the top mount did not give me any clearance from the fork tube at full lock so I had to ditch the factory style grommet with sleeve (too thick pushing the rad outward) like on the left side. I made a thinner version of the factory grommet and that gave me maybe a 1/32" clearance at the fork tube. I then ground and the radiator's top mount until I got about 1/8" of clearance. That was all the mods I did to fit them to the bike itself. I haven't gotten to mounting the radiator shrouds or guards yet so I can't say what you might have to do mounting wise for those.

For now, I feel it was worth the effort but we'll see once i get out in the AZ summer heat. I would like to note a few other things for thought. This isn't a job for someone afraid to permanently modify expensive parts or doesn't have some ability to just figure things out. My bike is a unique case for fitment due to that I'm running '96 KX125 forks, a Yamaha front fender, and an FMF Fatty pipe. Changing any one of these things could make fitment easier or harder. Also, I have not modified the stock fork stops on the frame so this could be an option for more fork clearance.

Good write up! I know you are doing this on an E, but your fit up issues have me worried about my fitup. My radiators arrived today. I'm not planning to put them on till winter so we'll see what happens then.

Awesome write-up and pictures. Great work on your part.