Questions in regards to upgrading radiators

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Seismic

Joined
Jul 30, 2015
Messages
179
Location
Tokyo, Japan
Looking at upgrading the radiators on the 15R to get a bit more cooling on the engine. Especially here in Dubai with 45 degrees outside, I think it would make sense. I can see that MAC makes a couple of different solutions. In this regard I have a few questions I hope some of you can provide a bit of clarity to:

1) Are there any difference between radiators used only for track versus street?

2) Any alternatives to MAC (better?)

3) Anything I should be aware of when purchasing radiators? (my knowledge is very limited in this respect - just looking to get the temps down).

FYI I will ask the local Ducati workshop to do the work.

Thanks for sharing a bit of knowledge.

Brgds
:)
 
Its track only because the lower half is an oil cooler unless its a custom "water only unit. I have the MAC two piece water only with the stock fan. I also have the fan mounted on a switch. I initially had the MAC water upper and oil lower. It was a disaster on the street with the fan. Cooling the oil had no effect on engine temp as the fan does nothing for the upper radiator. Bike was fine at speed. Stop and go, forget it. The new setup is fantastic. for me it was a bolt on install. I used custom Samco hoses and did make some of my own pieces. No thermostat and i run engine Ice. This bike is a test bed for ideas and tech so I really wanted to see what the long term effects of cooler engine temps were on the internals compared to the standard cooling temp that can get into the upper 220's easily. So I switch the fan on at 190 (stop lights etc) it rarely gets over 193 dead of summer. On the highway 70 mph it hovers at 178. For me my temp issues are long gone. I am installing an external oil cooler as further experimentation.
 
endodoc, I have 2 questions for you:

1. Why didn't you use the Mac WSBK kit?

2. What external oil cooler are you thinking about using?

Thanks
 
Is it possible to run a upgraded radiator without a fan if also using the bike on the road, or will the lack of a fan make the bike too hot when stop-and-go?
 
I did not use the MAC WSBK radiator for two reasons. 1 the lower half is an oil cooler and two the two piece is a virtual bolt on and its a street bike so it has to have the fan shroud for the bodywork. Yes you have to run a fan on the street. If you want to run the water and oil cooler combo as it ships, your going to have to figure out a way to mount some fans on the upper. Pulling air through the oil cooler does nothing for water temp. I had a small custom oil cooler made that is going to mount between the upper and lower radiator on the fan shroud. It looks completely factory and fits like a glove. It has -8 an ports that run to the oil cooler plate that MAC provides. This should give me everything I wanted.
 
If you have a street bike, you don't need to upgrade your radiator. Ducati engineered the radiator just fine with a fan for street use. I have never seen or heard of a Panigale overheating on the street. I've witnessed and heard of several race bikes overheating on the track, so I think it's a good idea. The rear head gasket tends to blow when they overheat, and the stock system is particularly susceptible to having bubbles in the coolant for some reason, it's a challenge to bleed it all out.
 
jarelj said:
If you have a street bike, you don't need to upgrade your radiator. Ducati engineered the radiator just fine with a fan for street use. I have never seen or heard of a Panigale overheating on the street. I've witnessed and heard of several race bikes overheating on the track, so I think it's a good idea. The rear head gasket tends to blow when they overheat, and the stock system is particularly susceptible to having bubbles in the coolant for some reason, it's a challenge to bleed it all out.
Click to expand...

The idea is to get the temperature down, both when riding street and track. Riding here in Dubai where we can reach outside temps of 50 degrees in summer, the motor is running very hot whether street or track. I was looking towards whether any of the aftermarket radiators (and I can see there are many different brands out there) could provide more cooling than the stock radiator,which does not seem to supply sufficient cooling in this climate. Any advise would be highly appreciated.
 
Seismic said:
The idea is to get the temperature down, both when riding street and track. Riding here in Dubai where we can reach outside temps of 50 degrees in summer, the motor is running very hot whether street or track. I was looking towards whether any of the aftermarket radiators (and I can see there are many different brands out there) could provide more cooling than the stock radiator,which does not seem to supply sufficient cooling in this climate. Any advise would be highly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Our climate here is also very hot in summer and agreed the cooling system just does not cut it .
I just leave my bike parked when it's too hot outside .
 
Seismic said:
The idea is to get the temperature down, both when riding street and track. Riding here in Dubai where we can reach outside temps of 50 degrees in summer, the motor is running very hot whether street or track. I was looking towards whether any of the aftermarket radiators (and I can see there are many different brands out there) could provide more cooling than the stock radiator,which does not seem to supply sufficient cooling in this climate. Any advise would be highly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Fubuer was testing a new lower radiator system, water only that was larger and comes with a custom fan from them. It's supposed to be plug and play. It should be ready by the end of August.

E-mail them and see if it's ready.
 
With all due respect to jarelj, I would have to disagree. The correct verbiage should have been "engineered a bare minimum cooling system" to sell the bike. Saying you have never seen a bike overheat is like saying I have never seen someone drop dead of cancer. Correct. It kills you over time and you eventually succumb to the devastation. In the case of the 1199/1299 the bike will just shut off. In hotter climates this bike will hit 230. Sorry. Thats not acceptable. Duacti gave you a ...... OEM radiator just like the ...... OEM Brembo crap they use. It is what it is. You wonder why guys have coolant leaking out of seals, water pump failures, weep holes puking like a sorority girl at a frat party. I can tell you for a fact that riding this bike on the street with the radiator mods that I have done have made a HUGE difference in making this bike enjoyable on the street and not having to go with the "buck up little camper" its a Ducati, its supposed to make you question not buying an R1. The real bitch is that it would have cost Ducati nothing to use a 35mm core and modulate the fan a bit better. Ducati is a EUROPEAN motorcycle company. Im sure during the R&D in the hills of Bologna when it was snowing outside, the specs on the cooling were fine or at 130 on the test track where the CFM flow negated the ...... system however guess what? go tell that to the guy who just bought a 1299 in Dubai or Phoenix AZ in the summer time. The fact is that I could easily motor down the road on my 1000RR or my GSXR without effort long after my Ducati (in stock trim)had self diagnosed itself with terminal thermatics and killed itself. So no you don't need a radiator upgrade. Im sure MAC started making street versions because no one was asking for them. If you want a better 1199/1299 experience and you understand thermal engineering and the subsequent consequences of poor engineering, get the radiator and fix the fan. The engine is heat soaked by the time the fan kicks in. That thing should kick on when it still has the ability to keep things in the yellow. Last but certainly not least is the oil temps relation to the water temp. Thats for another day.
 
endodoc said:
With all due respect to jarelj, I would have to disagree. The correct verbiage should have been "engineered a bare minimum cooling system" to sell the bike. Saying you have never seen a bike overheat is like saying I have never seen someone drop dead of cancer. Correct. It kills you over time and you eventually succumb to the devastation. In the case of the 1199/1299 the bike will just shut off. In hotter climates this bike will hit 230. Sorry. Thats not acceptable. Duacti gave you a ...... OEM radiator just like the ...... OEM Brembo crap they use. It is what it is. You wonder why guys have coolant leaking out of seals, water pump failures, weep holes puking like a sorority girl at a frat party. I can tell you for a fact that riding this bike on the street with the radiator mods that I have done have made a HUGE difference in making this bike enjoyable on the street and not having to go with the "buck up little camper" its a Ducati, its supposed to make you question not buying an R1. The real bitch is that it would have cost Ducati nothing to use a 35mm core and modulate the fan a bit better. Ducati is a EUROPEAN motorcycle company. Im sure during the R&D in the hills of Bologna when it was snowing outside, the specs on the cooling were fine or at 130 on the test track where the CFM flow negated the ...... system however guess what? go tell that to the guy who just bought a 1299 in Dubai or Phoenix AZ in the summer time. The fact is that I could easily motor down the road on my 1000RR or my GSXR without effort long after my Ducati (in stock trim)had self diagnosed itself with terminal thermatics and killed itself. So no you don't need a radiator upgrade. Im sure MAC started making street versions because no one was asking for them. If you want a better 1199/1299 experience and you understand thermal engineering and the subsequent consequences of poor engineering, get the radiator and fix the fan. The engine is heat soaked by the time the fan kicks in. That thing should kick on when it still has the ability to keep things in the yellow. Last but certainly not least is the oil temps relation to the water temp. Thats for another day.
Click to expand...

Agreed . It's not like it's impossible for a big twin as my 1290 KTM's never had issues like the Panigale
 
Can you retain the fan with the MAC all water radiator system? Is it both upper and lower
 
Sorry yes the MAC all water "street" unit is upper and lower radiator and all the plumbing hardware.
 
Well I called MAC and ordered th water only. It's my third radiator from him so I think I qualified for the family discount :)

If someone can post the manual switch mod used for the fan that would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
 
The fan thing is hokey at best but it does the job. I got a duplicate harness connector from Bike Sport Developments. It is wired into a Klixon circuit breaker (on the fan housing). I made an aluminum switch box with a carbon fiber plate and mounted it to the ignition cover screws. Also in the box are the toggle for the quick change dash function as that bar switch has been removed and a map switch for the RapidBike which is in the tail. Its not super pretty but very functional. When I get to a stop light or Im stuck in something and the temp starts climbing i switch it on usually at 190. It stays between 190-195 always (summer southern California). When I get moving again, I shut it off. Stays under 180 on the highway. The switch is wired right to the battery. There was some talk of maybe re calibrating the ECU to kick on sooner but I don't know if that went anywhere.
 

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