2002 Honda VFR800 - Using a VTR 1000 Cooling Fan ?

damion_voss · 07-13-2009, 11:44 AM

Hello all,

I'm fairly new to riding; I've been riding perhaps a year and a half or so. My bike has been an 1984 Honda Interceptor (700). Last week, I decided to upgrade and purchased a 2002 Honda Interceptor (VFR 800). Thus far, I love the bike, but after riding it for a few days, I noticed that the temperature was getting up as high as 240F after only a short amount of time in traffic.

A little investigation showed two problems:

1) The cooling fan switch apparently isn't working, as the fan is never kicking on.
2) The fan itself looks to have melted at some point, and is completely off center and out-of-round, so that it is rubbing against the metal bracket when I spin it by hand.

I determined that the fan motor itself is good by hooking it directly to the battery and watching it spin. So, it looks like I just need to replace the fan switch and the fan blade itself.

Now, I've seen a lot of folks on forums recommending a switch to the VTR 1000 fan blade set-up. Since I have to purchase a new fan anyway, is this mod worth doing? Is it a direct swap with my current fan, or does it require any modification? If I were to do this, is there any issues I should be aware of?

Thanks ahead of time for any and all feedback. It is appreciated.

Edit: Thought I'd add a pic of the new ride, though this pic doesn't do the paint justice:

[IMG=http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/6186/12380845.jpg][/IMG]

ghbzorro · 07-14-2009, 5:56 AM

Welcome. Nice looking bike.

Sorry, can't help with your fan question.

Twincam · 07-14-2009, 11:05 AM

Welcome

Whats the difference in price between the two fans? Not sure if it'll blow at a faster rate

damion_voss · 07-16-2009, 12:24 PM

Thanks for the welcome, guys!

The fans were actually the same price. About $25 from cheapcycleparts.com. With that said, I realize these bikes run hot...but anything I can do to keep it a bit cooler seems like a good idea to me.

At any rate, I made a gamble and ordered the superhawk fan. Once I have the part and get it installed I'll let everyone know how it worked out.

Twincam · 07-17-2009, 5:36 PM

If you have to modify the existing cowling etc make sure you get a few pictures of the stages involved - might help someone in your case further down the line.

Good Luck.

damion_voss · 07-22-2009, 11:36 AM

No modifications were necessary to install the VTR1000 fan into my VFR800. The only thing I had to do was put washers on the bolts that connect the fan motor assembly to the radiator, to shim it out just a tiny bit. I thinkg the VTR fan has a different offset than the original fan, and so it doesn't sit quite as far down on the motor spindle.

With that said, the fan works and definitely blows some air. I ran a 15 minute idle test in my stifling hot garage last night, and while the bike still continues to slowly heat up over time with the fan running, it isn't nearly like it was without the fan running at all. Not sure how this compares to the normal VFR fan, though, since mine didn't run at all when I bought the bike.

I plan to do some more extensive testing over the next week to see what kind of difference it makes in normal riding conditions.

I'm running a mix of about 30% anti-freeze, 70% distilled water, with about 3 ounces of water wetter in the mix.

Also, does anyone know the temperature "red line" on these bikes?

Deadsmiley · 07-26-2009, 2:09 AM

There is a thread about hot running 6th gen VFR over on VFR world. It would be worth taking a look at it.

160* Thermostat? - VFRworld

My 98 VFR gets up to 230+ at times so I have been pondering doing some of this stuff too.