Chinese $80 Radiator

Discussion specific to the 1995 - 2006 KDX200 (H Series) and 1995 - 2005 KDX220R (A Series) models sold in the USA
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patreilly
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Chinese $80 Radiator

Post by patreilly »

The 2001 200 I am freshening up had radiators that were bent so bad there was no way you could get the protectors any where near fitting. I don't know why they did not leak. I bought a set of the Chinese $80 radiators. When I took them out of the box, I said wow. They looked good. The assembly looked high quality. Then I tried to mount them The two mounting holes towards the front were 1/4" too close together top to bottom. I slotted the bottom one. Easy once you figure it out. The rear middle mounting hole on the right is 3/8" too far to the rear. Slotted it too. The left rear middle mounting hole is 7/8" too far to the rear. That was far enough to drill another 5/8" hole with just enough room not to hit the radiator. The radiator frame is made from dead soft 1/8' thick aluminum. The original is 1/16 " thick and not soft. Luckily I had new clip nuts. The old ones break when you stretch them to mount on the new 1/8" thick radiator frame.
Anyway, if you have a couple of hours to rework the Chinese radiator it fits. Maybe by my description someone will recognize that that radiator is for another model. I can't believe it is for a 2001 200 and be that far off.
Just hope it does not leak and cools better than it fit.
JL4049
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Re: Chinese $80 Radiator

Post by JL4049 »

One of the guys I ride with has a set of Chinese cheapies on his Husky, TE450. Last weekends ride resulted in a hole.
Initially we thought a stick had gone through his radiator guards as there were visible impact marks in the core. It actually turned out to be a split tube.
Don't take this as a slight on the quality of the radiators, I think the soft frame and tubes allows them to deform from damage rather than cracking.
We were able to crimp the offending tube above and below the split and he rode another 40km of tight single trail without any significant water loss.
To put this into context, his radiators are $90 Chinese ones, they have lasted 3 years of riding tight/slow/hilly single trail almost every weekend, where the bike boils almost every ride. I honestly think that although they are soft and the holes don't line up for ****, they are worth the money.
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doakley
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Re: Chinese $80 Radiator

Post by doakley »

I put a set of $80 cheap radiators from eBay on my '99 220 along with a set of guards. They were a PITA to get mounted as the holes didn't exactly line up but so far so good. Don't appear to be leaking and haven't had any problems with cooling.
JL4049
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Re: Chinese $80 Radiator

Post by JL4049 »

Further to my last post, the Chinese radiators aren't the cause of my mate's husky boiling, the factory radiators boiled all the time too. Another Chinese set of radiators will get fitted in the place of the one that split last weekend......
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