I found this account of how to plumb a 1999 carbed R1, my questions are in bold next to certain parts:

"Pump inlet (near sprocket) goes to tee piece, one side to bottom of rad, one side to expansion bottle main port. [why does there need to be a link to the expansion bottle here?]

Head outlets go to thermostat, then to tee piece, one side from oil cooler outlet, one side to top of rad.

Bleed from top of 'stat is used to bleed the system while filling, then sealed with bolt and rubber washer.

Bleed from pump inlet goes to expansion bottle small port". [surely this is doing the same job as the link to the expansion bottle previously mentioned?]

Could I not have my two links to the header bottle as from the inlet bleed pipe and from the thermostat bleed?

And so my proposed setup would be: pump inlet (near sprocket) goes to bottom of rad.

Head outlets go to thermostat, then to tee piece, one side from oil cooler outlet, one side to top of rad.

Bleed from top of 'stat goes to header bottle.

Bleed from pump inlet goes to expansion bottle.

Cheers,
Oli

Hi Oliver have a look at some of my photo's and it might help you

Cheers Drew

Drew,

I actually got the account of how to do it from kingr's response to a question you put up a while back.
So if you followed his advice then the way I've suggested to do it is slightly different.

You have added an inlet bleed to the header tank that I reckon already existed in the form of the inlet breather pipe by the sprocket.

Cheers,
Oli

Hi guys,

Sorry to bring this up again, I have done a rough sketch of how I intend to plumb in my engine. I've done a clicky link to the picture which is in my archive. Is the plumbing OK like this?

R1 plumbing


Cheers,
Oli

Hang on, I'll just plug in my 96" monitor to have a proper look

I think you've just made me realise a mistake I had assumed when working out my plumbing

I was going to say that the oil cooler pipe should go into the bottom hose as on the bike it goes into the bottom of the rad, but thinking about it again, I think your layout is right. The cool water comes from the bottom of the rad into the water pump at the back of the engine, the pumped water then gets sent out the pipe near the oil filter and splits off, mostly up into the block with a small Tee to the oil cooler, therefore the water coming out of the oil cooler is "hot" so should be going straight to the top of the rad to be cooled again. Cheers!

BTW, just have a check under the carbs and make sure there isnt another water inlet pipe going into the head. On the 2003 engine I think there's a pipe coming out of there that connects to the throttle bodies to control cold start (an automatic choke basically)

Another thought - if the oil cooler pipe does go directly to the radiator or into the top hose, then its bypassing the thermostat isnt it, effectively allowing some water to go through the rad all the time? That seems to be the way its plumbed in on the bike tho....

Chris,

Cheers for the input. That last point about bypassing the 'stat is interesting though. We'll wait and see if anyone else picks up on that and corrects us?

Oli

Thinking about it some more today, usually the water heats up quicker than the oil, so by the time the oil is hot and is heating up the water running through the oil cooler, the stat will be open anyway. Therefore the bypass doesnt really matter as it will only be feeding cool water past the stat when its closed. Also, it might even be a requirement to help keep some flow through the water pump at all times, otherwise as I see it, if the flow of water into the rad was totally shut off by the stat, the water pump would have no water to pump?

Chris - that's absolutely right! The oil cooler bypasses the stat as standard....

At the moment, my TL1000R rad brings the oil cooler inlet back just above the outlet to the pump. I'm keeping a close eye on it.....