bike is a 09 outy 800r XT
So my stock rad is pretty toast.. mud hole after mud hole, pressure washer after pressure washer the fins are pretty bent and was caked bad with burned on mud. I also overheated and limped a number of times, boiled over once too
so off to a rad relo .. went with the gorilla since eBay had it for about 160 shipped. decent kit but i needed to mod it a bit to be able to access the front trunk. so i jacked it all the way forward and drilled new holes in my rack.
next was off for a new rad. at over 240 for a factory BRP one i went off searching for an aftermarket one. eBay seller has the ASI Atv brand for 160 and change so i took a chance. reported "30%" more betterer cooling since tis a bit larger.
went to install the rad relo kit and the nice little fine print at the bottom of the single paper, poorly prepared instructions listed "will only work with factory rads"
FAWK!!!
well i tried it anyway when my new rad arrived and it actually fit fine. no issues. ran the new hoses and filled the system and started the bike. got to operating temp and the the fan kicked on. everything is good.
today, i go to rewire the hayden controller and i went to squeeze the new rad hoses that came with the kit (little soft and weeker compared to the factory hoses) and i noticed a little drip from up top. got a leak somewhere.
i pulled the catch can hose off and tossed some air into the filler neck, and low and behold there is a pin hole leak in a weld that attaches the filler neck to the passenger side tank.
so obviously this rad was never pressure tested from the factory (likely china made) . I have messaged the seller to see if they are going to send me anew one but haven’t received a response.
Figured i would post this incase anyone else is looking at these rads, overall the rad seems to be built pretty heavy duty, and it slightly larger, adding volume and more surface for cooling. I am also going to add some inline coolers on the feed and return lines. going to delete the PVC nipples gorilla sent with the kit and use the coolers to join the factory and aftermarket hoses together.
