Although I
didn't report any problems with the DHC during the 10CR, there certainly was
something that needed rectifying. While heading towards Watou on the day before
the start I noticed that, when driving over bad road surfaces for which Belgium
is rather well known, the viscous fan would hit the fan's shroud. This problem
was caused by the fact that the mounting holes for the shroud were positioned
incorrectly. I had tried to temporarily fix this by putting a spacer under one
side but that clearly wasn't enough. So just after entering Belgium I stopped
to take the spanners out. As a temporary fix I just removed the shroud and put
it in the boot.
And after
returning home from the run I contacted the manufacturer of the radiator to see
how this problem could best be solved. Easiest way would have been to
reposition the mounting nuts on top of the radiator. But this picture clearly
shows that the original shroud does fit rather poorly and is not very efficient
in anything. It doesn't funnel any air and it doesn't act as guard against
insect being thrown all across the engine bay ...
Some
improvements could be made here. At H&S they suggested to fabricate a new
shroud that would envelop the fan completely. It should make the fan more
efficient and keep the engine bay a bit cleaner. So they first gave me some
homework to do, namely to take all necessary measurements so they could
fabricate the new shroud. Which I did and the sketches plus the radiator were
dropped of about a month ago. Because they are rather busy it took a few weeks
longer for them to fabricate the shroud, but this week it was ready. Needless
to say I picked it up immediately so I could fit it at last. I Have to admit
that I was a bit anxious if it would fit properly, but I needn't have worried.
Ones the mounting holes were drilled it fitted perfectly ...
According
to my measurements the top of the shroud should sit at least 5 mm lower
compared to the original shroud. But it looked like it was sitting considerably
higher ...
I presumed this was a trick of light, but as I
didn't fancy a dent in the bonnet I decided to be a little careful. So I
taped a small scrap of 5 mm thick foam
on top of the shroud, smeared some grease on and carefully closed the bonnet. I needn't
have worried there was no trace of grease on the inside of the bonnet so more
than enough clearance. Remains a little test drive to see how it all works.
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