im running my f4 naked.
shes a streetfighter war machine.
BUT>
with the plastics gone the radiator looks like its just hangin out there -
so vulnerable to the mean streets of post-apocalyptic cyberpunkopolis...
sorry, carried away on my streetfighter vibe.

so what im asking is :
how much will it adversely effect the cooling if ive got a piece of aluminium expanded plate ( basically aluminum sheetstock thats all full of holes. its mostly holes) in front of my rad.?

 

My guess would be that a shroud with holes would greatly diminish the radiators ability to cool. I don't think things hitting the radiator from the front will be your problem, I think your problem will be from a crash and the sides of the radiator getting smashed in. This reduces the capacity of the radiator. I think your best protection would be a crash cage.

 

thanks for the input marc0011-
i kinda had the feeling that i probly knew better too. i guess it was mostly gonna look cool. Ill go on with the idea of armoring just the sides and leave the face to do its job...
or if i end up finding material i like it woud be something COMPLETELY open that wouldnt restrict any airflow. like chikenwire open-
but then that wouldnt really be doing the protecting... i guess this isnt a good idea at all.

 

Look cool it would... work well it wouldn't. Sorry for the really bad response, felt like sounding like Yoda. My thought is that your not going to be getting that much air flow across the grill stunting as you would when just rolling down the road. You're going to want as much surface area as possible exposed to passing air to help keep the engine cool.

 

some wire mesh would sirvise and its just as vurnerable with plastics as w/o. You just see it n realize it more in streetfighter mode

 

thanks for the feedback both!
i noticed the new "streetfighter" factory concept cbr has little bits of corner fairing to fix exactly that (mostly visual/psychological) aspect. the rest of the bie mosty looks ridiculous i think- and i like streetfighters.
maybe thats why - a factory fighter is an oxymoron to me.
anyway
thanks for the responses again!

 

yeah i guess a glorified bug guard with aluminum boxd out corners as skid protection...
im not gonna go the full stuntcage route as i hope to keep her upright (or hard leans) and not toss'er roudt too much! part of my inspiration was just that i lie the way the f4 looks naked exept this awkward dirty black box just hangin out there.
im building a carbon belly pan/scoop thatll hopefully tie it together better visually as well as direct airflow (and bugs .gravel. rocks. ninja throwing stars) up into my rad.
the right lower panel is curing in the other room right now - ill go admire it
the epoxy residue is makin my fingers stick to the keyboard anyway...
thanks and goodnight!

 

thanks cbrclassic- im on it- ill tell ya how it goes and post pictures when ive got somethin to show-