you all are probably correct relative to the sub-frame serving as a heat dissipator, unless the R/R's heat control is strickly an internal function completely unrelated to any outside influences and dependent on the material inside(heat sink compound??) working in conjunction with the cooling fins.

 

There is no internal regulation of heat in the regulator, ie. active control. It relies solely on Safe Operating Area worst case engineering, which in the original iteration was wrong, thus the addition of fins. Conduction of heat is MUCH more efficient than convection, however, and the frame is a good radiator. You'd be better served by slathering a bit of heat sink compound on it and rigidly mounting it to the frame, IMHO.

 

thanks for the advice.

 

Update on dead hawk problem:

took the battery out and took it a shop and had it tested. Although it was relatively new, it tested as bad. I then bought a new Yuasa(78.00) and as I was connecting the negative cable, I smelled something burning, then smoke from the R/R, which had recently been replaced with a finned type. By the time I figured it out and removed the cable, the R/R was cooked, i.e., melted. I bought a new R/R from Honda shop(177.00) and hesitantly hooked it up(this time I held the negative cable on the battery with fingr pressure only until I was sure it was not going to cook the R/R.

So, new battery and new R/R and started it up, had friend rev to 5000rpm and checked the charge at battery which read 13.8v indicating that the stator is charging. So far so good. I'll post additional problems if they occur.

Note: new Yuasa- I charged it myself because i didn't want to wait at the Honda shop. according to the Yuasa directions, the protocal for new battery set-up is critical. I bought a new battery recently and know it wasn't prepared correctly and it failed prematurely. So if you buy a new battery and want to make sure it is prepared properly, you may want to do it yourself.

 

with the new battery and the new R/R, the hawk has been doing well, so far. now that I look at the whole picture, I wonder if a aged/failing battery could wreak havoc on the R/R, eventually causing it to fail? Is battery health related to the health of the R/R?