Another dual fan installation
05-13-2016, 01:18 AM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Another dual fan installation
I did a dual-fan installation on a customer's '89 Firebird, with awesome results.
I prefer to use factory fans over aftermarket pieces for a few reasons:
1) Their durability has been proven with millions of vehicles on the road. In the past, I've use fans from Ford, GM, and Toyota, and all of the cars I've put them in are still on the road and not overheating.
2) Because they are factory pieces, you can get replacement motors at any auto parts store.
3) They're cheaper. This fan setup was $50 at All Valley U-Pull It.
4) They LOOK factory. Personally, I don't want anything on my car to scream "MODIFIED!" when I open the hood (If I can help it; I can't hide my headers). And this isn't even for my car.
5) Yeah, I had to do some custom fabrication to get them to fit in there, but I'd have had to do that anyway with some aftermarket fans.
The fans are wired up as follows: The high-speed fan is plugged into the factory fan terminal, which is controlled by the PCM (comes on at 226 degrees F., and/or when the air-conditioner is on). The other/secondary fan is run off of a 40 amp relay, and is triggered by the factory oil-pressure switch, so it comes on whenever the engine is running, but only if it's running: if the key is in the "ON" position, it won't run the battery down.
I AM NOT a fan of wiring fans to be on all the time (get it? Not a "fan?" Alright, that was lame), but this is only temporary. When my customer gets more money, I'll install a thermostatic switch to turn the secondary fan on when the engine gets to 176 degrees.
How well does it work? Just ONE of those fans is enough to keep this car cool now. Trust me, I tested each fan individually in driving conditions before I turned it over to the customer (did I mention that it's 90+ degrees down here, with 70%+ humidity?), and the car never got past 226 on the primary (PCM controlled) fan. With both fans connected, it can't even get hot enough to turn on the primary fan, and can run around all day at 160+ degrees. My customer is pleased as punch.
I prefer to use factory fans over aftermarket pieces for a few reasons:
1) Their durability has been proven with millions of vehicles on the road. In the past, I've use fans from Ford, GM, and Toyota, and all of the cars I've put them in are still on the road and not overheating.
2) Because they are factory pieces, you can get replacement motors at any auto parts store.
3) They're cheaper. This fan setup was $50 at All Valley U-Pull It.
4) They LOOK factory. Personally, I don't want anything on my car to scream "MODIFIED!" when I open the hood (If I can help it; I can't hide my headers). And this isn't even for my car.
5) Yeah, I had to do some custom fabrication to get them to fit in there, but I'd have had to do that anyway with some aftermarket fans.
The fans are wired up as follows: The high-speed fan is plugged into the factory fan terminal, which is controlled by the PCM (comes on at 226 degrees F., and/or when the air-conditioner is on). The other/secondary fan is run off of a 40 amp relay, and is triggered by the factory oil-pressure switch, so it comes on whenever the engine is running, but only if it's running: if the key is in the "ON" position, it won't run the battery down.
I AM NOT a fan of wiring fans to be on all the time (get it? Not a "fan?" Alright, that was lame), but this is only temporary. When my customer gets more money, I'll install a thermostatic switch to turn the secondary fan on when the engine gets to 176 degrees.
How well does it work? Just ONE of those fans is enough to keep this car cool now. Trust me, I tested each fan individually in driving conditions before I turned it over to the customer (did I mention that it's 90+ degrees down here, with 70%+ humidity?), and the car never got past 226 on the primary (PCM controlled) fan. With both fans connected, it can't even get hot enough to turn on the primary fan, and can run around all day at 160+ degrees. My customer is pleased as punch.
05-13-2016, 01:44 AM
#2
Member
Thread Starter
Re: Another dual fan installation
Okay, for some reason none of the pictures attached. And for some reason I can't add captions to them.
Here's what the captions should say for each picture:
1)This is the dual fan setup from out of a '00s Chevy Malibu. Next to it is the factory single fan. Note the inefficient shroudless design. This is also the same fan that GM used in 4-cylinder cars, and in my opinion it is just not up to the task of cooling a V6 car, much less a V8.
Fun fact: GM even put that pathetic little fan in V8 cars! My car used to have one!
2) Here are the new fans on an old radiator out of an '89 'Bird. They fit on there with room to spare, so the installation should be a walk in the park, right?
3) Well, here's the problem: I based all of my measurements on a V8 radiator. I thought that the V6 and V8 radiators would be the same (with the exception of core-row count), but I was wrong. This caused what would have been a 3-4 hour job into a 12 hour ordeal. As you can see here, the fans are wider than the core on the V6 radiator, so this required some modifications...
4) I had to trim about half an inch off of the edges to get the fans to sit closer, all while maintaining a safe distance between the fan blades and the radiator. I also removed the factory mounting tabs, and had to trim off one blade-guard to make room for the MAF sensor, and had to trim some of the shroud next to the water inlet pipe so that the hose would go on.
5)Here are the fans with the custom mounts bolted onto the shroud. I made the mounts out of some angle-steel and flat-stock. It bolts on using the factory mounting holes from the old fan.
6) Another thing that had to be addressed for this car to cool properly is the front air-dam. The radiators on Camaros and Firebirds get all of their air through the bottom of the car via an "air dam" that channels air into the the radiator.
As you can see here, this one is pretty busted up, and I doubt it was of any benefit at this point.
7)Here is the repaired air-dam. I made the repair panel out of the air-dam from a mid-'90s Camaro. I cut out a section of it, and bolted it onto the original air-dam base.
I chose to repair it instead of replacing it for a couple of reasons:
1) Cheaper
2) Any used air dam you find is probably going to be pretty beaten up after 25 years, and a new one from the dealer will be expensive (I should know, I bought one years back, but that was just because mine was completely gone, with nothing left to repair.)
3) In my opinion, the factory air dam is kinda flimsy on these cars anyway. They were made out of much heavier plastic for the '93-'02 cars.
Here's what the captions should say for each picture:
1)This is the dual fan setup from out of a '00s Chevy Malibu. Next to it is the factory single fan. Note the inefficient shroudless design. This is also the same fan that GM used in 4-cylinder cars, and in my opinion it is just not up to the task of cooling a V6 car, much less a V8.
Fun fact: GM even put that pathetic little fan in V8 cars! My car used to have one!
2) Here are the new fans on an old radiator out of an '89 'Bird. They fit on there with room to spare, so the installation should be a walk in the park, right?
3) Well, here's the problem: I based all of my measurements on a V8 radiator. I thought that the V6 and V8 radiators would be the same (with the exception of core-row count), but I was wrong. This caused what would have been a 3-4 hour job into a 12 hour ordeal. As you can see here, the fans are wider than the core on the V6 radiator, so this required some modifications...
4) I had to trim about half an inch off of the edges to get the fans to sit closer, all while maintaining a safe distance between the fan blades and the radiator. I also removed the factory mounting tabs, and had to trim off one blade-guard to make room for the MAF sensor, and had to trim some of the shroud next to the water inlet pipe so that the hose would go on.
5)Here are the fans with the custom mounts bolted onto the shroud. I made the mounts out of some angle-steel and flat-stock. It bolts on using the factory mounting holes from the old fan.
6) Another thing that had to be addressed for this car to cool properly is the front air-dam. The radiators on Camaros and Firebirds get all of their air through the bottom of the car via an "air dam" that channels air into the the radiator.
As you can see here, this one is pretty busted up, and I doubt it was of any benefit at this point.
7)Here is the repaired air-dam. I made the repair panel out of the air-dam from a mid-'90s Camaro. I cut out a section of it, and bolted it onto the original air-dam base.
I chose to repair it instead of replacing it for a couple of reasons:
1) Cheaper
2) Any used air dam you find is probably going to be pretty beaten up after 25 years, and a new one from the dealer will be expensive (I should know, I bought one years back, but that was just because mine was completely gone, with nothing left to repair.)
3) In my opinion, the factory air dam is kinda flimsy on these cars anyway. They were made out of much heavier plastic for the '93-'02 cars.
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