mnmontana

My truck never liked to warm up.... took 30 minutes or so of driving before it would get to a decent temp.

Finnally decided to go with an electric fan.

Total of 115 bucks, for a 12" fan, 1350 cfm. and a thermostat controled fan relay.

Install took about 45 minutes, working in the dark with a dollar store flashlight made it harder than it should have been.

Basically, remove the fan shroud bolts, remove the fan clutch (4 - 10mm bolts on the pulley), the fan and shroud come out together. be care full as the pulley will be off center, and may be a pain to put back in place without messing with the tensioners on the belts.


CAREFULLY bend a few fins in the radiator for the therm probe. slide it in witht he back plate and then poke the locking clip through the radiator and put a back plate on the end of that.

I didn't mount the relay itself, I just put it in front of my battery and behind the head light. Once I 'dial in' the temp to my likings, I will be mounting it.

then the fan, same thing, 4 push clips that go through the radiator, and put backing plates on the other side.

Wiring was pretty simple, put a slip connector on the positive lead, and connect the negative to the battery. Put the slip connector on the orange wire from the relay.

Black wire on the relay goes to battery.

the blue wire was for a second fan, which I wont be using.

yellow is for a 12v + line that is on only when the truck is on, I hooked this straight to the battery since I want it to run regardless of wether truck is on.

Default setting is 160 degrees, I changed this to about 180. Fan is almost never on. When I drive for a while and park it, it runs for about 20 seconds after the truck is turned off. No issues with battery yet... even after leaving headlights on for 30 minutes, lol.

I didnt use the AC override wire, as I am planning on removing the ac from the truck anyway. It was never retrofitted, and frankly I never liked AC.

I will post part numbers and pictures tonight in this thread.


As for differences with the truck, it warms up in like 4/5 minutes, needle never even reaches the half way mark, and the fan is almost never running.

No noticable differences in torque/driving other than it warms up faster. I was kind of hoping that removing the fan would make a differance.

scope103

Are you sure your thermostat is good? When the thermostat is closed the radiator (and by extension, the fan) isn't doing anything. Only once the engine is warm, and the thermostat opens, does the radiator have anything to do.

If the thermostat fails open, then you will have the slow-warmup symptoms you describe. The fan shouldn't have anything to do with it.

mnmontana

Hey scope, its a possibility, as the truck has some other quirks in regards to temps (mostly underpowered shifting when cold)... but the thermo is only like 3 months old. the old one did the same thing.

I am planning on having the engine rebuilt or swapped within the next few weeks, so I suppose it don't matter much. I will prob take a peak at it anyways as I am fairly curiuse.

RobD

Only advice I have is that I was told that using the plastic straps to secure the fan aren't the best way if you're going to off-road with it. I was told to use brackets to mount the fan in a more rigid manner.

mikepr55

cool sounds like a good idea maybe same some power drain also.Do you think i could do this same thing with my 84 carburated if so please send im with part numbers i think i want to do this to. THANKS BUDD

mnmontana

I think I have it dialed in PERFECTLY now. i maxed out the potentiometer on the fan control, when the temp guage hits the half way mark the fan kicks in. When I drive the truck, after turning it off, the fan stays running for about 15 seconds and shuts itself off... I dont think I could get it any more perfect... This is exactly what I wanted, and for a good price, with minimal headache... pix will come tommorow I suppose... I know I promised them tonight, but I had too much to do before it got dark. Hey, at least I got the part numbers.

Both are made by 'Hayden'.
The thermostatic fan control (the relay) part number is: 3647
The fan part number is: 3690

Some final thoughts... if you are gonna do it, do it right. Don't half ass this and not get the controller... Running it with a switch, or always on with the vehicle is NOT a good idea.

Also, you can save a few bucks... the 1350 cfm was WAY too strong for my truck, I coulda gotten the 45 dollar 10 inch fan with the 650 cfm, and it would have been plenty (Part number: 3670). If your truck runs hot, then I would recommend the one under this one (part number: 3680- 800 cfm). Mine was just a gross over kill, and I bought it out of previuse experiences buying fans for chevy 350's, lol.

They were behind the parts counter listed as 'universal replacements'. Im sure you can get them at any kragen, autozone, pepboys, etc. The fan was like 65, the controller was like 35... grand total with taxes was 115.

I really can't recommend this if your planning on doing some heavy duty off roading. As RobD said, the plastic straps arent reliable for anything but normal road usuage. If your ok with making a custom support for it, then go for it.

If you only do light offroading... I highly recommend it. I love that my truck actually warms up quickly now. Once I get the more important stuff fixed, I will be making a proper support for it.