[collinsperformance]

I done this many times and posted this on a few different places depending on the install. the car, truck or buggy does not matter, but this was an instll on my new to me 1982 South Wind with a very stout big block.
Parts list
1 Ford Taruas elec fan (from most 3.8 V6 motors. the Mark VII has the same fan and some Thunderbirds and newer Mustangs it is easy to find and most of the time $10-20 depending on the yard)
this is an example of one.
Front

Rear

A fan controller (this allows the system to sensce the temp. I got this one from Car Quest for $19

some 12AWG wire (how long depends ons your instal and may vary. A constant power Relay (the fan likes todraw amps so a normal plastic relay has a tendency to melt after time). I like to have a central tap for power and hate running things to the battery and crazy wiring.( this was off a full size chevy truck or Surban $5 at the junk yard and located on the fireal under the plastic box). and some connectors to put it al together.


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[collinsperformance]

Here is a view with the relay opened.
.
OK, on to the work. the customer this time is my 27' Southwind.



Here she is next to the other toy Jezebel.

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[collinsperformance]

My first issue was the wiring I hope your is not this way. If you find it this way a fast fix is the power Tap i going to get another one for the negitive side but i was without a spare car and watching my 6 year old son and no yards would let him in and i could not leave him in the motorhome alone.

ok you need to find a home for the relay and my case the power tap. this is the firewall and this is the old fan relay (too small of wiring and a mess)

this was too show how messy the wiring is. This is the fuse for the current electric fan.

One last look at the wiring mess i had to deal with.

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[collinsperformance]

Here is the power tap instaled. I used 5/16 hex screws to attach to the firewall.

I removed one wire at a time off the battery and other places and cut and installed a new connector and moved to the power tap. i used crimp connectors and removed the plastic cover and soldered the connector and used heat shrink to seal it off.



I had to do this over 2 days and this is my only drivable vehicle right now so here was the end of my day one (about 2 hours of looking cutting soldering and heat shrinking and reconnecting) i had to run a temp power tothe tap so all would still work, but the battery looks alot better now, less stuff connected to it.

I had this left from another 3G alt swap---**this is way over kill but i had it sitting and am cheal so i modified this to work my application. you only need a 2AWG jumper wire from the battery to the power tap******
this has one wrong connector for this install.

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[collinsperformance]

I soldered on the correct lug (one that would fit the battery connector) then heat shrinked the fitting. it is now ready for the install.

I connected the new jumper to the power tap.

now i connected the jumper to the battery terminal. This cleaned up alot of the mess. still more to go. and I got to fix the negitive side soon.

with the power side done i now can continue with the fan install. i located the relay on the firewall next tothe power tap. I used 5/16 hex screws again.

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[collinsperformance]

connecting the relay is easy. one of the small posts need to go to a ground (eather side will work). I used 14AWG wire for the signal ground. this is the low volt signal to turn on the high power side of the relay.

again I am going to put a ground tap in soon but i needed to get a good ground and went to the negitve side of the battery.

next is the hot side of the relay. I converted this motor from a points distributor to an HEI and abandoned the balist resistor. it is now just a ignition hot power tap ( i got a way to clean this up later too)

since this had an electric fan it had this style temp sensor. it screws into the block and completes the circuit @ 180 degrees and off at 170 degrees.

The other side goes to the relay.you can see the wire is small but since this is just for signal it is ok, but i want to replace it and make it a cleaner install and i used 14AWG wire.
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[collinsperformance]

this is the fan i am replacing. this was in the high desart and in many sand storms and one fan burned up. plus the wires are too small for this amp draw. so out this unit will go and in the Taruas will go--plus the Flex-a-lite fan moves 1200 CFM and the ford unit moves 4200CFM (on high) the amount is being fought on many sites on the web.

ok the new signal wire is soldered in place and ran to the wire holders on the motor bay.

here is the old and new fan. Front

Back.

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[collinsperformance]

to hold the fan to the raditor i made mount brackets and these thru the raditor zip ties-both way work fine. i got some connectors to put at the fan side to make service easy if needed.

here is the fan all wired. you can see the signal wire (red) goes to the front of the beast and returns to the fan and the black wire goes up to the battery ground.

i got to clean the bay up next. ok the fan has a high and low power feed. i wired these many ways i done just the low, just the high, a switch to switch from high to low (you would want to run the signal wire to a switch that would goto 2 different relays one for the high and one for the low. I perfer to use the high side of the fan. i post the color but they seem to used what ever color they want too. i found the solid black is ground and my case this time was black with yellow stripe was high. i just tied off the low side i will not need it.ok back to my install.
i connected the signal wire to the relay and went to test and found the new relay was junk, well it was 10pm and I had some other spares so i swapped it out. (you can see i swapped the ground and signal wires (small posts)this does not matter it is a in and out not ddirection dependants relay.)

with the new relay in place i was able to run the beast and wait to see if it turns on. it got to the 1/2 way temp on the guage (need to put real guages in soon) and the fan turned on. The fan took the temp down to the 1/4 way up and turned off. i was abl to put my hand on the raditor and it was luke warm. i got a 170 thermastat in the beast. this normaly takes 2-3 hours of steady work to install and a day night night difference in cooling i done this many times and will continue to swap out on other cars.......i hope this helps you on your install. you can email or post any questions you might have.

Mike

 

[Cableguy]

Nice job on the write up Mike! :great: Looks like your on your way to cooler temps.

 

[GM_Guy]

I used one off a '96 thunderchicken in my car, with a thermostatic controller,
on at 185*, off at 170* also,got to make sure your alternator can handle the load (I used a 140 amp unit)

 

[GaryL]

Do you run the electric fans in conjuction with the engine fan or instead of?

 

[Crawdaddy]

judging from what side he mounts it to, I'd say he uses it in replacement of the fan on the motor...

 

[collinsperformance]

I normally toss the stock fan and clutch head, as it just wears out the water pump and is not needed. the elec fan moves enough air for the motor an cooling...mike

 

[collinsperformance]

well we took her out for a drive. it was 95 outside and the fan turned on at halfway on the stock temp guage and it cycle on and off. i might change the fan controler to turn on alittle higher and off alittle higher so the fan in off more but it should be good. i take her back out in the am....mike

 

[TrailLeadr]

Very "Cool" Mike!:great:

Excellent write up, and awesome timing for me. I'm about to drop my engine back into my burb, and I'd really love to lose the clutch fan, and go electric, but not at $200+ for an electric setup.

 

[collinsperformance]

this swap runs between $60-70 depending on cost of the junk yard fan the other hih dollar item is the constant duty relay---chek around as i seen it go from $15-60 by itself. tractor supplys seem to have the best price or look at the junk yard in 4X4s or motorhomes and converted van and limios for it i find them time to time and most alway all work (i bought a new one and it was junk and the free one i got from the junk yard is installed and working fine at this time....mike

 

[TrailLeadr]

I just want to say, thanks!:great:

I used your write up as a model for my conversion from clutch fan to electric.
The junk yard only had a fan setup from a lincoln. I think they said it was from a Mark IV. It was $100. Not a cheap fan, but not entirely unacceptable either.

It's a dual fan setup, and has three speed settings. I'm not sure of the specs. What I am sure of is that I have it set on the lowest speed setting, and the engine fluctuates between 165-180F, sitting still with high idle, and a 180F thermostat.

My radiator core is 17x34, and the fan assembly is 16x33, so it's got great coverage. It's also running on a 30 amp fuse, so the standard 30amp relay would be fine.

Plus, it's so much quieter than that clutch fan I had before. It sounded like a plane warming up on the tarmac.:lol:

 

[Cableguy]

That was awesome of Mike to share his idea. That will be great for your truck Patrick. I'm next in line for that conversion , when I get my project truck going.

 

[Davandy]

I want an electrical fan on the Savana, I was looking at FlexLite but it cost a lot of money $500:money: . Going to the junkyard isn't an option for me the radiator on an European car is to small :rofl:

 

[Crawdaddy]

just look for the big trucks in the graveyard...like a public transportation bus, or virtually anything with a diesel pusher...they should all have electric fans since they're usually transverse mounted. Either that, or just the simple fact that they're in the back...they can't pull enough air in