E-Fan install, under $175

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shanem386

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First post here, as a lurker, you guys have been helpful with my 99 Tahoe project, so I thought I'd attempt to repay the community.

I know it's been written up before, but I haven't seen it done the same way I just did.

Electric engine cooling fan install

Part, Cost

Autozone: Torqflo 733647 electric fan control unit, $35

Advance Auto Parts: Imperial 226116 Electric fan (two of them), $65 each.

I'd originally planned to do this with a different fan control unit I'd used previously on an old Camaro, with dual fans or one single from a junkyard (I was thinking NBS), but the kit I found at Autozone was much nicer, and the junkyard was closed so luckily Advance came through with the fans.

The fan control kit is a 30 amp relay, 30 amp inline fuse, adjustable temperature control, dual-fan kit. It includes a wire to a switched on source (yellow), and an A/C clutch control wire (Green, I didn't use it yet) Autozone should have it in stock, it's in the back room, near the motor mounts, the employee I dealt with had no clue.

The fans are 16", and appear to be made well, knock on wood. Two leads from each motor.

I yanked the upper fan shroud off, then the mechanical fan, then the lower shroud. Lower shroud bolts were rusted, so I just pulled hard and the lower shroud broke off.

I did the water pump and thermostat while I was in there, but that's boring stuff...

The wiring is pretty straight-forward. Red goes to batt power, yellow is switched, green to A/C clutch control. Black is ground (I got lazy on my grounds, used self tapping screws on the inner fenders. They'll eventually fail from rust, but not any time soon) the two remaining thick wires go to the fans.

The fans attach through the radiator core with included clips and padding.

I hastily hacked up my upper fan shroud to cover the radiator and run the wiring, you'll see in the pics.

The temperature probe included with the fan relay kit actually slides in the fins of the radiator, which I like, easy install, but it was a little loose, so I glued it in place with a little black silicone on one side. I included a pic of the condenser side where it sticks out a bit.

Got it all wired up, had the fans pushing instead of pullilng, lol, fixed that, works great.

Adjusted fan switch to kick on at 200, and off at 195 with a 195 theromostat.

I'm not exactly sure what temp they should run at though, so I'm open to suggestions :)

Hope this helps someone :D
 

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shanem386

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more pics
 

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shanem386

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I'll clean up the wiring a little more later :)
 

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Back N Black

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I was looking for the write-up using the Ford Thunderbird fans, but this seems like a pretty affordable, and simple installation.
 
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shanem386

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Since this install, I doubled up the fan relays, both fans on at once was too much for the poor ancient alternator, so I have a low temp fan, and a high temp fan. Also, one of the autozone relays failed, replaced with this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CN4XZI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

The derale unit is much better quality.

If I had to do it again, I'd use two of those relays.

The budget for this project is probably higher than some others at this point.
 
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