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Engine Cooling


Dragster
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Man, are you opening a can of worms here. Let's try talking about a less divisive topic like the current election cycle the U.S. is going through.

 

Seriously, this topic has about as many answers as the people reading this thread. There are pros and cons to both.

 

I'm currently doing a bunch of other work on my engine. I just bought a Flex-i-lite fan (16", 2200cfm, 11.5 amps), and Hayden temp controller. My reason for doing it is because the previous owner did a 3" body lift and the engine fan no longer lines up with the opening in the shroud on the radiator, which is mounted on the body. Last summer I had to deal with overheating issues, so I'm going through the whole cooling system while doing the current engine work. It's easier for me to go electric than to try and get OEM back to correct operation.

 

If my fan lined up with the shroud, I had a known good fan clutch, and I wasn't having overheating issues I'd probably leave well enough alone and stay with the OEM setup.

 

There are a lot of considerations to be made before each owner makes their personal choice. My suggestion is to do a bunch of Google searching and read as much as you can about what other owners have done, and why. Not just in Nissan forums. Fans are universal in every form vehicle.

 

And even this post is MY opinion, nobody else.

 

As for me doing my electric fan conversion this time:

1) I'm mounting my temp probe inside the pipe leading from the thermostat to the radiator. You do this by sliding the probe into one of the places where a rubber hose hooks up. You place a little silicon gasket material where the probe wire is and tighten down the hose clamp. In the past I've mounted the probe in the radiator fins, but have never liked doing it. For mechanical reasons as well as accuracy reasons.

2) I'm modifying the shroud to mount the fan to it, instead of directly to the radiator with those funky plastic zip tie things. For the same reasons I listed in #1. There's another consideration, also. Water crossings. This has nothing to do with electricity. Electric fan motors can get wet all day long with no issues. Fan blades flex. In a water crossing they act just like a prop on a boat. However, in an effort to push the water into the engine compartment after passing through the radiator the blades flex in the the other direction, straight into the radiator. That's why some many people wire in a switch to manually turn of the fan. By mounting the fan to the shroud I'm giving myself about three inches of separation between the blade and the rad core. Also, with the fan mounted on the shroud it pulls cooling air through the whole radiator, not just the spot immediately in from of where it's zip tied to.

 

Another thing some people don't consider is that an electric fan will add another big (my fan is 11.5 amps) load to the electrical system. If the electrical system is in good working order and, not already close to being overloaded, an electric fan isn't an issue.

 

Good luck. Either decision you make won't be wrong as long as you've made sure it will meet your personal needs.

 

Maybe I'll grab a few pics today as I'm doing my install and post them here, or in a new thread.

 

Resbum

 

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You could always get the rad drop down kit from 4x4parts and keep your manual fan. That is what I have and it works great.

 

I have an E-fan but I went back to the stock one after blowing 2 controllers...Maybe I could have waterproofed it better but whatever.

Edited by adamzan
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Dang, I wish I'd known about that drop down kit.

 

As for controllers, stay away from electronic ones. I go with a good ol' fashion one. I'm old enough that I've used the basic electromechanical ones for 30 years without one failure. Something like the Hayden #3653 is all most of us need and there's no electronics to fail.

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