Electric fan conversion

[open_road_toad]

Hey Everyone,

I apologize in advance for not posting pics. I had to run right after I dropped everything off at my son’s house.

I am doing a electric fan conversion on my 1988 C1500 5.7 700r4. I purchased a fan from the local pick and pull. It’s from a 2006 Silverado. I bought a new rad from NAPA. It’s spec’d for a 1990 C2500. It’s the 34” wide double row core. I pulled the rubber “mounts” from a 2000 truck with the same size rad. I’m assuming I’ll need new hoses from the same year as the inlet and outlet to the rad is further apart than my stock one.

I will be purchasing a fan relay wiring harness and higher amp alternator before I do the swap. I’ll change the thermostat to a 170 as well.

Is there anything else I need? I’ve searched the forums and read up on the guys who’ve done this before. That’s how I ended up with the fan I got.

As for wiring there’s a bunch of different ways to do it with regards to the AC. I am going to use a relay wired into the AC switch in the cab. This will turn the fan relays on when I turn the AC on. I figure this is better than wiring into the compressor circuit. It’s also simpler than tapping into the pressure switch.

Thanks guys, I find this forum very helpful and hope to contribute. I’ll take pics of the process and post them.

Todd

 

[kennythewelder]

Here's my write up, on mine, what, and how I did it.

Electric fan swap, on the cheap

I bought a set of electric radiator fans at pull-a-part, I got them off of a 2004 Cadillac DTS. They were about $30 with tax. I messed up, and also got a relay block with only 4 relays, it was $25 as they charged me for a fuse block with relays. I thought this was high,but had I bought 4...

www.gmt400.com

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Waste of time and effort in my experience. I do not even like them on vehicles that came with them.

 

[kennythewelder]

Here's

Waste of time and effort in my experience. I do not even like them on vehicles that came with them.

Yeah, we know, you HATE electric fans. Not everyone feel the same way you do. Personally, I love them. If you don't like them, don't run them.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Here's

Yeah, we know, you HATE electric fans. Not everyone feel the same way you do. Personally, I love them. If you don't like them, don't run them.

I do not see a reason not to make people aware that they may not work well at all for them, despite how they are hyped up by some such as yourself. A good clutch fan setup pulls 2x the CFM and much less amperage draw on the alternator and battery. With a fully charged battery in daylight with the accessories off, my van will run a solid hour on battery alone, a truck with 40-50 amps of added fan draw will have a dead battery much more quickly.

 

[Spareparts]

I can only speak of my experience but the set i switched to seem to be working great so far. My Avalanche has never boiled over with the stock electric fans.
I think the key is to have a good cooling system to start with. Each their own makes no difference to me really.

 

[kennythewelder]

I do not see a reason not to make people aware that they may not work well at all for them, despite how they are hyped up by some such as yourself. A good clutch fan setup pulls 2x the CFM and much less amperage draw on the alternator and battery. With a fully charged battery in daylight with the accessories off, my van will run a solid hour on battery alone, a truck with 40-50 amps of added fan draw will have a dead battery much more quickly.

We have been through all of this before. Like I said, if you don't like them, don't run them. You bash electric fans, every time someone ask about them. Electric fans are not the worst thing ever invented. You are entitled to your opinion, but so is everyone else. There are advantages to electric fans, and there are advantages to mechanical fans.

 

[Jerryred94silvy]

I do not see a reason not to make people aware that they may not work well at all for them, despite how they are hyped up by some such as yourself

Goes both ways champ. I don’t see a reason to crap on what some dude wants to do to his truck despite how much you don’t like what he’s doing.

. A good clutch fan setup pulls 2x the CFM and much less amperage draw on the alternator and battery.

Then why did the entire auto industry switch to electric fans?
How come everyone except you is trying to fit one in their classic car for better cooling? If it were a step backwards then it wouldn’t be a viable option. Notice no one swaps in a clutch fan.

With a fully charged battery in daylight with the accessories off, my van will run a solid hour on battery alone, a truck with 40-50 amps of added fan draw will have a dead battery much more quickly.

So?

Rant over.

 

[454cid]

I love OEM electric fans. My old Saturn, and both my Volvos have them. No trouble at all. I would not go out of my way to replace a mechanical fan, unless I had good reason. I always cringe a little bit, when I see an old car or truck with a modern aftermarket electric fan, unless it's needed for clearance due to a swap or something.

 

[kennythewelder]

Let me just put this out there, for anyone wanting to do the swap. I have seen this done a lot. IMO, the OE electric fans, are better than the aftermarket electric fans. The OE fans of off, whatever you pull them from, do need to be off of a vehicle that is big enough to have sufficient cooling power. EG, You wouldn't want to put fans from a 4 cylinder vehicle, and expected them to keep your 5.7L 350 cool. The aftermarket fans do work well, but are noisy. Again, you need the correct set up for your truck. I have heard that the fans from a Ford Windstar work well, but they are getting hard to find in the junk yard. Measure your radiator, and find a set that covers as much of the cooling fin's as possible. You definitely want the shroud with the fans. This will pull the air through the fins as needed to work correctly.