Custom Electric Fan install - Taurus + Aluminum Shroud

[buening 63]

I'm juggling a few different upgrades at the same time as my transmission swap, and got to the point of waiting on some parts for the trans so I decided to tackle the E-fan. My previous setup was the Northern 19x27.5 crossflow radiator and a Zirgo Beyond Cool electric fan. I wasn't overly impressed with the fan, but really didn't have any cooling issues. Bored with the tiny fan,the Tim Taylor inside of me said that I needed more power I set out to get some cheap E-fans from the top 3 popular OEM-fan swaps, and see which ones fit. I bought the Mark VIII fan (which this one actually came off the Tbird 4.6 car and are the same fans), the Taurus fan, and the Contour/Mystique dual fan setup. Below are a couple pics of the three fans next to each other. The Mark VIII is an 18" fan, the Taurus is 16", and I think the Contour dual fans are 12" each.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I slid the motor back 1.25" I was hoping I could fit the behemoth Mark VIII fan. I measured 4.75" clearance between the radiator and the water pump pulley. With the blades against the radiator I'd still need over 5" of clearance, so I threw that idea out the window. I did think about cutting up the radiator support to gain more clearance, but am not keen on cutting up a car like that, so the Mark VIII fan is definitely out. I then was torn between the remaining two fans. The Taurus fan would just barely fit, but the Contour/Mystique doesn't need the big amp relays and such...making it a bit easier to run. On the flipside, the dual fans don't push the CFM that the Taurus does. Taking measurements of the two Contour fans, I realized that they are over an inch wider than my radiator core. They may look goofy installed on my aluminum shroud and the ends hanging off the sides of the shroud. I could reduce this by putting the fans diagonally across the radiator but they would still hang out the ends of the shroud.....so, I decided to install the Taurus fan.

 

Below is a picture of my aluminum shroud that was made to fit my Northern radiator perfectly. I bought it off Ebay, but Northern has part numbers for these shrouds on their website IIRC.

 

 

 

 

 

I started off by finding the center of the shroud and marking it. You could offset the fan from center so that the fan motor nub isn't centered on the water pump pulley. I then measured the diameter of the Taurus fan (16" diameter) and transferred that to the shroud. I then drilled a hole at the established center of the shroud, and used a punch with string tied to it and a marker.

 

 

 

I then used a jigsaw with a metal blade to cut out the hole. I started out cutting the hole out for the fan and then stuck the fan in place before cutting the plastic shroud. The fan is offset in the plastic shroud from the factory

 

 

 

Here is the front view of the fan in the opening.

 

 

 

 

 

The only problem is the clip that holds the blade to the motor sticks out from the back of the aluminum shroud, meaning it won't bolt up to the radiator like this without screwing up the radiator. I thought about using spacers to move the shroud away from the radiator, but I'd have to have about a 1/2" thick spacer for the shroud. I hated to do it, but I needed to open up the hole in the shroud and let the second "ring" of the fan stick out. After a few hours of cutting and grinding, I got the fan to fit in the opening. Its not a perfect circle and doesn't "fit" to the fan like before, but it'll do. Here is a pic of the finished shroud that I sanded and polished, as well as drilled mounting holes and made them square for carriage bolts

 

 

 

 

 

 

up close picture of the carriage bolt hole I made using a small triangular file after drilling the hole

 

 

 

 

 

I then bought some stainless carriage bolts, chucked them up in the drill, and polished them to perfection. After that I trimmed up the plastic shroud, and installed it into the aluminum shroud using the carriage bolts and nylok nuts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a pic of the final assembly

 

 

 

 

 

 

I now need to cut the 1/8" spacers that are still needed for the blade assembly clip to clear the radiator, then install the fan assembly onto the radiator.

 

After that I'll be installing the 3g alternator and purchasing the DCControls fan controller. Although its more than I wanted to spend, it is a PWM controller and I won't have a myriad of high amperage relays and wiring everywhere. Being PWM, the fan speed is directly related to the engine temps and need for the fan....so it won't sound like a jet engine unless the motor starts to really heat up in traffic.

 

Pics to come of the installed assembly on the radiator as well as pics of the fan clearance to the water pump pulley. Keep in mind my motor is moved back 1.25" so this is definitely needed to fit this deep of a fan in your car....that or cutting up your radiator support. The Contour fans would work well if you put a wider and shorter radiator in your car, or use a 24" downflow radiator as many have used with their Contour fans. With a crossflow, you have the additional width of the tanks to take up room.

[stangme428 33]

great write up!!!:tongue_smilie:

[buening 63]

Thanks! I wish I had a perfect circle template I could have used when I enlarged the hole. It was a big pain in the arse enlarging it, since I not longer had my center hole to swing the marker attached to a string.

 

All in all it turned out pretty good. I've been slacking and haven't attached it to the radiator yet. I'm hoping to do that this weekend :)

[panteramatt 1]

Great job buening. Hopefully your tranny upgrade will be detailed as good to help me, haha

[buening 63]

Thanks! I'm trying to put as much detail (maybe too much LOL) into the posts on the trans swap as possible. I'm almost done with the trans swap, thank goodness

[panteramatt 1]

Can you tell me where and which radiator I should get for my 69? Also are there other GOOD fan options, maybe ebay?

[buening 63]

I've had excellent results using the Northern crossflow aluminum radiators. From what I'm told the Summit and Jegs brand radiators are Northerns. I believe the Ebay seller Universalparts also sells Northern radiators.

 

My radiator is the 19x28, which actually measures 27.5" according to my measurements. If using a smaller battery like the Optima, you could get away with notching the battery tray. I chose to relocate the battery and solenoid to the trunk and just remove the battery tray altogether. This radiator fits perfectly between the front frame rails. I chose to use the stock upper and lower 24" radiator mounts. The channels of the radiator are a bit too wide for the stock mounts, so I bent the channels in a bit so that it worked. You could opt to buying some 1" wide aluminum bars from your local hardware store and bending/cutting/drilling them so you have mounting straps. Just another option.

 

Here is a picture of the radiator awhile back, which I polished up

 

[panteramatt 1]

sweet. Little off topic but Im puttin my battery in the trunk along with the solenoid. Do you have to run a power cable back from the solenoid to the starter? Im gonna use a pos terminal under the hood and run 1/0 cable to the solenoid.

[buening 63]

Yeah you'll need awire from the solenoid in the trunk to the starter post. I used a 0ga wire for mine. See my reply on Stangfix about your alternator wiring

[panteramatt 1]

Wow, now Im thinking of leaving the solenoid under the hood. I dont want 2 1/0 cables running down the car. I know its not safe but I dont even think I bought enough for all that and I barely drive my car anyway.

[buening 63]

What's the 2nd wire for? If its for the alternator charge wire you only need a 4ga. The 1/0 would be overkill

[buening 63]

Lets keep this mod rolling. Even with setting the fan further out of the shroud, the blade clip only had maybe 1/8" clearance to the fan core. This was a bit too close for my comfort, so I went and bought a 4' section of 1"x1/8" aluminum bar at my local hardware store. I cut it down to the size and clipped corners to match the shroud:

 

 

 

 

After that, it was a matter of lining up the shroud over the spacers and the radiator flanges, drilling holes, and installing the fasteners to attach the shroud to the radiator. I chose to use stainless #8x1/2" machine bolts with stainless nylok nuts on the back. Here are a few pics of the shroud installed (it was extra sunny outside, so the pics didn't turn out that great):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After I got it installed, I remembered that I had an aluminum overflow tank that I previously couldn't find a place to install under the hood. With the shroud now on my radiator, I'd have a surface that it could be installed to. Sooo, off goes the fan and shroud from the radiator, then drilled holes in the shroud for the overflow, and then installed it after I gave it a good polishing. Once installed, I went through the pain of trying to plumb the overflow tubing. Initially I had a straight nipple that came with the radiator for a 3/8" rubber line to attach to. The overflow tank has a nipple as well, but I wasn't pleased with the look of rubber hose in this application. I took the fittings from both the radiator neck and the overflow tank and went to see if I could get some brake line to plumb up. As my luck would have it, the filler neck fitting was a metric and the overflow tank was 1/2" but wasn't a compression fitting. It had a rubber seal instead.

 

I managed to get a 50" section of 5/16" brake line (new copper/nickel stuff) that has 1/2" fittings. I tried to get the brake line fitting to install in the overflow tank after removing it's hose nipple, but it wasn't happening. I was pretty much stuck with the rubber hose connection to the overflow, but not necessarily stuck with it at the radiator neck. So, I drilled out the filler neck to 1/2"x20 and then bent the line to fit as shown below in the pics. I gave it a good polish as well (I'm liking the copper/nickel lines!), and cut it fairly close to the overflow tank and installed a rubber hose. It'll be hidden for the most part. I think it turned out sweet :biggrin::biggrin: I would have preferred stainless brake lines, but no one around here had them and I wasn't patient enough to wait for them to be shipped after ordering online.

 

The only thing left now is to get it installed in the car, reinstall the flex hoses, and order the DCControl fan controller. I moved the oveflow tube up higher so that the cap cleared the shroud, making it easier to remove and install the cap (after taking the pics obviously).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PaleRider 12]

Very nice - I was impressed with my self on what I did with the Mystique fan and aluminum radiator until I seen what you did. I'd like to see pics of your car - If the rest of the car looks as good as the radiator got to be one sic ride.

[buening 63]

Nah its got a long way to go. I bought the car and the PO did a newb paint job, which is now flaking and bubbling off. I don't have any recent pics, but a few posts above is one of my engine bay when I got the rebuilt engine installed. It looks a bit different now with some changes, plus it has 20k+ more miles and is a bit dirtier. The wiring has been cleaned up a bit too.

[PaleRider 12]

very nice.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Thanks! I wish I had a perfect circle template I could have used when I enlarged the hole. It was a big pain in the arse enlarging it, since I not longer had my center hole to swing the marker attached to a string.

 

That's because you didn't have one of these high tech expensive gadgets! Otherwise you could have just set it to the difference between the inner and outer ring and run it all around the outer edge to scribe the new line.

 

 

 

If the imperfect circle really bothers you that much though compared to the perfect one you had then why not just run a bead of balck or alum silicone around the whole perimeter and smooth it out with your finger? That or find some cheap C channel weatherstrip from the hardware store to run around it and snug the fan back in, no one would ever see the one seam if you put it at the bottom.

[buening 63]

Yeah, problem is it doesn't draw 17" circles :tongue:

 

It doesn't bother me. I'm a perfectionist so I nitpick my own work. It turned out good though :biggrin:

[Pakrat 1,043]

Yeah, problem is it doesn't draw 17" circles :tongue:

 

It doesn't bother me. I'm a perfectionist so I nitpick my own work. It turned out good though :biggrin:

 

Ah, now I see why this didn't occur to you, you're stuck on having to work from center more than once! :tongue_smilie:

 

Tsk tsk, you don't need it to draw a 17" circle, just the extra half inch (or whatever it was) around the perimeter. I guess you have never scribed something to an uneven surface? You set the pencil about a 1/2" higher than the point, you set the distance between the point and the pencil to what you want to add, you hold the side of the point against your circle edge, now you run the pencil all the way around the circle and make a second line the same distance around the whole edge. Easy Peasy rice and cheesy. I've even done this on the fly with a nail, a golf pencil and a piece of scrap wood in between. Or you could have even temporarily taped your old cut out back in place and started from center again for that matter.

 

Point is you did one hell of a great job and were very creative in your planning and creation, you just missed the obvious when it came time to improvise. Even Einstein was notorious for walking out the door with no pants on from time to time.:biggrin:

[buening 63]

Yeah I did something similar to what you said, but not quite as accurate. I measured the 1/2" from the edge of the cut section and put a mark about every 4". I then just connected the dots. I didn't think of doing it the way you mention, which would have been easier and quicker! :p