12" A/c Condensor/engine Overheat Fan Replacement

[Cubes]

My old A/C Condensor / Engine over heat fan was on its way out as it makes horrid loud grinding noises.

I made a few measurements, a 14" fan fits in there quite nicely.

I picked up an eBay 14" Proflow thermofan that apparently pushes 2300cfm for $70 + postage. Which is half decent, both the cfm and price.

I received it today, it looks slightly different to the pic on ebay but for the better. It has curved blades which in my book is better than the straight crude things and even better its rather quiet for how much air it pushes.

It flows a hell of a lot of air and you can really feel the pressure when you place your hand behind the radiator, I have no doubt it does flow somewhere close to 2300cfm.

The quality feels better than the Davis fans.

So ppls... Replace that 12" with a 14", a little better cooling during summer on those 40degree days sitting in traffic, no doubt it will help keep the a/c icy and engine temps lower.

I'll take a few pics and see how it drives tomorrow and update.

For now here's a pic of the fan.

Edited January 5, 2006 by Cubes

[Busky2k]

Nice info. Where'd ya find it?

[Cubes]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-14-THERMO-ELECT...1QQcmdZViewItem

You can pick up the supercrap cheapy's with the straight blades for roughly the same price, I went this one due to its specs.. 2300cfm is a lot of air.

I'm about to finish it off and take it for a spin. The fan is very quiet, has a nice whoosh sound not a horrid buzz that many do.

[Bl4cK32]

did you have to wire it in, or is it a plug and play?

Are the mounting points the same as the std item?

[WazR32GTSt]

how did you go mounting it?

surely it didn't fit in there easily...

My thermofan didn't come on with the a/c, so i wired up my onw in-cabin switch so that i can turn it on in the bisbane heat.. this would add to my cooling upgrade...!

Also, anyone have any idea what airflow the stock thermo fan is rated at?

[Cubes]

It fits in there perfectly... There is actually a little room to spare with the height but the width there is none due to the bonnet latch. I did have to trim a couple lugs off the thermo fan so I was able to fit in the bonnet latch assembly and diagionally opposite the condensor lower bracket.

I mounted it through the condensor core.

VL's are done like this from factory.

One tip... remove the front bar and fmic.. well worth it and will prevent lots of swearing.

Standing at the drivers mirror with the bonnet open, car off but fan running I can feel air blowing on my face from the thermo through the stock shroud. The origional fan I was pushing to feel a little bit of air blowing on my hand if I were to place it in the clutch fan opening of the shroud.

I'm happy with it, quiet, no vibrations and blows a lot of air.

I really need to fix my slight power steer seep though. :S

I'll hook the pfc h/c up tomorrow and check out temps doing the usual southern expressway hill and traffic idles..

Edited January 6, 2006 by Cubes

[Cubes]

The steps in order I would do it if I had to do it again.

Remove front bumper

Remove FMIC

Remove bonnet latch assembly

Remove old fan

Pop the top rad hose off

Remove fan shroud

Remove clutch fan

Lift up and push back the radiator

chop old plug off

wire up new male $2.95 2pin plug from motor mates

reverse fan blades

wire up new female plug to thermo with reverse polarity

cut off top left lug from thermo fan, cut off bottom right lug from thermo fan

slide thermo fan up from under neath

bolt it up using the usual fibro washers on both sides of the condensor core to prevent the thermofan brackets sinking in to the condensor core and causing it not to sit nice and even all round.

Bolt everything back up.

I tried getting it in from the top, which I did but then found it too hard to do up the lower bolts, it was also not sitting flat due to the lower lug still existing, then lost bits then decided to pull everything off and start again.

Edited January 6, 2006 by Cubes

[Bl4cK32]

lol...another simple job that turns into an all day headache again

[salival]

Cubes: Are you still using the standard clutch fan, also? I really want to get rid of this when I do my engine conversion (going from rb20de to det).. can get a 16" thermo pretty cheap (I work for an aircon place)

[Bl4cK32]

A single thermo wont work as effectivly as the std clutch fan + shroud.

You need the twin 12" thermo setup + shroud from a ford. i cant remember which model atm

[salival]

I've been watching what cubes has been saying in a few threads.. I think from memory he has said EL falcon slimline thermos..

I'd really like to do away with the clutch fan..

[Cubes]

I've measured up and the el/ef thermo's do indeed fit up, it easily clears the power steer piping.

HOWEVER, I recently checked out another R32 that had a rb30det slotted in, that had the radiator sitting noticably closer to the power steer hoses, it also ran a different shroud, mine completely covers the radiator where as his had an opening where the power steer hoses go. So there is differences, unfortunately. :S

Only way is to measure up.

Slapping a 16" on is a gamble, if you can get it cheap give it a go.

Driving around in todays heat I noticed the temperature takes much longer to hit 90degree's in traffic (where amb temps hit 48degrees).

Having the car idling the clutch fan drawss stuff all air, turn on the 14" and you can instantly feel so much more air flowing.

One big difference is it hardly feels like the a/c is on with regards to power loss, previously after a while I could start to hear the a/c compressor roar a little and the car would feel a little sluggy, now it never roars and a/c is definitely colder, prior it would loose its icy feeling when sitting in traffic for a while.

[West]

Well done!

[BH_SLO32]

A couple of words of warning. Firstly, I don't believe a 16" fan will fit in the available radiator space for an R32 so I would suggest you measure before purchasing a fan larger than 14".

Secondly, it pays to handle the fans carefully when fitting as damage to the motor can occur easily if the fan is dropped by accident. This is especially true with the ebay fans due to the external motor bearing housing sitting proud of the rest of the housing. I damaged one of these ebay 14" fans when the radiator accidentally tipped over whilst fitting an additional 10" fan (the 14" had been fitted weeks earlier). I subsequently purchased a 14" Davies Craig fan which has performed flawlessly.

Some food for thought.

Cheers

Edited January 11, 2006 by BH_SLO32

[Cubes]

It must of been a fair wack as the 14" ebay fan I posted a link to was fairly heavy duty feeling, especially around the motor as it was metal.

I've attached a link illustrating....

The only bits plastic are obviously where the motor screws on to the fan shroud and the blades.

Did you break where the motor screws on to the shroud?

I was rather impressed with the quality compared to 2 x 12" Davis fan's I pulled off some time earlier. Felt much more sturdier, quiet and don't vibrate.

I also doubt a 16" will fit, depending on how it is mounted it should, on a shroud that is, radiators require shrouds to work effectively.

My 2 x 12" thermo's were fine for every day driving until I hit the a/c and was stuck in traffic on a 33+ degree day, temps quickly shot up and wouldn't come down until moving.

Removing the fans it looked as if only ~30-40% of the radiator had airflow through it via the fans.

Edited December 3, 2008 by Cubes

[BH_SLO32]

Cubes,

The fan in question is similar in construction to the one in your photo (ie. metal casing for the motor and plastic fan blades etc). You will notice the bearing housing for the motor armature sits proud of the rest of the motor housing.

When the radiator fell over it appears the bearing housing has sustained the full impact. Although no visible damage was evident on the outside the damage appears to have occured with the bearing. Unfortunately I found out the hard way when I kept blowing fuses due to excessive current draw. Once I turned the fan blades by hand I recognised the problem.

Great work with your car btw.

Cheers

[Cubes]

Ahh no problems..

So whats your setup?

14" and a 10" on the back of the radiator no shroud?

Std 12" blowing through the a/c?

Keep it cool in that qld summer?

Edited January 12, 2006 by Cubes

[BH_SLO32]

Ahh no problems..

So whats your setup?

14" and a 10" on the back of the radiator no shroud?

Std 12" blowing through the a/c?

Keep it cool in that qld summer?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You got it in one. All three fans are activated together either by the temp switch or by the Haltech as an auxiliary input (I have an RB25). The 10" fan is one I bought from Ebay. Haven't had any overheating problems thus far.

Cheers

[BHDave]

Thanks for the heads up cubes.

I did this today as part of my whole upgrade intercooler/radiator/thermos package seeing as i had the fmic and front bar off anyway.

I went with a davies craig 14" which from the pictures is fractionally smaller than yours (and almost double the price). I could fit it easily without removing any lugs or the bonnet latch (it actually just slid behind the latch support and held pretty tight).

How deep was yours, it looks chunky? Mine was just on 75mm which just cleared the back of my original intercooler so should clear the new one aswell.

I'm still deciding whether to wire this one up to the original A/C plug or wire it in through the thermo switch for my other fans. I think it will be a bit of a waste to only have it come on after the others seeing as it's the biggest of my 3 fans