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It's usually best
to start fabbing up the brackets with an extra radiator if you
ave one. If not then it is strongly suggested to pull your radiator.
You needed to service your cooling system anyway didn't you?
As for tools you will
need a metal cutter of some sort I used a pneumatic 4" cutter.
Some 10 mm wrenches, some gloves a face shield and some channel
locks. |
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Get your materials you
are going to use for your brackets I used some scrap brackets from
a drawer unit from work. I think they were 1 x 1/2" pressed
steel angle bracket on mine. Line them up on the shroud and cut
where necessary. Basically you will need to cut where the top and
bottom of the shroud bulge just above and below the top and bottom
of the shroud. If you are using angle like I did don't throw away
the pieces that get cut out. You will want to use them later to
reinforce the brackets. Start with the bottom. If you still have
the original clips from the factory believe it or not they make
or a pretty good mount for the bottom. |
| After finishing the
mount on the bottom I went ahead and mounted the fan into the engine
compartment. THis will allow for the shroud to settle into the bottom
clips. |
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Now you can figure out
how the shroud will line up with the top of the radiator. make your
measurements mark your holes and something else you will want to
do is make the holes in your radiator slightly oblong so the bolts
coming from your bracket will be able to swing into positron. |
| I had to put some sort
of spacer in between my bracket and the radiator. Basically there
was too much deflection when I tried to tighten up the bolts so
I put an extra nut in between the bracket and the radiator. This
proved to be much more friendly to the radiator. |
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Install the solenoid,
I decided to install it on the shroud itself to provide easy disassembly
or repair if needed. My only problem I had was the solenoid got
in the way of the air intake. That's Ok I was planning on fabbing
up a custom Airbox anyway. |
| Next comes the fun part
WIRING! I started out by soldering 10 ga wire to the original pigtail
that gave me enough length so I could put my solenoid anywhere I
choose. Also my Temp switch was already mounted from my previous
fan install. One note I can't emphasize more is do not put the probe
through he radiator fins. It is strongly suggested to install it
into the upper radiator hose as shown. This way it will measure
the actual coolant temp instead of the radiated temp fronts eh radiator.
I didn't have a major problem with this but it didn't offer much
in the way of accurate temp adjustment. |
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Next connect the positive
wire to the solenoid. Connect the negative to a good ground. Another
option is to run it directly to the battery. Connect your temp sender
'on' wire to the solenoid and again connect out the other side of
the solenoid to a good sturdy ground. The Solenoid used is a PAC-200
made by PAC inc. |
| If you are only going
to run the temp sender then connect it to either a key-on power
source or directly to the battery. It depends on if you only want
to fan to operate only with the key on or be able to have it run
regardless of the key's positron. |
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Go ahead and attach
the fan to the radiator. If you have the materials available go
ahead and back up the aluminum of the radiator with some chunks
of bracket. |
| Tie up your wiring and
connect the solenoid to the battery you are ready to test and adjust
temp. |
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Optional
wiring |
| As a supplement
to the above article is the wiring of a override switch. This will
allow you to manually turn on the fan or manually turn it off. |
| First you will need
a on-off-on switch DPST (Double post single throw)switch. I personally,
i like to use sealed switches. Especially if you are using your
truck for mostly trail duty. You will also need some 16 gauge wire
along with the necessary tools and connectors. Another option to
this option is a LED to show that the fans are in the 'on' position. |
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Connect your wires
to the solenoid and route them around to the firewall. To try to
keep the wiring clean you can twist the wire to more or less make
it one wire. To do this tie one end of the wire together and loop
around something that will stay put. Then
stick the other end of the wires into a drill motor and pull the
trigger. You will with a nice pair of twisted
wires. |
| Once through the firewall,
open up your dash and route your wires. You will need a constantly
energized power wire to connect to one center pole of the switch
then a key-on power source connected to the other pole. Connect
one switch lead to the always on switched pole and the other to
the key on switched lead. |
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To make things
a little easier and cleaner connect your wires to an Isolation block
on the firewall. This way when you have to take your dash apart
for another project you just need to disconnect your wires from
the isolation block and pull the dash out. |
| Drill a 1/2" hole
in your dash for the switch and install. The spot to the right of
the steering wheel is usually a good spot. |
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| As a option to
this option you can connect a LED or indicator light to the fan
on override by connecting a properly resisted LED positive lead
to the fan on switched circuit then connect it to a proper ground. |
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