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VOLVO 850 FAN INSTALL


Miles

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94 -97 Volvo 850 electric fan

Source: Summit Racing

  •  Dorman Electric Fans 620-883  $141.97

  • Painless Performance  30100 Electric 70 amp Fan Relay Kits p/n . $49  Comes with Maxi Fuse.

  • Painless Performance p/n 30111 Fan Control, Thermostatic, 185 Degrees On/170 off  (grounding)  $47.9  Works perfect.

 

Custom 19" H  x 19.5" W x 1.5" Deep  aluminum shroud by Mike Tolle Fabrication, Sacramento, Ca.

 

Replaces failed Flex- a- lite Black Magic fan on Arizona Z Cars radiator.

 

Note: All of the 30 amp Painless fan relay kits are wired to work with their grounding fan thermal switch. The Painless 70 amp relay kit is not. The Painless 70 amp relay kit is wired for the ignition switch or a fan switch to trigger the relay. I wired the relay to allow a grounding type Painless fan thermal switch to trigger the  relay.  When the thermal switch turns on,  it grounds the relay which closes the relay and energizes the fan circuit.   Not a problem if you are comfortable working with relays.  You could do the same thing using a 70 amp Bosch relay and some wire.

 

Painless website:  http://www.painlessperformance.com/webcatalog/fanc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

92517 2.jpg

92517 1.jpg

VOLVO FAN 1.jpg

RADIATOR SHROUD.jpg

Edited by Miles
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Thanks.

Didn't pay much attention to the Taurus fan so I can't compare it with the Volvo. But from what I read, it uses the same fan motor.

Works great. As soon as the gauge hits 185 deg F the fan kicks in and then off at 170 deg F.

I was going to do a long road test but my Wilwood 1 inch MC failed today.

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  • 6 months later...

Check with WilWood. There is a recall on some of their MC 's. https://www.wilwood.com/Pdf/Recalls/RDCONL-17E030-0986.pdf

 

Recall was on 7/8" tandem cylinders, but I've heard reports of some of the 1" cylinders failing as well. Happened to my buddies Camaro with a WilWood 1" Polished MC. 

Edited by Chickenman
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29 minutes ago, Chickenman said:

Check with WilWood. There is a recall on some of their MC 's. https://www.wilwood.com/Pdf/Recalls/RDCONL-17E030-0986.pdf

 

Recall was on 7/8" tandem cylinders, but I've heard reports of some of the 1" cylinders failing as well. Happened to my buddies Camaro with a WilWood 1" Polished MC. 

 

This was my third failed 1 inch Wilwood MC. I bought a 15/16 replacement from Arizona Z Cars.

 

The fan/shroud/radiator combination is working perfectly. The temp gauge stays between 170deg and 185 - 190deg in traffic on hot days.

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6 hours ago, Neverdone said:

Does the Volvo fan really need that 70amp relay? Almost all other relay kits come with a 30amp fuse.

 

Yep.   The Volvo fan amp draw spikes at 60 - 70 amps (momentary) and then settles down to about 30 amps. Even though a relay is rated at 30 amp doesn't mean that it will not overheat/melt at some point under continuous use. The 70 amp relay is insurance for those 110 deg days in the California heat. 

 

Other considerations are a quality fan thermal switch and relay, maxi fuse, appropriate wire size, ground and alternator.  I upgraded the alternator from 70 amp to 100 amp.

Edited by Miles
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On 6/19/2018 at 3:02 PM, Neverdone said:

what gauge wire did you use to wire the thing up?

 

The Painless fan relay comes pre-wired.  The power wire is 10ga. So the  ground wire for the fan I installed is also 10ga.

 

WIRE SIZE

AMPERAGE              WIRE GAUGE

       2                                 22 AWG

       3                                 20 AWG

       5                                 18 AWG

      10                               16 AWG

      15                               14 AWG

      20                               12 AWG

     30                               10 AWG

     40                                8 AWG

 

For wires over 20 feet go one larger wire size.

 

Note: All of the 30 amp Painless fan relay kits are wired to work with their grounding fan thermal switch. The Painless 70 amp relay kit is not designed to work with a grounding fan thermal switch. The Painless 70 amp relay kit is wired for the ignition switch or a fan switch to trigger the relay. I wired the relay to allow a grounding type Painless fan thermal switch to trigger the  relay.  When the thermal switch turns on,  it grounds the relay which closes the relay and energizes the fan circuit.   Not a problem if you are comfortable working with relays.  You could do the same thing using a 70 amp Bosch relay and some wire.   See atch drawing.

PAINLESS RELAY SCHEMATIC.jpg

Edited by Miles
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I've now bookmarked this thread.

 

I was planning on getting a champion 3 row radiator and buying their two fan option, but now I'm totally just going to do this.

 

I'll see if I can make a CAD drawing of the shroud when I'm finished.

 

Question though:

Why not just wire the grey/white wire to the thermal switch?

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3 hours ago, Neverdone said:

I've now bookmarked this thread.

 

I was planning on getting a champion 3 row radiator and buying their two fan option, but now I'm totally just going to do this.

 

I'll see if I can make a CAD drawing of the shroud when I'm finished.

 

Question though: Good question

Why not just wire the grey/white wire to the thermal switch?  You would have to provide 12v to the other side of the switch. See explanation and alternative approach below.

 

My bad explanation: I have my car wired differently then stock. Also, the Painless 70 amp relay kit is not designed to use a thermal switch ground. The Painless 70 amp kit is simply either  turned on/off using a fan switch inside the car or the ignition. I wanted to use a thermal switch to ground and activate  the relay so the fan didn't run continuously.

 

I use a solenoid activated electrical master switch (Hotronics) in my 240Z. The master switch kills all power when off.   So it acts like an ignition switch powering up the car and all accessories.

 

With stock wiring you could wire it as shown in the picture below.  I didn't wire mine that way because I didn't want to run a wire to the ignition since my car has the  master power off switch that kills all power. This  allowed me to  wire the relay trigger (gray/white wire) directly to the relay power source (maxi fuse) that is only energized when the master switch is on (like turning on the ignition).  It made running another wire to the ignition unnecessary.  The relay is activated when the thermal switch closes and grounds the relay.

 

Painless 70 amp relay kit wiring alternatives:

 

  • If you want to use the Painless 70 amp relay kit with a thermal switch and use the ignition switch as the trigger you could wire the relay as per the 30 amp Painless relay kit pictured below.

 

  • If you do not want to use a thermal switch to trigger the 70 amp relay,  you can wire the trigger wire (gray/white) to either the ignition switch or a separate fan on/off  switch. I preferred using a thermal switch to ground the relay so the fan would only run when needed.

 

Here is a link to the Painless relay kits. Note the manuals with each kit.   http://www.painlessperformance.com/webcatalog/fanc

 

PAINLESS THERMAL SWITCH AND RELAY SCHEMATIC  JPG.jpg

Edited by Miles
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1 hour ago, LLave said:

Nice! Very HybridZ.

 

You should check out Delta Current Control as a way to control the fan. It has many advantages, like controlling inrush which is massive with some fans. That is how I am going to run my Taurus fan. 

http://www.dccontrol.com/constant_temperature_controllers.htm

 

Thanks. I did look at this and other controllers. But I wasn't sure about the reliability so I stuck with the  old fashioned relay and thermal switch. I am old school.  My first car was a 40 Ford back in the 60s. Grew up on flat heads and small block Chevys. Now there is an idea - a Ford flat head in a 240Z........................

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I ran the same Volvo Fan. Built a shroud from fibreglass...sort of a fun project. If you can find a parts volvo, The relay system on it is very robust; comes with nice connectors already and also provision for high and low speed fan control.

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15 hours ago, Miles said:

 

Thanks. I did look at this and other controllers. But I wasn't sure about the reliability so I stuck with the  old fashioned relay and thermal switch. I am old school.  My first car was a 40 Ford back in the 60s. Grew up on flat heads and small block Chevys. Now there is an idea - a Ford flat head in a 240Z........................

 

I totally understand. I am considering wiring a manual override switch to a relay, just in case. But maybe that is a tad paranoid? 

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2 hours ago, LLave said:

 

I totally understand. I am considering wiring a manual override switch to a relay, just in case. But maybe that is a tad paranoid? 

 

Actually a few members have installed back up switches.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

If you are using  JTR's radiator and mounting, a Lincoln Mark VIII two speed fan with shroud is a perfect fit.  Need only cut out a portion of the shroud to give more room to remove the radiator hoses.  Two "L" shaped brackets for the bottom , 4 pop rivets to secure the brackets to the bottom of the JTR bottom mounting bracket and you are ready to go.  Flashes 50 amps on startup..Big fuse and relays recommended.  Some Thunderbirds may also work.  This is not the smaller Taurus fan.  JTR's first 240z/csb engline swap manual  used a top radiator mount from a 71 or so Nova with v/8.  If you are using this piece  to mount your chevrolet radiator, the Lincoln shroud mounts as if stock with three sell tapping screws.  If you have the JTR manual,look at page 12-2.

zgeezer

 

 

 

 

 

 

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