wrcbonk Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 I am writing to inform everyone on my current plan for cooling fans in my S30 RB25DET swap. I tried fitting the stock clutch fan and didn't like how tight the position was and it was going to make routing the inlet to the radiator a pain so I started looking around for an electric fan solution. I started by building a steel frame out of 16 gage steel box tubing and sized it to enclosed the fins of the radiator. I have a stock replacement radiator that the PO installed. Don't worry your eyes aren't deceiving you, I had the inlet moved over to the other side of the radiator by a shop in Sac. After finding out how $$$ after market electric fans were I started to read the forum for other ideas and came on the 2-speed Taurus fan conversion. Being excited to learn about it I glossed over the fact that it doesn't fit inline 6 cylinder engines because the fan motor is too deep. So back to the drawing board. When we were at PicknPull yanking the 2-speed fan, my buddy Robert (an active member of the forum) noticed that the smaller 3 liter Taurus's have a twin fan set up using smaller shallower fans. The 3 liter Taurus from 98 through 00 have two fans, one about 15-inch radius and a smaller ~13-inch radius. We decided to pull two of the smaller fans from two sperate cars. One very trick thing we noticed about these fans was that they use two rubber feet on the bottom for support and on top are held in by just one bolt. We thought it would be great to try and incorporate this "one-bolt" installation in the z. So we grabbed the rubber supports with the fans. Ok enough talk here is what it all looks like. The plan is after I paint the frame to use foam rubber insulation tape on the back side of the frame to seal its connection with the radiator. We tested the fans and they work well and pull a lot of air. Obviously one major flaw with this set up is a lack of shrouding in the dead spaces of the frame. Time will tell whether that is an issue for proper cooling. I am thinking I may use the same Volvo relay set up as is used on the 2-speed fan set up like the sbc guys. I will keep you posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB26powered74zcar Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 That looks great! I think you will get plenty of cooling from those nice oem fans. Awesome workmanship! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat1 Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Those Taurus fans really pull some air. I have one from a 94 Taurus that's a two speed single fan On my 1jz. I only use the low speed and it works great. Be careful those things pull some power. Might need to upgrade the alternator. I know my rb only had a 60amp alternator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oddmanout84 Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 I have to ask, which side did you pull these smaller fans from? From the products (Dorman, on Summit) I've seen, they only list the part number and sometimes which side it goes on. I have not yet seen annotation of the dimensions in any product description, since I suppose they assume that the customers that buy these are just looking for OEM specific replacement and don't need to know additional info. What I'd like to know is which side the smaller diameter fan resides on. If you're wondering why I don't just go to a pick and pull and see for myself, the answer is that around here it's pretty rare to find a good junkyard, let alone one that you can actually walk through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrcbonk Posted July 29, 2011 Author Share Posted July 29, 2011 The smaller fan is on the passengers side of the car. I chose the late model Taurus hoping these cars would be around the yards for a while. Maybe someone else can correct me, but I think PicknPull will ship. So you maybe able to request them from somewhere else. The price might negate the benefit. I would try your own yards first, luckily in this case there isn't too much metal on these fans. You might be able to find some in good shape. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanceVance Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 (edited) I've been planning something similar for a while... Glad to see someone do it successfully, definitely will be scouring the yards to do something similar. THIS is what I was planning on doing to take care of the "dead" space around the fans. Should be pretty simple, and you might be able to just tape up the inside (mechanical/important bits) and wrap your whole fan/support bracket as 1 piece. Do a good enough job, throw on some satin black paint and it just might look OEM. Edited July 30, 2011 by LanceVance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsicard Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 wrcbonk : Really like the photos. Thanks much for them. One question, where did you purchase that power strip that is on the bench. Have been looking for just that type of power strip. Please advise. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr jdm Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 A+ for effort for sure. But that is a lot of fab work considering a bigger radiator and slim fans would have been a much more simple effort and would do the job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrcbonk Posted July 31, 2011 Author Share Posted July 31, 2011 I am pretty sure the power strip came from an end cap at Lowes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrcbonk Posted July 31, 2011 Author Share Posted July 31, 2011 Trust me I almost just picked up the phone and called MSA, for $250 you can get this http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/SCC02/16-7054. Right now I am working the electrical for the thermostatic switch. Here is what I am going to try, http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HDA-3651/ As far as where to thread in the switch sensor, I found an inline adapter off a 89 240sx that will work with a brass adpater to 1/8th inch NPT. I will post pics soon. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB26powered74zcar Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Trust me I almost just picked up the phone and called MSA, for $250 you can get this http://www.thezstore.../SCC02/16-7054. Oops! We can't find that page... Try this >> http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/16-7054 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejracer Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 Oddman, I found dimensions for the larger fan, but not the smaller on Rock Auto. I have the mounting geometry for the smaller fan, that I pulled off one of Bill's fans for a shroud I designed. It's fairly easy to fab it up like Bill did, as I recall he did this before I had gathered the dimensions. -Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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