Hey everyone -

FINALLY got my HKS fan controller yesterday - I ordered it in like January or February! Seems HKS USA stocked it, but no one was buying it, so they made it special order from Japan. Then, people starting figuring out what it could do, and it got to be in high demand, but it's still having to slowly come across from Japan. Yeesh!

Anyhow, the unit itself is nice -it's a small silver case, the same case that the HKS turbo timer uses. Has a backlit LCD screen and 4 buttons, and plenty of wires coming from the back .

Using it, you can totally control the fans, as well as control an intercooler water spray and a mess of other features. It has 2 fan control outputs, so it can either switch the FD fans to Low and Medium, or Medium and High. You can set the temp for the fans to turn on and turn off - say, switch to low at 85 degrees C and switch off at 80 degrees C. It gets the temp signal from the ECU's water temp sender, and it can display temp as well as flash red/beep when the temp hits a programmable warning point.

There's also 2 more inputs for 2 more temp inputs - HKS sells air and oil temp senders for it. It can display those inputs on the screen, give peak hold data and I believe warn at over-temp.

You can also control an intercooler water spray, and this is VERY configurable. You can set it by temp and speed, have it automatically or manually kick on, and even set the spray pattern and time.

I was originally going to get this in lieu of a regular temp gauge, which actually would work pretty well. You get a solid temp reading (just like reading temp from a PowerFC commander) with warning and peak hold, and you can also control the fans.

Best part is it comes with FD-specific wiring instructions. The unit comes with a VERY generous amount of wiring (like 8 feet!) so you can wire up all kinds of crazy ways.

I've done some experimenting before I got the temp controller, and running the fans at Low will constantly keep my temps in the low 80's, even in stop and go traffic. It hasn't gotten very hot here yet, and I'm wanting to see how it will work as the outside temps come up. My goal is to keep temps consistently between 80 and 90 degrees C.

By now you're thinking, "Gee, I can just flip on the headlights or turn on the AC if I run too hot". Yeah, there is some measure of fan control by using different accessories on the car. But, I'd like a clean, no-hassle procedure that takes care of it for me. I also really dig electronic doo-dads, so this is right up my alley . Sad thing is I just got my PowerFC which can do some measure of fan control with the Datalogit, but I want to guinea pig this for all the non-PowerFC folks out there.

Hopefully this weekend I'll get the opportunity to get it all wired up and working. Stay tuned .

If you guys have any specific questions, let me know.

Dale

 

Glad it works well. I've been looking at getting one for my Stealth. I have a 84C thermostat in it but the stock computer doesn't turn the fans on low until 97C...then high at 105C.

Too bad the controller takes so long to get.

 

That may be changing, though - I'm sure HKS is realizing they're losing business by not bringing them in quickly enough!

IMHO proper fan control is the KEY to controlling temps on the FD. Mazda just went too crazy trying to get good fuel economy and good emissions by running the FD so hot. Simply switching the fans on Low is keeping my car running in the low '80s deg. C in 70-80 deg weather that we're currently having. I even have a stock radiator as well.

Dale

 

What and where can I find this? Never heard of it

 

I thought the stock thermostat opens up at 85 degrees, where did you get a lower thermostat? Nice writeup by the way....I was going to comment that you can control the fans with the PFC, but you already added it. Then I figured I would add it again

 

http://www.hksusa.com/products/?id=1697&rsku=

It can be had for $169-170 + shipping if you shop around.

 

sweet

 

Stock thermostat is actually around 80-82 degrees.

I'm a bit surprised that the FD community really hasn't done much with this - seems like HKS almost made it for the FD. The FD is first in the "how to install" instructions, and has quite a bit of documentation on different methods for installation.

I'm going for low/medium fan speed control. If I have the AC running, that will bump the fan speed to medium/high. Considering my car is pretty much a street car, that should be fine - the extra heat load of the AC system will be offset by greater fan speed. I'm interested to see how it deals with the 90+ VERY humid Florida weather.

Dale