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After everything I have been through and physically feeling the difference on the top and bottom end tanks on a dual pass and single pass, as well as seeing the recovery time for the core to hit the target temp when the fan kicks on.... Im going to say run a single pass because it is engineered that way and it does not suffer from heat soak as bad as the dual pass. The N-Flo probably works better then the dual pass and the N-Flo returns through a smaller top section on the radiator unlike the dual pass which has two end tanks on top.
All my future VM kits will come with a single pass set-up.
Here is a generic picture I made to what I feel is really going on between a Dual-Pass, an N-Flo, and a single pass.
Idk. Dual pass used on list of cars with good results. NFlow is tried and true and is pretty much dual pass. Heat soak will occur either way (20 minutes of driving with 190 degree liquid running through it will do that), the system is designed to be effective even when it's heat soaked.
Idk. Dual pass used on list of cars with good results. NFlow is tried and true and is pretty much dual pass. Heat soak will occur either way (20 minutes of driving with 190 degree liquid running through it will do that), the system is designed to be effective even when it's heat soaked.
I know right. Seriously I have never had a complaint on my dual pass for the vm kits and I know they work, but I am looking for something more efficient that will put the least amount of stress on the fans. I do not know why some literature calls the N-flo dual pass when it is not, it's a triple pass.
But.....
The one thing I experienced first hand was something that can not be achieved on any radiator that will have the coolant circulate back up through the top heat soaked end tank. I had my fans set at 85C and they stayed on because the engine was hot, but when I went to feel the single pass the piping was just under luke warm, actually more towards cool than warm. This is not possible of the dual pass because the top tanks will blend in temperature. Maybe the triple pass N-Flo can achieve it and it would be cool to use that and find out.
I think the real way to tell is the recovery time from when the fans kick on an off. It also seems that on the move everything kind of balances out with constant airflow. There are different situations though where you are driving more of a technical course such as a very windy road for a few miles where you average 40 and your top speed might be 60 on a short straight, and your also in the top of second gear most of the time. Your not getting the airflow vs rpms that you would get on a track with higher speeds.
I really think these 3 set-ups should be used in a controlled situation where you drive the same course with the same car / same tune and you only change the radiators. This is something I would like to do, but I do not think I will go back to dual pass. I think the triple pass and single pass are the way to go since they both enter and exit at opposite corners.
The first half of this update is going to be redundant and boring as hell, but there is some new stuff as well. This update consists of the final flushing and cleaning I did with a drive on the 100% Sierra with 1 bottle of prestone and then a drive with the EVANS High Performance back in it. As far as my thermowax goose chase went, it needed to be driven to get fully warm up. At idle the coolant is not circulating enough and you end up waiting while your engine gets hotter as it heat soaks and eventually your oil temps get to hot because you’re not moving and you have to shut down the car or spray a mist of water at your oil coolers to get the temps down like I did.
After a few fan cycles with the car raising in idle the thermowax eventually showed it’s fully open VTA1 voltage reading which let me know the warmup cam has been disengaged and the ISC is now controlling the idle.
I ordered a temp controller with a push in probe and some 9-inch fans. I wanted to make something that could also be turned into a kit. Once it's all working, I'll make a parts list for anyone who wants to do the same. Ok, on to the continuation of flushes.
Part 1 - Filling The Third Flush, 100% Sierra + 1 Bottle Prestone
Part 2 - Draining The Third Flush, 100% Sierra + 1 Bottle Prestone And Inspect Radiator
Part 3 - CLR Heater Core Flush
Part 4 - 100% Sierra + 1 Bottle Prestone Heater Core Flush
Part 5 - Fourth Flush 100% Sierra + 1 Bottle Prestone With A Drive At 13psi
Part 6 - Fifth Flush And Drain 100% Sierra
Part 7 - Clutch Adjustment
Part 8 - No More Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Part 9 - Crazy EVANS Drive At 0psi, 7psi, and 13psi
Part 1 - Filling The Third Flush, 100% Sierra + 1 Bottle Prestone
In Update 102 I had completed two flushes already and this is the continuation of that. I am trying to do as many flushes to get the most stuff out as possible. I drained the second flush and re-filled the third flush. I took off the upper TB hose to let air escape, filled the AST and thermostat housing until both were full. I put the upper TB hose back on, the 7psi cap on the AST, and put the fill bucket on the thermostat housing neck and put coolant in just until its in the throat of the fill bucket.
At first start up the coolant immediately went up the tapered funnel section and after full warm up it doubled in volume. I would say that 100% Sierra has a lot of expansion when warmed up. I let it run for about 30 minutes as I misted the oil coolers to keep the oil temps down. I shut the car down and let it cool and eventually all the coolant shrank back into the engine. I’m still surprised how much expansion the 100% Sierra has.
Part 2 - Draining The Third Flush, 100% Sierra + 1 Bottle Prestone And Inspect Radiator
Taking off the AST cap I was surprised that the fluid was at the bottom. I was using the fill bucket and expecting that made it a 0psi system, but I guess some coolant vapor / coolant was able to get past the 7psi cap. I finally have some dripping, but it does not drip while it runs like before where it would trickle out. On 30 minutes idle, with cool down and sitting over night it was barely anything.
Once again one of my 3 doggies came to check up on me to make sure I was OK. Her name is Yoli and she is a Yorkie-Terrier mix. I drained the coolant and once again I see some crap in the bottom of the bucket. For peace of mind I take out the intercooler and take off the upper radiator hose to inspect inside the radiator to make sure nothing got stuck or continued to grow. Thankfully the inspection mirror showed it was still clean as a whistle and now I have complete peace of mind. However, it’s still coming from somewhere. I flush the radiator and engine separately and both were clean, this means my heater core still has some crap in it – time for some CLR !!!
Part 3 - CLR Heater Core Flush
After a ton of searches on the pros and cons of using CLR I decided to give it a try. They do sell an automotive version that is meant for radiator flushes, but you can use CLR if you dilute it properly. I used an 8qt to 1qt ratio as recommended on the back of the bottle for things like coffee makers. I bought another garden hose and some fittings to make a kit where I can just swap hose ends on the sump pump. I also made a set-up to where I can blow the remaining fluid out of the heater core.
I hooked up one hose to the heater core hose that goes to the outlet of the front thermostat housing and the other hose went to the hose that is on the spark plug side of the engine. Using my big turkey fryer pot with NO heat, I ran the 8 to 1 CLR in both directions for about 30 minutes each. There was a lot of foam and I could see some rust flakes in the pot. I drained the fluid mix and I was surprised but not surprised by the crap that came out. It broke through some blockage and it looked like it was flowing much better now. I hooked up my tool to blow the rest of the CLR out and it was time to give the core a hot bath with the prestone.
Part 4 - 100% Sierra + 1 Bottle Prestone Heater Core Flush
Simply put, I ran 100% Sierra + 1 Bottle Prestone at 125F for 1 hour in each direction. I little bit more stuff came out but the flow on the outlet looked excellent now. While doing this I also but the key to on, fan on high heat pointing to the feet and I now have hot air !!!!!!!!!! I drained the pot and saw some more junk, but I felt that I got most of it out so I didn’t bother to blow the sierra / prestone mix out because I will be putting it right back in for the test drive. The sump pump also had a slimy dirty ring on it left over from the heater core hot bath.
Part 5 - Fourth Flush 100% Sierra + 1 Bottle Prestone With A Drive At 13psi
It was time for a test drive with 100% Sierra + 1 Bottle Prestone to try and get any remaining crap out. I did the usual routine of taking off the upper TB hose to let the air out as I fill the coolant and prestone mix. I filled it just to the top, started the car and took note of the level right at start and warmed up. I let the car cool and the coolant shrunk down as expected. I buttoned her all up with the 13psi cap and went for a drive. Everything was fine for a few miles and then I got onto the freeway and started going uphill. Cruising in 5th at 65mph and after about 1 mile the temps shot up to 97C, I quickly exited and the temps dropped to 87C. I continued to drive and the temps stayed stable so I went back onto the freeway and made it home without any other issues. The only thing I could think of is the inner leaking oring I have now caused air bubbles and that the cap released some air pressure and/or fluid expansion and then settled back down. I got back home and let the car sit overnight. The next morning, I went to drain the coolant and for the first time I had crap on the rubber oring seal on the AST cap. I drained the car and more heater core crap came out. I really thought I was done with this, but I guess not. Time for another flush.
Part 6 - Fifth Flush And Drain 100% Sierra
It was time for the final flush with 100% Sierra to get the car ready for EVANS coolant. I did the usual routine of taking off the upper TB hose to let the air out as I filled the coolant. I filled it just to the top, started the car and took note of the level right at start and warmed up. I let the car cool and the coolant shrunk down as expected. I drained the coolant from the radiator and engine, put the plug back into the engine, and then used my little tool connect to the upper TB hose to blow compressed air through the system to get the rest of the coolant out. I was able to blow about an extra ½ qt of fluid out – that’s what she said. The remaining debris were finally getting to an acceptable level. It’s finally time to add the EVANS, but first I needed to tackle 2 important issues – the clutch and CO2 poisoning.
Part 7 - Clutch Adjustment
My clutch releases at the top and it’s annoying how far down I have to push the pedal and then lift my leg up until my knee hits my chest before the clutch grabs. Thankfully it’s an easy fix. There are 2 adjustment points, 1st point is at the sensor that provides the stop, and the 2nd point is the rod that screws into a clevis that is attached to your brake pedal. There is a little play you want to have to make sure that your adjustment is not to tight resulting in slipping the clutch. I wanted to make it so that my clutch pedal was just a little higher than my dead pedal.
1. Unplug the sensor connector so you can unscrew it without twisting the harness.
2. Unscrew (17mm) and take out the sensor to put the nut on the other side, else do not.
3. Unscrew (12mm) jam nut on rod and screw in the rod to bring the pedal down.
4. Screw the sensor down to give it the lower hard stop and plug the connector back in.
5. Make sure you have free play by looking at the sensor plunger before it pushes in the clutch.
6. Tighten all jam nuts and plug the sensor and go for a test drive, repeat adjustment if needed.
Part 8 - No More Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
BOSOZOKU TIME !!!!!!!!!
My plate says Bousou and 7, look up Bousou if you do not know what it means.
My car is in a makeshift mini garage and every time I start it for whatever reason, the exhaust fills it up and I eventually feel like ****. The whole time I did not know it was also filling the house up through the side windows. Usually, I’m outside all day with the car when it runs but I recently went inside the house and it was almost just as bad as the tent. I felt so bad for subjecting my wife and 3 doggies to the C02 poisoning. I asked her if it always smelled like this and she said yes and she would always get dizzy and nauseated… oh FAWK. I immediately turned off the car and addressed the issue so it does not happen again. I am also installing some C02 alarms as well since we have a gas stove, oven and water heater.
Taking a play from Japanese tunning culture I installed my own mini bosozoku exhaust and it fricking worked. It gets the fumes right past the edge of the end wall. Why don’t I just remove the wall you say, because when the wind blows, it has picked my tents up before and thrown them partially on my neighbor roof. So, the wall is mainly used as an air deflector, along with some privacy, sunshade, and keeps the rain out. I grabbed some piping I had left over and stuck it in the tips to try it out, I couldn’t believe it, but it worked. It extended just enough to allow the fumes to exit outside the tent. I would say there is a little leakage because the piping is a small diameter but 90% makes it out and I can not smell anything in the house while the car is running. I looked at it a thought, it’s kinda cool so I drilled some holes and bolted them in place so I do not have to take them in and out while I’m working on the car. On a side note, as Dale mentioned the exhaust tips of this Apexi N1 Dual exhaust have been known to melt the back black plastic trim – check, crossing this one off on the bucket list..lol
Part 9 - Crazy EVANS Drive At 0psi, 7psi, and 13psi
I filled the car with EVANS following the same procedure as always except this time I plugged the hole in the fill bucket when the car was fully warmed up and hopefully the fluid fully expanded. I did notice that the air bubbles were smaller than before but none the less I have same serious coolant oring issues. I also notice that the 100% sierra like to float to the top of the EVANS. I let the car cool down and removed the fill bucket and put the extra coolant back into the container. I packed the car with towels, the extra AST caps and almost a full gallon of EVANS coolant if I need to add more. I went for the test drive with the 7psi cap first, I drove about 2 miles and the car stayed between 86C to 88C and then I got on the freeway. This time it fluctuated between 91C then it would drop to 85C. It was almost like it was burping itself. The oil coolers were working, temps at 180F. After about 5 miles the low-level coolant buzzer came on – uh oh. I exited the freeway and pulled into a parking lot where old people were playing bingo. The car did not go past 91C, so it was better than the 100% sierra run. I lift the lever on the 7psi cap to relieve any pressure and when I took it off it looked like someone just blew out a ginormous thick cloud of a vape hit. I shut off the car and added like 1qt of coolant.
This time I put the 0psi cap on to see what would happen. I rolled out the parking lot and up a hill, sat at a light and then proceeded onto the freeway. Within 5 minutes and less than a mile of driving the low coolant buzzer came on again – OMG WTF. I pulled over right away and thought did I just completely loose an oring, did I forget to tighten the drain plugs, did a hose pop off… NOPE. I was able to drive 0psi in the past with the clogged radiator, but did the blockage prevent good flow and thus the coolant kind of hung out??? Anyways I’m sure combustion pushed the coolant into the overflow tank.
I filled the car up again with another 1qt of coolant and this time I put the 13psi cap on it. I was kind of shitting bricks because I was almost out of EVANS and I did not have enough for a 3rd fill up. I went on my merry way and the car was solid at 86C for the next couple of miles, this is off airflow only as my fans do not come on until 88C. Screw it, Imma gas this ****. I pulled off the freeway to upload a new FC Tweak mix into the PFC. The car sat at stable temps and did its fan cycle from 88C back down to 86C. I went on my way and OMG, arghx what the fawk magic is in your tune bro. So, I have a base tune from Daniel Kuo, I used arghx setting 2 page (you’ll have to get google drive through arghx for that) and ran it through FC Tweak. Tip-in is a little lean per the AFR but it feels amazing. The car sounds quieter and is smooth as hell. In 1st I gave it gas a 3krpm and as soon as the 2nd turbo kicked in it just spun the tires. It is making more power for sure. I get onto the freeway and 2nd gear feels much stronger. Then I just cruise to monitor the temps. Everything looked good so I gased it in 3rd and went from 60mph to 100mph pretty damn quick. This time I kept my eye on the boost gauge as the boost controller is off and I am only on the 7psi wastegate spring, uhhh by 7500rpm in 3rd gear it was showing almost 10psi. That is a lot of boost creep. But what ever tune I have it’s solid, just need the tip-in fine tuned. I also noticed slowing down from the 100mph my coolant temp was at 84C… ok?
I got home and my coolant overflow tank was dripping and I used my drain to empty it and approximately 2qts came out – go figure.
So the question is, do I still need EVANS if I need to run a 13psi cap due to the oring issue. The main advantage right now for me is only waterless since 0psi or even 7psi is out of the question. The car ran decent on the 13psi cap. I’m really tempted to put regular old 50/50 with the original coolant since it seems like the pet friendly sierra was only used to be compatible with the EVANS.
P.S. My right rear TEIN Coilover blew so looks like Im going to get them all rebuilt by TEIN unless someone has a killer deal on some used decent coilovers.
Oh well – enjoy the redundant and new pics. 20 years from now I’ll look back on this and laugh at my dumb ***.
pics Part 1 - Filling The Third Flush, 100% Sierra + 1 Bottle Prestone
here what I feel the cooling looks like with the fans on.
coolant spends more time in the n-flo and I see overall it will have greater cooling capacity. n-flo also does not have an outlet end tank on top to get heat soaked as it has just the small cover on the other side. less material less heat soak.
coolant on the single pass flows right through, cycles faster and fan time on/off should be quicker
I still think the dual pass works, no complaints on the ones I make but the coolant still needs to come back up through a tank that is influenced by heat.
so lets say - my temps are fine
but
what are our temps set to and how long do the fans stay on to achieve those set temps
Anyone care to chime in.
I have included my guess and a blank canvass if any one of you guys care to paint along with me .. lol
I decided to troubleshoot why the 4 gauges in the 4 gauge pod all have a little bounce in unison with their needles. Since I had everything out to work on the gauge wiring I decided to also take another shot at adjusting the fast idle cam on the throttle body. In the end the adjustments worked out and the car returns to base idle smoother with the swapped dash pot. On to the usual picture show.
Part 1 - Adjust Thermowax And Fast Idle Cam - AGAIN
Part 2 - Dash Pot Swap
Part 3 - Fix Heartbeat Gauge Readings
Part 4 - Wind damage
Part 1 - Adjust Thermowax And Fast Idle Cam - AGAIN
I had to take off the throttle body to redo the grounds to the gauges in the 4 gauge pod which are the fuel pres, oil pres, oil temp, and water temp. I figured since I was doing this I might as well as take another stab at adjusting the fast idle cam. Speaking with Xavier-FC Tweak, he informed me to make sure that when the car is fully warmed up to make sure that the fast idle cam separates around 60C and that VTA-1 shows roughly 0.40v so the ISC can control the idle to the set RPM in the PFC. You have to make sure the dash pot, cruise control cable and thermowax adjustment all do not interfere with the butterfly to close against the hardstop.
Quote below:
"Actually, once you start up the engine, setting the thermowax while monitoring water temperature on the FC-Commander is the easiest way. I have attached a page from the FSM which clarifies the job of the 2 setting screws A & B. Most importantly you must make sure that the fast idle cam separates at about 60C. Above that temperature, that is once the cam separates, your TPS voltage (as read on the FC-Commander sensors screen) should read about 0.40v. Make sure the idle screw does not hold the throttle plates opened so much as not to be able to get the TPS to read down to 0.40v. The PFC is able to idle perfectly well with the throttle plates fully shut (idle screw barely touching), since it can regulate intake air by bypassing the throttle plates via the ISC. This ECU function is activated during 'idling mode' which the PFC enters when the TPSV is about 0.40v." - Xavier FC Tweak
Since my throttle body is off the car it was much easier to adjust and test. First I verified my hardstop on my throttle plate by holding open the fast idle cam and then backing out the idle screw until I had a gap and then I screwed it back in until it touched. Second I moved the fast idle cam with my finger and then adjusted the roller to separate at the D location. I verified this by looking at the marks on my old fast idle cam from my original throttle body that is now in pieces. Third I set my thermowax adjust screw so that the roller on the cam was a little before position C (77F) since it was like 60F outside. The thermowax screw can be easily adjusted at a later point.
Now it's time to verify the TPS. To simulate the car warmed up you just need to open the fast idle cam, you can stick the handle of a small screw driver to hold it in the open position. Plug the TPS in and look at your VTA1 and verify it is approximately 0.40v, if not then adjust. I made sure to un-plug my fuel pump since I took out the FPR to troubleshoot the gauge issue, that way with key-on I do not have fuel spraying everywhere.
Part 2 - Dash Pot Swap
I have a JDM throttlebody that came with the lots of parts I bought to get this car running. When I gave it a bath with cleaner I may have damaged the diaphragm because it no longer works. I didn't notice the bad dash pot until I was going through old parts from my USDM throttlebody. My original dashpot still acts like a damper so I decided to use it. I cleaned it up and installed it with my modified jam nut. I opened and released the throttle plate and watched the dash pot do its thing by slowing down the throttle plate as it closed. It almost bottomed out so I used a copper crush washer as a spacer and re-installed it. I tested it again but this time the dash pot did not slow down the plate from closing. I took it out and felt it with my finger and it felt fine.
I turned it to clean the tip and to my surprise the resistance went away. I continued to rotate it and then the damper force was back. I looked at the dash pot and the tab on the side with the little ball bearing must be facing up for the most resistance. If the tab is on the bottom there is no resistance. Is it designed like this? Is this an old school way to time how fast the dash pot allows the throttle plate to close? If any of you are having issue with your dash pot, take it out and rotate it and see it if does the same thing. I see now that when I added the washer it caused the dash pot to tighten with the tab in the down position. The second time I tightened the jam nut on the dash pot a little more and then tightened it a little more into the bracket and it lined up with it going in about halfway. Just enough to work and not affect the warmed up setting.
Part 3 - Fix Heartbeat Gauge Readings
This one has been bugging me since the first day I got the gauges working. Since I hooked everything up at once it was a little harder to troubleshoot. I had to remove the FPR to get to all the grounds for these 4 gauges in the 4 gauge pod which are the fuel pres, oil pres, oil temp, and water temp. I googled a bit and read some people say the pressure sender might be bad, but most of those issues were jumping needles and erratic readings. I thought it was a ground issues where each sensor had to have a separate ground back to the chassis, I also read it needed a ground back to the battery. I tried many different test cases which all had the same result, no change. I made some new longer and thicker ground wires so I could get to each one easier, my stah is getting low so it's time for another junkyard trip. I put the throttle body back on, re-plumbed the FPR back in, and plugged in the fuel pump. The FP gauge shows the heartbeat with key on since it actually reads pressure with the car not running, it is a good gauge to start with.
I try putting the ground on separate batteries and I even tried re-routing the gauge ACC power from the aux to main batter, nothing changed. Then, I HAD A VISION !!!!!!!!!- seriously.. lol. I have no idea why I never noticed it before, maybe due to tunnel vision on the 4 gauges, but I was at a weird angle looking into the car and I was looking at the FP gauge and when the heartbeat started I noticed out of the corner of my eye the AFR gauge finished its start-up at the same time. I always noticed that it took a few seconds for the heart beat to start, but I thought it was related to those 4 gauges only since the other 3 gauges on my roll cage had no issues.
The AFR gauge goes through a start up sequence and shows some flat bars taking a lap around the gauge before it shows the reading. I finally made the connection that when the AFR gauge initializes, the heart beat starts on the other 4 gauges and I repeated it several times to make sure. I took apart the driver side kick panel to figure out what the heck was going on. I found some grounds that were bolted together, maybe I was trying to bring a ground straight back to the battery and not to the chassis. Maybe it was related to the AN signal for the fc-datalogit, don't remember now. BUT, I had it taped up with electrical tape. I removed the tape and touched it to chassis and WALLA - no more heartbeat !!!!! One wire was from the negative battery, the other negative for the Greddy Profec-B boost controller, and the other for the 3 gauges on the roll cage. I grounded them all to chassis and not only did everything work, it fixed another issue I had on the FP gauge on the FPR reading about 6 to 8 psi lower than the FP gauge in the 4 gauge pod, now they both read the same psi +/- 1psi. Now everything works like it should. Junior also came by to check on me again.
Bonus:
Part 4 - Wind damage
We had a crazy wind storm here on the west coast last night. Telephone poles and trees knocked over and power lines causing more fires. I woke up every 2 hours due to the noise of the wind, my homemade garage blowing around, and the power going out or surging every 2 hours. We have Alexa so if you have smart lights you leave the switches on, this is so bad if the power keeps going off all through the night. You lose power, then it comes back and all the damn lights turn on, but you can't tell Alexa to turn them off because you have to wait for your router to reset. So you sit there with your eyes open waiting, because you don't want to get out of bed to turn the light switches off... because you will have to turn them on later again. It was cat and mouse with Alexa all night long. Then I was putting all the feet of the pop up tents in left over brake rotors I had. I was constantly making adjustments to keep things from flying away. I finally passed out to darkness and in the morning I woke up to some rearranged tents. One flipped over the fence and had to be disassembled since it was completely mangled. My homemade garage made it. It did get pushed forward about 3 feet, some legs came out of the rotors and somehow some random cardboard was in between the rotors and feet, and the section near the garage lifted up, but no legs scratched the car - "this time" - so it's all good. Some hornets lost their house and my antenna for my outside TV was gone.. lol
pics Part 1 - Adjust Thermowax And Fast Idle Cam - AGAIN
I think I have a nice balanced tune on the car. After everything was done, I took it for another drive and it was nice and smooth. I like the smoothness, the stability, and the predictability of the on/off throttle inputs through this curvy back road near where I live. The oil cooler dual fan kit works like a charm and it cost less than $200 in parts. My upgraded oil coolers are no longer acting like giant heat sinks at idle. I am happy with the car and it is a blast to drive even at 7psi. I was curious as to what 4th felt like and the road was empty, I think I paid $1.20 ß (hint hint) for the fries which I had to stop eating due to being scared how fast they filled me up. On another note, the engine needs a rebuild as the o’rings are getting worse. I discovered that if I leave the coolant system pressurized after turning off the car, more coolant will leak into the chamber as it cools down. It will be hard to start and run like **** until the coolant is burned off. If I turn off the car and immediately pull the pressure lever on the cap, then the coolant does not make it past the seal and the car is easy to start the next day. So as Dale said, rebuild it before it bites you in the ***. I wanted to pay someone to rebuild it for me, but I will do it myself. The money saved on labor will be put towards ARP studs, solid 1-piece dowl pins (with the hole for the oil to go through on the other side), E&J seals or RA super seals, and a complete overhaul seal kit. Time to $ave up, hopefully it will be running by summertime. This will be my last update for a while since I will be working on another project for the next couple of months. Enjoy the pics.
Part 1 - Oil Fan Kit Parts
Part 2 - Will It Fit
Part 3 - Mount Fans
Part 4 - Power Wire For Fans
Part 5 - Fan Controller Bracket And Probe
Part 6 - Fan Wiring Complete
Part 7 - Fan Controller Works
Part 8 - Bumper On And Looks Good
Part 9 - Growing Coolant Seal Leak
Part 10 - Clean Hood Heat Shield
Part 1 - Oil Fan Kit Parts
I searched for a decent dual fan controller that was simple to hook up, easy to operate, and had a push in probe. I found this brand called Davies Craig that specializes in aftermarket cooling components. I ordered the Davies Craigs DC0444 Digital dual fan controller with push in probe and two 10-inch fans from Pegasus Auto Racing. When I got the fans I realized I should have taken measurements oil the oil coolers first. Davies Craigs smallest fans are 8-inch so I ended up going with a dual 6-inch fan kit made by American Volt from amazon. The parts and packaging of the Davies Craig stuff is really nice. The boxes look like radiator tubes and fins. The digital fan controller instructions are also very detailed and easy to follow. I bought additional wiring and electrical connectors because I intended to run the power and ACC back to the AUX battery set-up but at the last minute I changed my mind and ran the power to the MAIN battery terminal in the engine bay and tapping the turbo timer harness for the ACC.
Part 2 - Will It Fit
I test fit the fans on the back of the oil coolers only to find out the oil cooler line going down the backside is in the way. I had considered changing the fittings but then I would have to make another line for the additional length. Then I had one of the moments where I realized I was making it way more complicated than it need to be. All I had to was loosen the fitting and rotate it out and then tighten it back up – problem solved…lol. I test fit the fan again and the line just barely clears, well it touches but does not apply any pressure against the fan shroud. I did have to rotate the fan so that the motor harness did not rub against the oil cooler SS line.
Part 3 - Mount Fans
I considered making brackets to hold the fans but I decided to install them with the plastic mounting hardware provided to show how to do it and also for the people how can not make their own brackets. It was a little painful stabbing the screwdriver through the fins, but it is needed for the mounting hardware. I held the fan up to the oil cooler and used a sharpie to mark where the holes will be. There are foam pieces with the kit that go on both sides of the hole to prevent the plastic from damaging the surrounding fins and tubes. I placed one foam pad on the screwdriver, pushed it through the fins, and placed the other foam on the screwdriver where it came out the back of the oil cooler. This way when you pull out the screwdriver both the front and back pads are lined up with the hole. The pads have sticky tap on one side and they will stick to the oil cooler.
Next will be to mount the fans with the plastic rods and push on lock clips. The backing for the plastic rod should go on the fan side and you will have to cut one side shorter so that the rod goes through the hole straight. Install the rods through the fan shroud tab and then through the hole in the fins one at a time, once all plastic rods are through you can slide on the locking clips and cut the extra rods off. Do not lock them down too tight because it will cause excessive pressure on the plastic locking clips to fail prematurely, you just want them snug so the fan shroud can not move. Perform a final check to make sure the fan harness, fan shroud, and oil cooler line will not damage each other from vibration while driving.
Part 4 - Power Wire For Fans
I found a nice spot for the fan controller between my cruise control and the A/C dryer. The wires reach the battery post, a good ground location, the remote ACC can be extended, and the power wires for the fans are able to reach in front of the upper radiator support bar where they can be secured and hidden away. I crimped some connections on the fan controller so that it can be mostly plug and play. The two fan power wires are spades, the battery power and ground are ring lugs, and the A’C call is tied back. Only the remote wire is crimped without a disconnect going to the ACC, I may change that later to a disconnect plug. I put a wire loom around the wires going to the front to keep them together, also make sure to check you have fuses inside the fuse holders. I priced out sperate wire spools to match the colors of the fan controller, but I ended up returning the spools in favor of my little trick of using the 4-wire cable that is used to wire trailer lights and such. It was 1/3 the price of equivalent length for 4 separate spools.
On the fan controller, FAN 1 power is orange, so I used yellow on the 4-wire. FAN 2 is blue, so I used white on the 4 wire. Black is ground, I used the brown wire on the 4-wire. I wired up the colors to the perspective fans and FAN 1 is with the temp probe on the left side and FAN 2 is on the right side. My FAN 1 is on the 2nd oil cooler going back to the engine and I have the probe here so it can control the temp easier. The fans get grounded to chassis, so I extended the grounds to use the ground bolt for the horns since those threads have been cleaned from all paint. FAN 2 power wire has been brought over to where the fan controller wires reach. I put all the wires in looms and routed them to one central location.
Part 5 - Fan Controller Bracket And Probe
Once again I made a little bracket for the fan controller. It’s an aluminum T with rivnuts painted black. It bolts to the side bolt holding the flip up headlight motor. It hold the fan controller in a snug place and allows the wires to be routed with ease. I made all the connections for the fan controller, except for the ACC line, and continued with mounting the temp probe. The temp probe comes with a special locking tab that holds the probe in place as well. I chose to mount the probe near the inlet on the second oil cooler. The probe did not easily fit between the rows so I had to keep stepping up the diameter of several screwdrivers before I was finally able to massage the rows open to fit the probe. My greatest fear was that I would crack the metal, but it turns out the oil cooler was very sturdy. I made the 2 holes for the temp probe and plastic rod and trimmed the foam to clear the temp probe. I put the probe through the clip holder and into the oil cooler. The probe slid it, I was a little worried about it not having a tight connection but once I secured it with the plastic rod it stayed tightly in place. I left some extra rod extending the back of the plastic clip to make sure I did not accidently cut the probe wire.
Part 6 - Fan Wiring Complete
If you guys remember I used a turbo timer harness to tap into the ACC to bring it back to my AUX battery ACC fuse block. That way it would flip the relay to pull power from the AUX battery for other things. I was using a crimped spade inserted into the connector, but I decided to cut the pigtail off the HKS turbo timer since I will no longer be using it. For the oil cooler fan controller, I routed the new ACC line through an existing hole I made for the split fire ignition harness near the clutch pedal. I crimped the ACC line for the fan controller and AUX battery ACC fuse block to the ACC line on the pigtail and plugged it in. I did this in a way that would be easiest for people to copy and to show that it works with it set-up like this. I tucked all the wires up and tried my best to zip tie them out of harm’s way.
Part 7 - Fan Controller Works
It was finally time to start the car and let the oil get hot to verify the fans work properly. It was cool to see the oil temp rise to operating temp via the pedestal temp gauge. The oil thermostat stays closed until 180F and then opens up to allow the oil coolers to cool the oil. This was observed by seeing the temp at 180F on the pedestal, but the probe showed 53F. When the oil hit 180F it dropped on the temp gauge in the car as the thermostat opened and allow the oil to go through the coolers. I then saw the fan controller temp probe rise to 180F showing the oil coolers warming up.
It looks like the oil temp at the oil pedestal reads about 10F higher on the gauge than the fan controller gauge. I suspect the temp probe is the cause of this since it is not directly in the oil and pulls temp from resting against the row of the oil cooler. Since my water temp is to 88C on which is 190F I wanted to regulate the oil temps to match at idle, but I want them a little higher so the fans are not constantly coming on. I set the fan control to 190F which is about 200F. I watched the oil temps on both gauges. The probe showed 190f and the pedestal reached about 205F. FAN 1 turned on and then 10 seconds later FAN 2 turned on like it’s supposed to and the temps dropped way faster then I thought they would. When both oil cooler fans turned off the fan controller temp showed 178F and the oil pedestal showed about 185F. I let the car idle for a good 30 minutes watching the coolant and oil temps being regulated by the fans. I did notice that when the oil cooler fans came on, the current draw was so low it did not affect the idle and the car did not step up to 1100 rpm to its E/L setting.
Part 8 - Bumper On And Looks Good
I was concerned about the plastic clips showing in the vents but it did not. The top plastic buttons are behind the top signal lights and the bottom ones are right below the opening of the bumper. You can see the bottom one a little bit if you look down at an angle, but for the most part it looks like airflow will be ok. I am not to concerned about hotspots at this time. Maybe in the future I will make fan brackets, for now I just wanted to show the set-up works. When everything is back together the oil cooler fan controller is hidden under the LRB top panel.
Part 9 - Growing Coolant Seal Leak
My coolant leak is getting worse and now I must follow a procedure to prevent coolant from getting into the engine as it cools down. Before starting it, I must drain the coolant reservoir and put the coolant back into the car. After warm up or a drive, I have to lift the pressure relief lever on the AST cap before turning off the car to stop the pressure from leaking coolant into the engine. I found this out when I did not relieve the pressure after a drive and when I tried to start the car it struggled to get the coolant out of the engine, and I had a ton of white smoke. When I relieve the pressure right at turn off I do not have this issue when restarting the car hot or cold. If you look closely at the pictures, the thicker smoke shows the smaller pulses as the engine runs at lower rpm trying to clear itself up. The lighter smoke shows more gap between the pulses as the engine warms up at normal rpm.
Part 10 - Clean Hood Heat Shield
It’s kind of hard to tell but the heat shield under my hood had some oily spots. I rubbed my knuckles against it and it looked like I hit my knuckles with an ink pad. I used an interior trim panel remover to remove the buttons and took it off the hood. I sprayed it with degreaser and washed it off. I was surprised at how much water it retained; it was like a giant sponge so be careful when you carry it not to let in bend. I stood it up against the wall and let it drip most of the water out, then I left it on top on my metal shed for a few days. I used some larger buttons from one of my many button kits to put it back together. All I know is the kit is HE40 292pcs and the push in button name is #V03 7mm Hood Insulation Clip.
Enjoy the pics.
pics Part 1 - Oil Fan Kit Parts
Last edited by rotaryextreme; Jan 31, 2022 at 09:25 PM.
