Cooling Mod i am thinking about doing looking for feedback yah or nye

[bobehud]

OK take a look at the pic of my Burban' it is a 454 auto ( 400 turbo)
Trying to squeeze a little better power..and MPG..mpg is secondary to me wanting to reduce drag on engine.
I have one 16in electric NEW with a Hayden stand only temp sensor and relay to turn on high cooling fans.I want to make this fan come on as soon as it starts and have a second bigger fan controlled by the Hayden fan set up.Its is adjustable and can be turned to 180 degrees up to 220 degrees i plan on putting the big fan at about 195 or so.
The truck does NOT over heat just came back for a trip downtown and it never even got to the middle even sitting traffic,so i dont have a cooling issue. i just know how much that fan clutch and fan can drag something down.

I'm on the fence with this one...why screw with something that's not broken.

 

[crazy4offroad]

I went through the same thing recently trying to decide if I wanted to do it. I ended up using a Windstar minivan fan setup and it works great. Engine seems snappier, not sure about fuel economy but my fan was non-clutch, direct drive so there was A LOT of drag. We have a thread around here somewhere...
http://www.gmsquarebody.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3075

 

[Stumpuller6.5]

I did it to my 98 454, did gain HP and MPG, maybe 5% power and 1MPG max. HOWEVER, I did experience electrical problems, mine was a drop in unit from perma-cool, one of the motors failed once, replaced on warranty (tho I had to pay shipping both ways!!!) and then the fuse holder melted out far from home one day, had to let it cool down and tie the wires together to get home an replace the fuse holder all together. So for me I would do it again but I`d give it a hell of a check over and if anything seems chinsy I`d upgrade it pronto like to avoid side of the road wrenching.

 

[bobehud]

I have done this for customers and i wont use half ass set up.I know how much cfm i need and looks rather new and is the size of mattress. The water pump,thermostat are all new as are the hoses.

 

[Stumpuller6.5]

If you have most of the stuff already I`d vote YES. :thumbs:

 

[1low4x4]

What size radiator is on that 454?

 

[bobehud]

Huge 4 core brass and steel no plastic garbage...

 

[1low4x4]

Huge 4 core brass and steel no plastic garbage...

That's the same that I put in my 3/4 ton. Heavy duty 4 core brass genuine stuff. I was just wondering and making sure you didn't have room for improvement

 

[bobehud]

i like the whole ford fan set up. Taurus was another dual speed super fan,and the aftermarket fans dont do it because the ford salvage fans have two speeds and the aftermarket is only one speed.

 

[89Suburban]

Fan & clutch is my vote.

 

[austinado16]

I'm on the fence about doing this myself (as you can see in the thread I started). Seems like there's a fairly good hp and torque improvment....like 17 & 20, or something? Can't remember from the other thread. There's also the noise reduction, which would be great, I'm sure. And I could definately see a solid 1mpg or maybe 2mpg improvement. On my 34 gallon tank, that would be pretty significant too.

What's held me back is the unanswered question of, "Sure, it's great around town, and on local stuff. But what's it do when towing long grades, in the heat of summer, at low speeds?"

Right now, I'm not ready to be the test bed because that's about all our 'burb does is tow and haul, in the heat.

For you? Maybe it'd be worth doing. I don't think I'd run a fan all the time. Just go with one big fan, temp sensing, fully shrouded to the very edges of the radiator core, and let it do it's thing via the electric t-stat.

 

[crazy4offroad]

Todd if you look at a lot of modern trucks that do a lot of towing, they retain the clutch fan so you are probably wise going with your gut instinct in that regard. You would NEED it to work, no matter what.

 

[Stroked]

I say go electric. That's what I hope to do someday.

 

[1low4x4]

Well I put ls1 fans on my silver truck is the pic below, and they were nice. Bought the harness for it and they cooled, only sometimes the relay would burn up and you wouldn't know it. I was forever checking under the hood to make sure **** was working right. But it did reduce drag off the engine and I'm sure it helped, and it never got hot, but of course it wasnt a tow truck either

 

[Green79Scottsdale]

I am with the clutch fan group. A clutch fan really only takes a couple horsepower to operate. And when you need to climb up the RPM's, the clutch goes into action. And if your clutch were to go out, replacements are much more readily available than an electric, at least I gotta believe they are.