Frost bite radiator & electric fan???

[JGV66]

Hello again.
As my build progresses i am looking at upgrades. Once again this is an 86 k10 sb 350 mild build. The truck has a 3'' body lift & I intend to keep it, I know a lot of guys don't like them, But I do & have addressed a lot of the issues that come with that. I've had it in the truck since 1988. Anyway, I've had over heating issues because the lower fan shroud has to come off for the body lift. the truck is fine going down the road but gradually gets hot while stopped or moving slow. I am also running Evens waterless coolant which tends to run hot. I've been looking at putting an aluminum radiator & electric fan kit in & eliminating the clutch fan. I like the clean look of no clutch fan and stock shroud. I have read where a high output alternator may be needed.
I'm looking for anyone who may have used any of the brands out there like Frost bite, Brothers truck, summit Ect.
Frost bite looks to be the best & most Expensive.
Looking for recommendations Good & the bad.
Thanks

 

[WFarm]

When I bought my Blazer it had a new aluminum Summit radiator and maintained the factory shroud and fan. The radiator started leaking within a month or two. I took it out with the plan to dye penetrant check the welds but ended up not needing to as the cracked welds were obvious.

I replaced it with a Cold Case aluminum setup with dual electric fans. So far it seems to work well and no leaks.

Whatever route you take I recommend a well fitted shroud to house the electric fans.

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[CountKrunk]

Cold case has been well documented on youtube. Also has a bunch of random chinese rads.

Personally i would go with a cold case.

Either way, a close fitting shroud is key.

 

[JGV66]

When I bought my Blazer it had a new aluminum Summit radiator and maintained the factory shroud and fan. The radiator started leaking within a month or two. I took it out with the plan to dye penetrant check the welds but ended up not needing to as the cracked welds were obvious.

I replaced it with a Cold Case aluminum setup with dual electric fans. So far it seems to work well and no leaks.

Whatever route you take I recommend a well fitted shroud to house the electric fans.

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excellent whatever i do ill buy the matching fans. did you have to upgrade the alternator?
thank you

 

[JGV66]

Cold case has been well documented on youtube. Also has a bunch of random chinese rads.

Personally i would go with a cold case.

Either way, a close fitting shroud is key.

i will check them out
thank you

 

[WFarm]

excellent whatever i do ill buy the matching fans. did you have to upgrade the alternator?
thank you

Yes. I installed a Summit 140 amp alternator.

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[Ricko1966]

Most electric fans cannot move as much air as an engine driven fan,most aren't even close. If an electric fan is against the radiator no fan shroud is needed the shroud then actually blocks air flow through the radiator,unless you add flaps that open at road speed. Aluminum also does not conduct heat as well as copper the advantage aluminum has is the ability to run more tubes,for more surface area and good one probably does, but a cheap aluminum radiator will not work as well as an O.E. copper radiator.

 

[SquareRoot]

Lets see a pic of that body lift. .......

 

[JGV66]

Most electric fans cannot move as much air as an engine driven fan,most aren't even close. If an electric fan is against the radiator no fan shroud is needed the shroud then actually blocks air flow through the radiator,unless you add flaps that open at road speed. Aluminum also does not conduct heat as well as copper the advantage aluminum has is the ability to run more tubes,for more surface area and good one probably does, but a cheap aluminum radiator will not work as well as an O.E. copper radiator.

I've read this on other forums.
Again, it only gets hot after sitting at idle or at a crawl in traffic. i installed a single electric fan out of a junk yard years ago & put it on a toggle. it cools it quickly. Since the truck is getting fully restored i was looking for something that looks nice & works.
I can't run the full stock shroud because of the 3'' body lift so the bottom 1/2 was removed.

A couple questions.
is there a better fan that can be put in place of the clutch fan to move more air?
my fan is original from 1986. the stock radiator was replaced with one with more rows & is in good shape.

Has anyone come up with a modification that allows you to use entire original shroud to accommodate the body lift ?

Thank you

 

[Bextreme04]

I've read this on other forums.
Again, it only gets hot after sitting at idle or at a crawl in traffic. i installed a single electric fan out of a junk yard years ago & put it on a toggle. it cools it quickly. Since the truck is getting fully restored i was looking for something that looks nice & works.
I can't run the full stock shroud because of the 3'' body lift so the bottom 1/2 was removed.

A couple questions.
is there a better fan that can be put in place of the clutch fan to move more air?
my fan is original from 1986. the stock radiator was replaced with one with more rows & is in good shape.

Has anyone come up with a modification that allows you to use entire original shroud to accommodate the body lift ?

Thank you

I'm having a hard time envisioning how a body lift would have any impact on being able to run the lower fan shroud... why is it an issue? I have modified my core support to use a factory 96-99 Vortec 454 suburban radiator and modern 2006+ 2500 Silverado electric fans. They fit well and move a ton of air when you need them to. I actually have to disable them if the weather is below 50 degrees or so just to get the engine to warm up enough to get some heat into the cab.

The hardest part is going to be getting a decent controller for them. You really just want low speed to kick on for the AC or when the coolant temp in the intake gets over ~200 degrees. Then you want high speed to kick on when the coolant temps hit ~225+. If I'm sitting still in 100+ temps for about 2-3 minutes my coolant temps will start climbing enough to kick the fans on, then it takes about 60-90 seconds for them to drop low enough for them to kick back off again.

 

[Bextreme04]

This is my setup…
Original:

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New:

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[CountKrunk]

Ive also read that when crawling is where electric fans make the biggest difference over mechanical.

 

[JGV66]

Lets see a pic of that body lift. .......

The trucks in the restoration shop in pieces not much to take pictures of right now

I'm having a hard time envisioning how a body lift would have any impact on being able to run the lower fan shroud... why is it an issue? I have modified my core support to use a factory 96-99 Vortec 454 suburban radiator and modern 2006+ 2500 Silverado electric fans. They fit well and move a ton of air when you need them to. I actually have to disable them if the weather is below 50 degrees or so just to get the engine to warm up enough to get some heat into the cab.

The hardest part is going to be getting a decent controller for them. You really just want low speed to kick on for the AC or when the coolant temp in the intake gets over ~200 degrees. Then you want high speed to kick on when the coolant temps hit ~225+. If I'm sitting still in 100+ temps for about 2-3 minutes my coolant temps will start climbing enough to kick the fans on, then it takes about 60-90 seconds for them to drop low enough for them to kick back off again.

When you lift the body the core support goes up but the engine stays the same height. then the fan sits lower and will hit the bottom shroud. So the bottom 1/2 of the shroud has to be removed.

 

[Bextreme04]

The trucks in the restoration shop in pieces not much to take pictures of right now

When you lift the body the core support goes up but the engine stays the same height. then the fan sits lower and will hit the bottom shroud. So the bottom 1/2 of the shroud has to be removed.

Ah, yep that makes sense. There is actually another method that is fairly common. Volvo had a single fan that was PWM controlled for fan speed. It is the exact right diameter to fit inside of the stock shroud. I've seen where people have riveted the volvo single electric fan inside of a stock shroud and then wired it into a PWM controller with a temp sensor in the intake manifold.

 

[Ricko1966]

A 6.0 fan