Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hi everyone!

Today, in deep conversation about GTR performance with one of my friends the topic of thermo fans came up. I was under the impression that thermo fans were far better than using the standard radiator fans. The justification of this opinion was the fact that using the standard fan sapped a bit of power (how much KW loss I am unsure).

My question to everyone out there is; Are thermo fans a worthwhile upgrade? Or will the standard fan suffice?

Those of you who are running thermo fans I would like to hear your opinions.

Thanking everyone in advance.

  • Replies 65
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

My experience is you probably need to do a lot of extra engineering to block off all routes except through the radiator for the cooling air.

In my experience, the risk of overheating / cooking the engine is not worth the couple of extra kW you gain.

I use 2 14" davies craig thermo fans, its a tight fit. I havent made a shroud of anything for them yet but even under hard driving the temp only goes up a degree or two. On hot days stuck in traffic the temp gauge doesnt move.

My experience is you probably need to do a lot of extra engineering to block off all routes except through the radiator for the cooling air.

In my experience, the risk of overheating / cooking the engine is not worth the couple of extra kW you gain.

But in terms of efficiency, isn't the fan of minimal use when travelling faster than 60km/h?

Also, what about all the FWD cars that run electric fans from factory?

Cheers

like above, fans are used the most when sitting in traffic. They only really shine, when its 30+deg and you arnt moving.

Hell my old '79 holden used to love driving on the highway (cold temps), but go through Maccas on a hot day and it would shoot up temps :)

Thermos NEED a shroud to pull air through like the std setup, or they arnt worth much imho. Ive seen it on heaps of cars now with themos that cant keep the car cold on stop start traffic.

But in terms of efficiency, isn't the fan of minimal use when travelling faster than 60km/h?
Not arguing that. Just you need to ensure that air goes through the radiator, not out under the car. When I had a 16" DC thermo, I could get the fan to switch on on a slight uphill on the highway on a 23 C day.

The engine had seriously overheated during a track day at Winton (25 C) - within 1 lap the temp gauge was off the scale. I replaced the factory fan, and left the tell-tale light in place - 4 laps of QR (30 C) and the tell-tale lit up on the last run into the finish line.

Figured my engine wasn't worth that much risk.

Also, what about all the FWD cars that run electric fans from factory?

Cheers

That's because the engine is parallel to the radiator - the front of the engine isn't facing the radiator for a mechanical fan to work!!
That's because the engine is parallel to the radiator - the front of the engine isn't facing the radiator for a mechanical fan to work!!

Sorry, I wasn't clear with that one...

what I was getting at was, if the rad fans are shrouded correctly, elect thermos are surely as effective as mech ones...?

I have used a single 16 inch davies craig fan on the GTR. Unfortunately they draw an enourmous amount of current so you must rig them up to a thermo switch otherwise you lose the power benifit if they are on all the time. They also work within the factory shroud and reduce rotational mass to boot.

So how much is it to have a new shroud made up for the twins.Or any of the thermo fans??

The car wont overheat.If anything the fans should be set up right in the first place.Like having a thermo switch kick the fans on at optimal temp.

Question!

How much leeway should be taken into account when trying to get the engine to stay at a set goal temp.Like when should they start/kick in to be able to hold 76deg/c?

I run twin thermo's on an SR20DE+T. Since my GTR died, due to heat, I have been worried about temp.

Even with a hi-comp engine, running boost, in a drift car, so has seen a bit of stick, the thermo's are amazing.

When having the car tuned, the tuner was amazed he could not get the car over 80degrees. Hot days are not a problem and even sitting in traffic, I rarely see 75.

Also, they help cool the engine AFTER I turn the car off which I like.

I'm a big fan.... kehehe, I'm funny...

thermo fans are by far a better way to go.....its just that 90% of the setups i have seen people seem to hook them up incorrectly (hotwiring them ect)generally they pull 10amps a peice and north south oem applications????at a split second thought ford falcons,commodores have had them for years.....if i had another 10 minutes think i could think of quite a few more id reckon

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • From there, it is really just test and assemble. Plug the adapter cables from the unit into the back of the screen, then the other side to the car harness. Don't forget all the other plugs too! Run the cables behind the unit and screw it back into place (4 screws) and you should now have 3 cables to run from the top screen to the android unit. I ran them along the DS of the other AV units in the gap between their backets and the console, and used some corrugated tubing on the sharp edges of the bracket so the wires were safe. Plug the centre console and lower screen in temporarily and turn the car to ACC, the AV should fire up as normal. Hold the back button for 3 sec and Android should appear on the top screen. You need to set the input to Aux for audio (more on that later). I put the unit under the AC duct in the centre console, with the wifi antenna on top of the AC duct near the shifter, the bluetooth antenna on the AC duct under the centre console The GPS unit on top of the DS to AC duct; they all seem to work OK there are are out of the way. Neat cable routing is a pain. For the drive recorder I mounted it near the rear view mirror and run the cable in the headlining, across the a pillar and then down the inside of the a pillar seal to the DS lower dash. From there it goes across and to one USB input for the unit. The second USB input is attached to the ECUtec OBD dongle and the 3rd goes to the USB bulkhead connected I added in the centre console. This is how the centre console looks "tidied" up Note I didn't install the provided speaker, didn't use the 2.5mm IPod in line or the piggyback loom for the Ipod or change any DIP switches; they seem to only be required if you need to use the Ipod input rather than the AUX input. That's it, install done, I'll follow up with a separate post on how the unit works, but in summary it retains all factory functions and inputs (so I still use my phone to the car for calls), reverse still works like factory etc.
    • Place the new daughterboard in the case and mount it using the 3 small black rivets provided, and reconnect the 3 factory ribbon cables to the new board Then, use the 3 piggyback cables from the daughterboard into the factory board on top (there are stand offs in the case to keep them apart. and remember to reconnect the antenna and rear cover fan wires. 1 screw to hold the motherboard in place. Before closing the case, make a hole in the sticker covering a hole in the case and run the cable for the android unit into the plug there. The video forgot this step, so did I, so will you probably. Then redo the 4 screws on back, 2 each top and bottom, 3 each side and put the 2 brackets back on.....all ready to go and not that tricky really.      
    • Onto the android unit. You need to remove the top screen because there is a daughterboard to put inside the case. Each side vent pops out from clips; start at the bottom and carefully remove upwards (use a trim remover tool to avoid breaking anything). Then the lower screen and controls come out, 4 screws, a couple of clips (including 3 flimsy ones at the top) and 3 plugs on the rear. Then the upper screen, 4 screws and a bunch of plugs and she is out. From there, remove the mounting brackets (2 screws each), 4 screws on the rear, 2 screws top and bottom and 3 screws holding in the small plates on each side. When you remove the back cover (tight fit), watch out for the power cable for the fan, I removed it so I could put the back aside. The mainboard is held in by 1 screw in the middle, 1 aerial at the top and 3 ribbon cables. If you've ever done any laptop stuff the ribbon cables are OK to work with, just pop up the retainer and they slide out. If you are not familiar just grab a 12 year old from an iphone factory, they will know how it works The case should now look like this:
    • Switching the console was tricky. First there were 6 screws to remove, and also the little adapter loom and its screws had to come out. Also don't forget to remove the 2 screws holding the central locking receiver. Then there are 4 clips on either side....these were very tight in this case and needed careful persuading with a long flat screw driver....some force required but not enough to break them...this was probably the fiddliest part of the whole job. In my case I needed both the wiring loom and the central locking receiver module to swap across to the new one. That was it for the console, so "assembly is the reverse of disassembly"
    • But first....while I was there, I also swapped across the centre console box for the other style where the AV inputs don't intrude into the (very limited !) space.  Part# was 96926-4GA0A, 284H3-4GA0B, 284H3-4GA0A. (I've already swapped the top 12v socket for a USB bulkhead in this pic, it fit the hole without modification:) Comparison of the 2: Basically to do the console you need to remove the DS and PS side console trim (they slide up and back, held in by clips only) Then remove the back half of the console top trim with the cupholders, pops up, all clips again but be careful at the front as it is pretty flimsy. Then slide the shifter boot down, remove the spring clip, loose it forever somewhere in the car the pull the shift knob off. Remove the tiny plastic piece on DS near "P" and use something thin and long (most screwdrivers won't fit) to push down the interlock and put the shifter down in D for space. There is one screw at the front, then the shifter surround and ashtray lift up. There are 3 or 4 plugs underneath and it is off. Next is the rear cover of the centre console; you need to open the console lid, pop off the trim covering the lid hinge and undo the 2rd screw from the driver's side (the rest all need to come out later so you can do them all now and remove the lid) Then the rear cover unclips (6 clips), start at the top with a trim tool pulling backwards. Once it is off there are 2 screws facing rearwards to remove (need a short phillips for these) and you are done with the rear of the console. There are 4 plugs at the A/V box to unclip Then there are 2 screws at the front of the console, and 2 clips (pull up and back) and the console will come out.
×
×
  • Create New...