I was talking to Sam at GTM about improving our cooling system, aside from the usual items like rads, and oil coolers. He mentioned they were using upgraded fans on their stroker, since the strokers tend to run a little hotter than the 3.5L's. So I ordered some fans, for BamBam's stroker, and we did some testing.

Now we all know that fans will reduce coolant temps, but what I didnt know is by just how much. Well now we do, and its impressive to say the least. I havent been this excited about a cooling mod in a long time.

We got two Spal 13 inch fans (2540 CFM/pair), and relays, and instead of bolting them directly to the rad, we decided to build an aluminum fan shroud. Chris (my senior technician) deserves all the credit for the shroud. He is an excellent fabricator and tig welder, and had a shroud made up in no time. Then he made 5 more just to prepare for future cars, and polished them to boot. We were going to go back and install a rubber grommet around the edges of the shroud, to improve sealing, but after seeing the dyno results, we decided to hold off.

With nearly identical conditions (90-95F and 65% humidity)..if not hotter than our previous tuning session with Brent's car, we had a good point of reference to compare coolant temps before and after.

As I started making pulls, I was absolutely stunned with the temp drop. Steady state tuning, and repeated pulls on the dyno usually caused the stroker to run at about 200F-215F towards the end of the runs. During the entire tuning process, coolant temps barely budged, and stayed in a tight range of 175F to 183F the whole time. I was physically unable to get coolant temps to rise beyond 183F, even after repeated high power pulls. So at a mininum, we saw a 25F coolant temp drop, just by using fans and the shroud.

We'll be testing two more cars at Road Atlanta this weekend, with the fan/shroud setup, and will report back again. But the magnitude of this temp drop is tremendous, and we are very encouraged with the results. An engine running at 180F under heavy load is much happier than one running at 215F.

We'll be adding the fans and drop in shrouds to our website shortly.

 

Sweeeeeeeeet .. nice work..

 

That's great news Sharif and fine work Chris.

 

Sign me up for one of those 5 Chris is the man, nice to see a mod that can make our cars run that much cooler....

 

NICE!!!! Any ideas yet on how much the set-up will run?

 

Nice... those are some nice looking welds. What is the footprint of these fans like (as in depth). I'm assuming they have less clearance than the stock fans? Of course with the setup I'm running I need to be concerned with clearances. I've been looking for some upgraded slimline fans for a while but I don't think anyone makes a bracket for them.

Good job guys, looks like a nice setup.

 

proper shrouding is the crux of a good cooling system, that shroud looks great.

 

Sweet very nice piece with good results. Fit on a HR?

J

 

Will it clear the Vortech piping? Im down for one.

 

these shrouds will work on a non stroked car right? and also with a bigger radiator?

very nice. i absolutely hate how my nismo thermostat works. it messes up my heater and ac bad. ive been wanting to ditch it for a while

 

Newb Q: Is that water temp of oil temp you're talking about?

 

uhh... your car looks crazy! Pics?

 

Hats off. Those are some nice welds too. Great job.

 

Put me on the list

 

Those look great.

I have to know though; my buddy runs those spal fans on his car - not a Z, and they are INSANELY loud. When at idle, that is about all that can be heard.

How loud are they in this setup?

 

Chris looks like a proud parent or is that his entry into the Captain Morgan pose-off competition?

 

That can be adjusted too. You can run a voltage step relay. Basically it will keep the voltage for the vans lower then 12 at idle if you want it to and then at a preset point (referenced by load, MAP, MAF, etc) it will kick the voltage up to 12 volts. If you have the fans always on at say 6 volts at idle you won't hear them and under load the exhaust will be louder then the fans. Its exactly the way Turbonetics set up the Spal fans on the G35 intercooler. In fact you could probably get just that controler box (IFC) from someone or from a dealer. It already has the Spal Connectors attached so all you need to do is wire it in. It should work just the same and as well for those that don't want to hear the Spals at idle. If the fan is constantly running at idle at 6 volts as opposed to switching on and off based on temp your coolant temps should always be low.

 

Believe or not, the footprint is actually shallower than stock. 4 1/4 inch total depth. We have more clearance now, vs. the stock fan/shroud setup.

 

Nice work. Can you post any before and after dyno sheets?

 

hmm Not bad nice work.