Cooling is a serious issue where I live. There are only 3 or 4 months a year where it will NOT be in the 90's.

Question one is perhaps a stupid question, but I inherited a car that has had some "custom wiring". I have a single eletric fan. Is it supposed to pull the air through the radiator? I should be able to put my hand between the fan and the waterpump and feel air being pulled in right?

Has anybody ever used some of those low profile electric fans at places like Pepboys on the other side of the radiator to Push air through?



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http://www.gruveb.com/z28

 

correct, the fan should be of the puller type. If your fan is not inadequite just put in a new fan motor, it's cheaper than buying another fan. if itstill is not cool enough out in a custom fan switch(yuo can put in a toggle switch in the car so you can manually control the fan) if this still doesn't wrok you have other cooling problems and it's not the fan that's the problem

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'86 IROC 5-speed
305 LG4
edelbrock performer rpm intake
edelbrock 600 cfm carb
msd pro billet hei distributer
'95 3.23 rearend
hotchkis rear suspension
PST front polygraphite suspension
"speed kills. buy a f@&d, live forever."

 

I actually have hooked up a manual switch, so I can turn it on whenever I need. I always turn it on in traffic when the temp gets around 180. Now that the temps are in the 80's, it does NOT get hot at all. When it is 95 to 100 degrees outside though, it gets plenty warm...too warm.

I used one of those coolant additives that is supposed to dissipate heat more quickly and that helps considerably. However, when I get on the throttle a little bit, the temp sure jumps.

Everything is in good working order. I do need to replace the water pump in favor of a more effecient model, but the stock pump does work just fine.



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http://www.gruveb.com/z28

 

make sure you have the factory air defector in front and it is complete.

I had to add a becool radiator and twin electrics before getting my temps under control. Start with more airflow. Figure out a way to put a second fan that will turn on at 205-210. That should pull it back down.

 

jcb,

That's what I was thinking of...is adding a second fan, perhaps to push air throug? I don't know.

Maybe I'll see if I can find a 2 fan system or something like that...

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http://www.gruveb.com/z28

 

putting a fan in front of the radiator will not help as much as in back. There is about a 15percent loss in effectiveness when in front of the radiator.

if you have room, just tryp to mount a second smaller fan beside the one you have.
Like this
http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerc...6&lastcat=2223

 

You are nuts. I wired my own "Fan switch" and it works... for about 30 minutes. then my car suddenly SHUTS OFF and wont start for like 1 Hour. Only when i leave the fan on for around 30-40 minutes. WHY WHY WHY???

 

Who is nuts and why?

Did you run the positive or the ground through your switch?

If you ran the hot side through the switch, it is probably shorting out!!! That's probably your problem.


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http://www.gruveb.com/z28

 

how else do u wire a fan switch? I spliced a hot 12V Wire from the battery into the main wire, but left it connected to its original location so when the car got hot the ECM would turn the fan on normally in case i forgot to. otherwise, if i hit the switch, it would simple LET 12V from the battery through the switch and into the Fan wire and activate the fan. What did i do wrong?

 

OK. Here we go.

First of all, I'm not familiar with these cars. I know that on my car, an 84 Z28, there is a coolant sensor. When the temperature gets to something like 210* it kicks the fan on. What it does is provide a ground (negative). It is actually just a switch that is activated by temperature. You'll want your switch to do the same thing, except to be activated by you.

So what you should do is splice a wire into the negative side of the fan. You'll want to keep the fan hooked up the way it is right now, just splicing into it. Do you have a multi-meter?

Take that ground wire, and run it to your switch. Then take the other side of the switch and run it to a ground. I hooked up a stereo and amp a few weeks ago. I had to make a ground. Any bolt that is in contact with bare metal will work fine. I didn't find too many places inside of the car that would work very well, so I ran the wire from the switch back into the engine compartment and actually grounded it to the small support bar that is behind the passenger's side strut. I used the same place for my manual fan switch.

If you need more help with this, just email me. gruveb@hotmail.com I'd be happy to help you out.

Again, I'm not sure of all of the specific differences between the different years of these cars, but that's pretty much how all of them work. There is also another sensor that turns the fan on when you turn on the AC. Again, it just provides the negative side of the current.

One thing to always remember when wiring. If it doesn't work, 99% of the time it is because you don't have a good ground. I was told, don't know if it is true, that electricity flows from negative to positive.




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http://www.gruveb.com/z28

 

Proper way would be to run the fan from a relay, my guess is that you're probably running 12v from somewhere you shouldn't be, and it's affecting another operation.