HOWTO: Great electric fan setup!

[shifty]

I wanted to do a quick writeup for an incredibly easy way to add a professional looking electric fan setup on our trucks for less than $300 for a 3-core radiator or less than $250 for a 2-core.

Here are the parts used, as pictured in the attachement:

* (2) Flex-A-Lite 12" fans - I purchased from Classic Heartbeat, Wes has them readily in stock. This unit is not sold in stores - it's part of their "pro air electric fan" line and it is NOT listed at their website. This is a heavy duty version of the Flex-A-Lite part number "112", it flows more air, costs about 8 bucks more. I believe the 2-core radiator would only use 1 fan. This is Flex-A-Lite part number "212".

* (6) self-tapping 8-18 x ¾ screws

* (6) neoprene 3/8-OD washers (optional)

* (8) bolts - 1" length will work fine, I got 1¼" and they're a tad long

* (8) polylock/nylock/stop nuts (whatever you call them) to fit those bolts

* (16) washers to fit those bolts

* (8) ¼" grommets.

* (1) Fan shroud - this is a custom fabbed piece that is made exclusively by Wes at ClassicHearbeat.com, and it comes in a 2-12" fan setup or a 1-12" fan setup. I assume the 2-core radiator will use the 1-12" fan setup. I got mine powdercoated in "Silver vein" from GMCPauls for $129. This is an incredibly nice piece, superior quality!

Costs (not including shipping):
Fan shroud: $129
Fans: $152
Hardware: $10

NOTES:

You can add another $20-40 to that total depending on how you wire it. Wiring instructions are inside the box. Flex-A-Lite sells a temperature sensor setup for these fans on the cheap...might be worth looking into if you won't have a computer to control yours like I do.

I went with this list because it is literally a direct bolt-up, no real drilling required. You could opt to cheap out on it and hit the junkyard and find some fans, but .... you're going to end up needing to hack or drill the shroud and that just wasn't an option for me. I initially purchased some Mr. Gasket 12" fans and they DID NOT fit the hole provisions given in this shroud (they cost the same as the F-A-L fans from Classic Heartbeat).

The fan shroud Classic Heartbeat makes is a direct boltup for a stock radiator. Wes makes it to specifically fit the Flex-A-Lite fans he sells, so no drilling of the shroud is required, just bolt the fans to the shroud, clamp the shroud in place on the radiator, drill pilot holes into the top and bottom rail of the radiator, then use the self tappers with the washers to finish the job and you're done. You can buy this unit pre-fitted with fans and pre-wired from Wes for about $50-150 more, depending on which shroud you go with.

Finally, since someone is bound to ask...."How do you know if you have a 2-core or a 3-core radiator?" - Well, the 3-core is wider, and uses the widest mount configuration possible on the radiator core support. The 3-core fits about 1-2 inches away from the battery tray, whereas the 2-core will be 5-6 inches away from the battery tray.