Black Magic Electric Fan Install

[farside847]

Howdy all. As promised, here is the lowdown of my fan install.

Granted, my truck is not a hot rod, on purpose. It has a pretty mild 307 with a RV cam and dual
exhaust. So, Im not breaking any HP records here, maybe 250? Anyway, I wanted to try
out a single fan setup that I could hide up under the stock shroud to make the engine
compartment look cool, while getting the efficiency bennefit of an electric fan. From what I
understand, this cooling setup may not be strong enough for a more aggressive engine.

I got a Black Magic 150 kit for $200. And to be honest I was a little dissapointed when I
opened the box. The mounting brackes seemed all wrong. The unit is designed to be mounted with big
huge brackets on the top and bottom that would mount above and below the radiator. Well, there
really isnt much space for that on this truck. Plus the big brackets (they are like 7" deep" would make
it not fit under the stock shroud like I wanted). So, I hmmmd and hawwwwd until I decided to mount
the fan on its side.

First I removed the stock fan and shroud, and got some new 3/4" bolts to bolt the pully back on without
the fan. The old bolts were way too long with the fan removed.



To mount it I had to make new brackets that bolted directly to metal supports on the radiator. This
is actually what took the longest to do because I had to knotch the top and bottom so the shroud
would still fit in place. I used some 3" x 18" angle steel.



After I got it mounted (very rigid I might add) I wired it up according to the instructions. Easy set
up as I do not have AC. A high voltage power line to the battery, a low voltage line to the fuse
box for a acc-on, and a ground line. It also supports a hook up for AC and a manual switch, but I
didnt use it. Here is it all buttoned up under the stock shroud.



When I was testing it the unit turned on a little late for my liking. It waited until the temp guage was
half way up before kicking in even with the therm switch at its coolest adjustment. So I went
back and re-read the manual and it said to put the little probe near the top hose, I put it in the
wrong place. So I moved it and it kicks in much earlier now. Im still testing it out today but I drove into
work today and it turned on when it was supposed to. One of my hopes is that this will increase my
MPG too. I will post if it does after a tank or two of gas....

[70short]

Thanks for the thread! Very informative.

Gary

[rodstored-72]

farside 847,
i am going to do the same thing, i was wondering if that is the same "blackmagic" that is made by deralle (??) it claims to pull 3300 cfm if it is. i was wondering, it doesnt seem to cover the full radiator, is that right?? i am probably either going to get the same one or a dbl fan from flex-a-lite, although much more money. you said at the beginning that you mounted it on it's side, would it match our radi. size (full coverage) if mounted in the right side up (stock) location???

hope overall you are happy with it.

let us know!!

thanks!!
rodstored-72

[farside847]

No, a square fan enclosure will never have full coverage with a rectagular radiator. I would say there was at least 3" on eithor side uncovered no matter what way it is installed.

So far, its worked like a charm. Good luck!

Originally Posted by rodstored-72

farside 847,
i am going to do the same thing, i was wondering if that is the same "blackmagic" that is made by deralle (??) it claims to pull 3300 cfm if it is. i was wondering, it doesnt seem to cover the full radiator, is that right?? i am probably either going to get the same one or a dbl fan from flex-a-lite, although much more money. you said at the beginning that you mounted it on it's side, would it match our radi. size (full coverage) if mounted in the right side up (stock) location???

hope overall you are happy with it.

let us know!!

thanks!!
rodstored-72

[phanatic32212]

Where did you get that setup? Looks too easy NOT to do. Thanks in advance.
Jake

[farside847]

Originally Posted by phanatic32212

Where did you get that setup? Looks too easy NOT to do. Thanks in advance.
Jake

I got it online at summit for $200

[phanatic32212]

Great, thanks

[bad68bowtie]

Cool setup farside thanks for posting it, good ingenuity too. I'm still waiting for mine to come in, hopefully it'll be here in the next day or so. The fan that this black magic one is replacing quit on me Friday so the truck is down at the moment, thankfully my boss is letting me use his '03 Silverado so I got wheels to get around in.

I'm gonna try to use the existing bracket for the new fan, I guess we'll see how that works out. The more I look at it the more I like how you got the thing to work with the stock shroud, definitely cool. My shroud is long gone but I might try and do this at some point, it'd give me an excuse to go the junkyard and blow time on the truck.

[farside847]

Originally Posted by bad68bowtie

Cool setup farside thanks for posting it, good ingenuity too. I'm still waiting for mine to come in, hopefully it'll be here in the next day or so. The fan that this black magic one is replacing quit on me Friday so the truck is down at the moment, thankfully my boss is letting me use his '03 Silverado so I got wheels to get around in.

I'm gonna try to use the existing bracket for the new fan, I guess we'll see how that works out. The more I look at it the more I like how you got the thing to work with the stock shroud, definitely cool. My shroud is long gone but I might try and do this at some point, it'd give me an excuse to go the junkyard and blow time on the truck.

hehehe, I just tell the wife Im truck shopping. She goes to the mall all the time and I dont complain. (actually, Id run out of undies if she didnt)

[bad68bowtie]

Just got my fan all done and the truck back up and running, definitely pleased with it. The bracket that the old fan was on got tossed so I just used the one the fan came with, maybe not the cleanest look but no doubt better than what was on there so it works for me. I haven't had a chance to drive the truck a whole lot but from what I can tell I would recommend this to anyone.

I did find one thing during the past week. My boss let me use his '03 Silverado, and while yeah its nice and has a good sound system and above all else is quite fast, I was really ready to get my truck back. Theres something bout our old trucks that even all the benefits and creature comforts of a new Chevy truck can't replace. Of course maybe thats just cause I'm still in my youth and I don't have anything else to worry about.

[71-longbed]

This needs to be added to the FAQ section