JDMClifford

Wow this tread is longer than i expected. Well to tell the whole story.... ok so i was driving and i blew up my clutch fan. Got a new one off a friend and used his clutch witch i noticed the clutch worked a lot better. Then a couple days after that i was driving with a friend behind his built civic and boom! Clutch fan shatters dented my hood, cut my rad hose, and shattered my waterpump! and guess what spun a baring and shot 2 holes in my block... From a damn clutch fan! And i just rebuilt the motor. 2600 miles on it and now IM back to ground zero... The motor ran so tits also. So bummed. So i got 2 10" electric fans, new flashy red pulleys for 80 bucks and a new water pump for my new motor im going to order after i get back from my trip.

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ixfxi

download a song by BDP.. its called YOU MUST LEARN.

seriously, you dont understand wiring. either read a book and learn how to PROPERLY wire up your circuit, or pay someone to do it right.

at the moment, you're fan is probably near the limit of consuming the maximum amount of current that the puny cigarette lighter circuitry can handle. the factory fuses that line for 10 or 15 amps max. from there, you wired the fan with heavier 14ga wire and a 30amp fuse - thats pointless. you'll blow your factory fuse before ever blowing that 30amp fuse.

bah.. you just need to read and learn what you are doing, or shall i say what you are doing WRONG.

- mike / clearcorners.com

ixfxi

look ma, no block.

punxva

hey mike thanks alot for pointing that out man, i just rewired it to the fuse box in the engine bay to the ign with 14ga wire and the same 30amp fuse, and it still works flawlessly, thanks again for correcting my mistake

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Adikt

^^^
Thats still wrong. Go buy a relay and wire up as follows
85 - Ground
86 - That ignition source that you tapped
87 - Battery 12v+
87a - Nothing
30 - Fan

blu808

You should really use a relay.

Anyways. the clutch fan blowing up would not cause a spun bearing, or a thrown rod. You would have to had either oil pump failure, oil pickup problems, extreme overheating, massive detonation, or exceeded the mechanical rotating assembly rpm to throw a rod.

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JDMClifford

well what i was thinking is plughed the water jacket causing it to over heat on that one cilinder and probably sieze the piston and boom. all i know is im SOL on that motor LOL. i took an air compressor to a the water jacket you can see in the pic and so much metal and crap flew out of the ail and coolent holes. it was crazy. got a little in my mouth. looked like glitter.

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ixfxi

like everyone said - use a relay. you can google search "electric fan relay" - i am sure that will provide the info you need, since many people have done this before.

the only thing you want to use of the OEM wiring, is a 12v SIGNAL from the "ignition ON" setting. That signal will activate your relay. The relay however, will acquire 12v (heavy gauge wire) direct from you battery and transfer it to your fan(s), direct. You can ground anywhere on the chassis near the fan, ANYWHERE.

peaceout maing

Cloud9

Im bumping this thread cuz it already has lots of good info, ive searched for over a hour and found nothing so here it goes. I just bought fal 220's and the hks fan controller. I cant figure out how to wire up the fans and where, should i use the oem AC fan realy? Also do i wire the controller to the fans at all? And last is there a write up on the fan controller install, someone said there was one on freshalloy but i have yet to find it. And yes i know everyones opinion on clutch fans being better, thats great.. I dont have one nor a shroud and dont want to buy one. Thanks for any help.

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ixfxi

clutch fans suck.. they take up space and for homos that want to make excuses as to why a bigass shroud and OEM fan are better than electric - they're not.

a quality electric fan setup is fantastic. your car cools naturally through the bumper's ducting (when at speed), and if necessary.. the fans turn on at idle to cool down the car. There's really NO use to have a fan turning 24-7 in the engine bay, unless you want to murder a co-worker at your office when you show him your engine bay and his neck-tie gets sucked into the bladezzzz...

yeah, thats fuckin badassed.

rj240sx

ever heard "if it aint broke,don't fix it"? why waste money on an e-fan setup if your stock stuff does the job? Thats like when people put a large ugly tach on their dash when they already have one in their gauge cluster. I had an e-fan setup and recently ditched it for the stock stuff and now my car cools so much better. not only that but i got rid of all that ugly wiring mess. plus everybody knows mechanical is more reliable than electric in anything. but i guess it's a matter of personal opinion. i just get better cooling and peace of mind with the mechanical.

steve shadows

the funny thing about this argument is that if you simply install a cooler thermostat and use the electric fan youll cool better than simply keeping the clutch fan.

Plus a lot of shmucks dont run a fan shroud which makes the advantages of the clutch fan totally void.

I mean on 3 different cars now, lower thermo, aluminum radiator, shitty shitty shit crap electric fan, water temps dont go over 180-189 degress F under some hardcore 1-3minute top mount abuse runs.

I wouldnt want it to run any cooler than that, I would be concerned with oil temp being TOO cold.

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blackej7

really. i disagree with you on that one.

steve shadows

me too

way too subjective but i know where he's headed in his reasoning for the statement.

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rj240sx

lol, i knew i shouldn't have used the word ANYTHING. ok, explain a situation in which electric is more reliable than mechanical. im not trying to argue, just maybe find out something new, im always up for learning. you know, knowledge is power. It's just hard to believe otherwise being an aircraft mechanic who deals with life support systems, and emergency egress.

DriftSpecS14

they both work. i like stock fan its does the job fine and looks good for my daily driver. no extra wiring and my car is making 396 to the rear wheels and doesnt over heat at all. even in hot cali weather. i run an electric fan tho on the back side of my IC to bring air through to my oil cooler and then whereever else it goes too.

nrg

I just got rid of my electric fan and went with the stock clutch fan. my cooling temp drop 10-15c. I'm running nismo thermo and greddy rad with brand new water pump.

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blackej7

Im sure in 90+ degree weather, the clutch fan will cool better.

the 1 thing i dont like about the clutch fan, is that its always on. I dont know about many of you, but i daily drive my car. no matter what the weather is like, i start up the 240. I run the Pivot fan controller, with 2 10inch electric fans. (both wired though relays). 1 fan is set to turn on at 185F, both are on at 195F.

in the winter, my coolant temps BARELY reach 185F, unless im driving for a long period of time. and my 2nd fan has never had to turn on during winter. it takes a very long time for both oil and water temps to go up the winter. my question is, if the fan is always on, is your engine warming up enough? i would think the engine is most vulnerable to damage during the warmup cycle. so for you clutchfan people..... what are your temps in the winter?

in the summer, my car takes no time to warm up at all, and one fan is pretty much on all the time, and the 2nd fan turns on and off through out the drive, with temps maybe climbing to 200F in 90+ degree weather after some long pulls. since, (according to the FSM), the A/C fan is set to turn on high when coolant temps are 212F, i think 185-200 is fine.

it seems like properly installed electric fans would be able to control water temps more accurately than the stock fan, with no worries of it breaking off and damaging engine bay components.

someone correct me if im wrong about anything..... because id like to know more info too.

rj240sx

well, since I've never experienced a "winter" with my sr(been living in San Diego and Hawaii the past 5 years) I'm not really sure of the temp during cold starts. I see what your saying, i agree you could control your cooling more acuratly with that e-fan setup. but in my case, it been more than enough. also, remember that the clutch fan and shroud are what the factory engineers determined to be the most reliable source of cooling,hence being the primary. Not that all stock features aren't subject to modification.lol just my 2 cents.

CKAMC

I have seen some really good electric fan setups lately. One of the big things they incorporate is bumper shrouding.

makes a lot of sense as well since your not allowing air to go anywhere else because its being directed where it needs to go.

basically goes like this: bumper opening then sides and top and bottom after fiberglass ends has aluminum directing right to radiator. the hole way is sealed so air cant go anywhere else.

on the back side of the electric fans is some more shrouding (top portion gets directed/bent upwards for vented hoods). Most people only consider this when doing v-mount but I have seen it work well on regular front mount setups as well.

you would also be surprised on how many different temp sensors there are along with differences in fan controllers.

electric fans arent bad, just need to be setup correctly.

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Cloud9

Does anyone know of a site that has a write up on the hks fan controller, if not then i will figure it out this weekend but i would rather see how someone else did it beffore i play with my ecu wiring again

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ixfxi

spoken like a TRUE pro.

many people either use SHITTY electric fans and/or temp sensors. not to mention, many people dont even know how to work with wiring, relays, or anything of the kind.. and end up having fans that dont cool, dont turn enough air, or just SUCK.

then you have the mechanical clutch fan, yes... your motor turns, so does it. and on hot days, your car sounds like an old fuckin volvo - very cool. when you need to change your belts, you reach down into a pit of thorns.

been there, done that - no use for clutches and shrouds. mine failed at one point, made lots of noise and after that - joined the dumpster, with the rest of shit parts.

not saying clutch fans are useless, but they're the less expensive performers of the bunch.

JDMClifford

ohh i forgot about this thread, speaking of fans i just bought a PIVOT Water/Oil Temp +Fan Controller...deal....thing. because im not gona just whire up my fans to a switch, that totaly defeats the point of my turbo timer, and what would happen if i forgot to turn them on! BOOM! headgasket gone. so i bought one of those pivot controllers so it will stay cool and quiet when it needs to. and tuen off when my car does. or a short time after.

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Gnnr

I think that sums up my experience. Popped at 5K RPM, cut distributor harness, car got towed home. Not fun.

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ixfxi

Its posts like this that always get me pissed...

Why do you need a switch for your electric fans? Do all cars require a switch? NO, only ones where the engineer doesnt know how to use:
- relay harness
- temperature probe and/or electro-switch

Forget those "wedge inbetween your radiator" probes.. those suck balls. Its as simple as this: use a thermoswitch that runs through your coolant (after radiator). That switch is supposed to activate your relay, which will then send clean power to your fans.

You dont need a fancy PIVOT(c) brand controller, you just need some basic electrical knowledge.

edit:

I was running dual 12" FAL fans with alum radiator, car ran super cool. I eventually went with a lower temp thermostat (the mfg I wont name, because we all know it) - the car actually runs TOO cold... stock is just fine honestly, unless the car gets some serious beat-downs. Most street cars are OK with stock thermostat. Anyway, if you feel like getting fancy, you can always run a variable-speed fan controller.. this is the one i ran: http://www.dccontrol.com/

at the MINIMUM, people.. you guys should atleast run an aftermarket water temp gauge.. not that stock SHIT.

CKAMC

I like expensive products... which is why I like PIVOT(and okachan)

I have heard two different deals regarding where its ideal to run the temp sensor. some of the aftermarket alum radiators have a spot for them but some have it on the bottom and others have it on the top.

cant remember the direction in which coolant flows (bottom to top or do I have it mixed up?) but for the most part i have seen bext results with reading off the top hose or top of tank.

read some post a long while back where some guy used the bottom radiator plug with aftermarket sensor and ran one off his top hose and somehow got it to work(wiring and displaying temp*s) and swore left and right it was the best method...idk that sounds like over board to me

I guess I will scan in tommarow a little heat display of good ole s15 motor.

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Yum-Yum

You probably had a damaged blade which caused an imbalance, or it was hitting something, the same thing happened to me when my clutch fan was hitting the ole heavy throttle rad hose extension kit for the KA radiator.

JDMClifford

accualy the fan was perfect, i think it was accually the clutch part of the fan died. and why not spend the money and get a controller that also acts as a water temp gauge and a oil temp gauge, kills 3 bids with one stone. and i am accualy going to tap a probe into the water outlet that the hose connects to so its right after it exits the motor. and hay is automaticly changes the speed of the fans depending on the tempature. sounds like a great $120 investment if you ask me.

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nrg

with the E-fan, my temp neddle used to be above the number 2RPM.
here it is with the oem clutch fan & shroud, greddy rad, nismo thermo; with a temp of 85 outside; been driving on the freeway for 20mins.

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McRussellPants

Has anyone mentioned that Electric fans are the most horrible mod ever?

All I saw was tool bag JDM clifford whining about how he blew his motor up after he ran it with a broken water pump.

Cars with E-fans can barely make it down the highway without overheating, My car has never gone above 80c at a drift event.

Mechanical Fan > Electric any day of the week.