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Installation experience....not an easy task. What should have been a straight forward install actually became quite frustrating, lol. First off , I have an ECS supercharger kit. I'm mentioning this because that is very relevant to my story. With the ECS kit the radiator sits tilted up top back towards the engine bay so that the intake can clear the radiator.
- Old fan was simple to remove from underneath the car. Two bolts + disconnect and out it came.
-New fan slipped right in, oh wait, not quite. The top fan would not clear the radiator hard pipe that sits right below the supercharger. I had to take fan back out and re-clock the supercharger clamps such that the hard pipe could be pushed lower.
****This whole install would be much easier if the fans were reversed. I mean the one that sits lower, were to sit higher and the one that sits higher (sits lower). In other words If D3 would make the left fan the higher one, and the right fan the lower one, that would make install with a Novi/vortech supercharger much easier.
-Second problem: The shroud would not fit correctly, I had to cut the far left side and bend it up just a bit to fit properly.
-Last major problem: With the thicker new D3 fans, the relocation kit for the oil cooler no longer fits between the strut bar and the fans...ugh!!! I had to go to the hardware store, purchase some angle iron, and fabricate new oil cooler brackets such that the oil cooler was at a different angle, allowing it to fit the new fan setup.
Ok, now for the money shot...Was is all worth it?
Before this fan setup, with AC on driving in 100+ degree temps, my car was running at 240+ degree temperatures.
With the new D3 fan setup, my car now runs a consistent 207degrees with AC on. In stop and go traffic, the highest that I've hit is 214 degrees! That is quite a huge difference from before and after.
So....was all the headache and pain worth it? Hell yeah!!!!!
One other thing of note, I did cut my front support bumper by a good two inches to allow more air flow. I am sure that this helped as well. But regardless, these fans do the job that I need them to do, and all with a stock radiator!
If I remember correctly from installing my brushless fan, the driver side fan can't be the higher one because it wouldn't clear the ABS pump. I barely had room in that area with the single 17in brushless fan.
Yeah if you radiator was pushed forward it might clear the ABS but with the radiator in the stock position there is no way it would clear the ABS with the fans reversed.
I was able to get a little more time in my car yesterday and the results with this fan are excellent. It was 102 yesterday and initially the car took a good amount of time (10 minutes) to get past 200. At stoplights the car never went past 207 and when I parked it to get gas and restarted the car was at 216. After driving for less than a mile it was back down to 205-207, even after getting after it a few times. I have the stock radiator still. My last issue to resolve is my AC. It seems to blow cold until I stop moving and then it blows warm, even with the coolant temp at 205...possibly an overpressure issue with the AC system?
I received mine today, the factory fan was a breeze to removed, but when the time came to install the D3 I had a hell of a time to make it go through under the vette reason being I have an Eibach front and rear sway bars and the front its 32mm, so I had to disconnect the sway bar from the end links. After all that work It will be ok, tomorrow I,ll do the electrical connection. By the way there is no Diagram instructions with the fan I, ll appreciate if D3PE or anybody else would let me know so I don't screw up something.
I finished installing the D3 this morning, by the way thanks for the pics that QUASAR Z sent me last night about the connections a picture its worth more than a thousand words. Real easy, but let the vette run for a while 15 to 20 minutes kept temps around 203F but notice on the voltage display that the voltage kept jumping from 14 to 15 all the time 14.3, 14.9 15.0 14.0 etc.. I wonder what D3PE has to say about this, Is this normal?
I finished installing the D3 this morning, by the way thanks for the pics that QUASAR Z sent me last night about the connections a picture its worth more than a thousand words. Real easy, but let the vette run for a while 15 to 20 minutes kept temps around 203F but notice on the voltage display that the voltage kept jumping from 14 to 15 all the time 14.3, 14.9 15.0 14.0 etc.. I wonder what D3PE has to say about this, Is this normal?
Yes that would be normal. It's a large electrical load just like a stereo system, big electric fuel pump, etc, etc. As long as the voltage still recovers rather than just going down, you should be fine. In some of the larger builds that do have things like a triple fuel pump setup, our fans, and other items taxing the charging system, we do recommend a high amp alternator.
The install with the dewitts wasnt too bad. Attached to radiator first and slipped it in while pulling condenser foreward a bit. I did not seal the shroud and there is pretty big gap especially on sides. Theorizing about this still.
Immediate results as on the 75 degree day at idle the car would barely inch above 180 degrees after 15 mins. Man, when those fans come in you know it.
The real test is tomorrow though in Manhattan traffic.
Hello D3 guys the fans seem to work pretty nicely, I am still seeing higher coolant temps than Id like but the heat takes at least 300% longer to build up in Manhattan traffic. Realize this is over an hour at a time idling and light to light with ice cold a/c the car holds steady at about 220 degrees f. Crept up to near 230f today for short time then down again.
Maybe there is more potential to cool: I want to ask if you recommend sealing the sides between shroud and radiator. Perhaps with a high temp foam rubber gasket. I dont know how oem shroud fits but with dewitts my dual spal setup there is a larger than 1inch gap on the sides, less on top and botom. Am I losing the opportunity to pull more air thru radiator? I guess I know the answer to that, just wondering if you or anyone has seen improvement or the opposite from sealing the fan shroud. Any downside to this?
Thanks,
Todd
Last edited by speedz06; 08-05-2016 at 04:45 PM.
Reason: Image addition
Thank you for the feedback! It's hard to say how measurable of a difference it would be but yes in theory, the tighter the fit the better. In some custom projects here in the shop we've used a sticky foam strip that's similar to what you find on OEM shrouds to help close up any gaps. Relatively cheap and easy to try and see if it has noticeably affects!
07-20-2016, 07:35 PM
