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E-fan conversion


Thed

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Messages
631
City
Raleigh, NC
Vehicle Year
1996
Engine
2.3 (4 Cylinder)
Transmission
Manual
E-Fan Conversion - How To

Alright guys I did an E-fan conversion today. Took me about 3 hours from the time I lifted the hood to the time I parked the Ranger in the drive way after the test drive.

Alright first thing is first, the parts I used.

Summit 16" 2010 CFM electric fan

Wiring Kit w/ adj. thermostat

And here's what I did:

-Alright to start off, disconnect the positive terminal from the battery, duh.
-Do the wiring first, because if something comes up halfway through the install, then you just have some loose wires under the hood than can be quickly taped off. If you did the fan and THEN the wiring, well if you have to go somewhere you'll have a non-working fan in there. That's not good.
-Find a place to mount the wiring block relay thing. The screw that holds the support up for the little cluster of wires next to where the negative (-) battery terminal grounds to the chassis is where I chose to stick it. That puts you right next to a ground, and right next to the location where your probe is supposed to go. It's also helpful because it's a breeze to adjust the dial for the turn-on temperature.

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-Black goes to the ground, great! the ground is right next to the block.
-The (pink-ish) red goes to the power, great! the battery is right there.
-Green goes to the A/C compressor for the A/C turn on. If you have a compressor with a two-wire harness like me, then the black wire with the yellow stripe is the one you want to splice into (the splice is included w/ the kit)
-Yellow goes to the ignition. The wire is just long enough to reach the power box so I just rednecked that thing in there with the fuse for the fuel pump, a line that's only active when the car is on (do you really want your fan running with your truck off?).
-Orange has the fuse built in, you are going to use this wire to send the power to your fan. You will connect it to the BLACK wire of the fan.
-The blue wire goes to a secondary fan, if you were to choose one. I just taped it off and put it to the side.
-The probe is to be mounted in the radiator as close to the coolant tube as possible. It cannot stick all the way through the radiator. I used a Phillips screw driver to create a little hole for it. Mount it how the included instructions tell you do it and it will be fine.

Alright now for the fan.

Getting the clutch fan out:

-Undo the two (10mm) bolts right there on top that holds up the fan shroud.
-Pull up on the shroud, undoing the two clips on the bottom that hold up the shroud down low. Keep those clips on there, don't lose them. You'll see why later.
-Rotate the shroud 45* so you can work your hands in there nice and good and stuff.
-Undo the four (10mm) bolts holding the fan to the fan clutch.
-Take out the fan.
-Rotate the pesky shroud back to its original position and then drop it as low as the fan clutch will let it go. This will give you MUCH easier access to the bolts that hold the fan clutch to the pulley.
-Undo the four (10mm) bolts that hold the clutch to the pully using a wrench. Don't think about trying to fit a socket in there, it won't fit... trust me. The only way to do this is the old-fashioned way, quarter turn, take off wrench, refit, quarter turn, ect. Thankfully these bolts will be able to be unscrewed by hand relatively quickly.
-With all four bolts off, pull the clutch out towards the radiator, and then it's out. Now be careful, that pulley is just sitting there unsecured with the belt's tension still on it.
-Take the shroud out. Don't try anything fancy, just wiggle it out straight up. You will rub the coolant tube more than you'll like but if done carefully enough then you'll have no worries.
-Now look at all that free space!!!

Look at the junk :icon_twisted:

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Installing the fan:

-Tighten up the four bolts on that pulley like you would if you were putting a tire on a compact car with four lug nuts. Snug 'em up 1-3-2-4 and then tighten them up using the same sequence. If one of these bolts is loose, you'll feel it when you fire up the truck.
-SPin the pulley to make sure that that bolts do not hit anything. If you fire up your engine and here something very loud and displeasurable, this might be your culprit.
-This part rocks, remember those two clips at the bottom of the radiator that held up the fan shroud? It turns out that they are PERFECT for mounting the fan on. I had a big ol' grin on my face when I saw that I had two less holes i need to poke through the radiator.
-Summit gives you instructions on how to mount the fan using the clips provided, go by that and you'll be all good.

Wiring the fan to the kit:
-Contrary to just about every electronic in the world the BLACK wire is NOT the negative (-) (ground) wire. The black is in fact the POSITIVE (+) wire and you will connect that to the orange wire from the kit.
-Ground the BLUE wire.
-There will be a little bit of excess wire, so to save it from getting caught in something (your belt IS right there, you know) I just used the included zip-tie and tied it to the grill of the fan. It will not interfere with the fan blades.

DONE!!! :icon_thumby:

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NOTE: after tightening the 4 pulley bolts--spin the pulley by hand make sure the four 10MM bolts DON'T go thru the pulley too far causing them to hit the waterpump snout--jamming the pulley!
 
NOTE: after tightening the 4 pulley bolts--spin the pulley by hand make sure the four 10MM bolts DON'T go thru the pulley too far causing them to hit the waterpump snout--jamming the pulley!

How could I forget that... I even did that after I tightened my bolts.

I feel like the guy in the little emoticon right now. :idiot:
 
I didn't have to, mine worked just fine.
 
that fan seems a little small.
Also, be careful with those universal fan controllers, I fried out 3 of them in a week, on my lightning.

Let us know if you gain any mpg, ive been wanting to do a junkyard e fan on my ranger
 
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that fan seems a little small.
Also, be careful with those universal fan controllers, I fried out 3 of them in a week, on my lightning.

Let us know if you gain any mpg, ive been wanting to do a junkyard e fan on my ranger

The fan is actually the same size as stock, if not slightly bigger. It's just sitting down low on the mounts for the old shroud.
 
So what are your impressions thus far?
 
So what are your impressions thus far?

Worth the money as far as I can tell. While taking the old fan out I learned that my clutch was going to go any time soon anyways. With the fan off the power difference isn't noticeable. But compared to when the stock fan was on, damn what a difference. That old fan clutch made the little Lima even more of a dog when it engaged. It might suck a little more juice from the alternator than I may want, but that's alright IMO. I do feel a little bit more torque driving around but what really surprised me was how much easier it was to get the truck rolling from a stop. A lot easier on the clutch, which is always a good thing. Definitely easier to rev, and the engine actually feels smoother.

Liking it so far.
 
I have wondered about them fancy controllers. Right now mine is just on a temp switch in the thermostat housing that runs a relay, its all or nothing.

One thing I would change on yours is to have a fan with a shroud so it pulled air from the whole radiator rather than just what is directly ahead of the fan. They are a lot more $$ though...

Mine is much like yours but a pusher though.
 
I have wondered about them fancy controllers. Right now mine is just on a temp switch in the thermostat housing that runs a relay, its all or nothing.

One thing I would change on yours is to have a fan with a shroud so it pulled air from the whole radiator rather than just what is directly ahead of the fan. They are a lot more $$ though...

Mine is much like yours but a pusher though.

I'm kind of curious, what is the benefit of a pusher? Mine can be easily turned into a pusher if need be...
 
One thing I would change on yours is to have a fan with a shroud so it pulled air from the whole radiator rather than just what is directly ahead of the fan. They are a lot more $$ though...

+1 it wouldnt be hard to do with some basic sheet metal skills.

When i did it on my lightning i scouted the junkyard for a fan that was close to my radiator size.
I ended up using a ford windstar fan for my lightning (although many others would fit). Once I start work again I may do this on the ranger.
Theres a vendor on the Lightning forum that makes efan controllers custom made for lightnings, I may see if he would be willing to do one for a ranger. From what i hear the quality of his work is 2nd to none.

Heres the fan on my lightning
PA260080.jpg
 
I have been kinda wanting to do this to my truck, but I am kinda iffy about all the wiring and stuff like that, it just makes me kinda nervous.
 
I have been kinda wanting to do this to my truck, but I am kinda iffy about all the wiring and stuff like that, it just makes me kinda nervous.

I dont blame you, if that fan doesnt kick on, or doesnt flow enough cfm, your going to have some major issues after you turn on your AC
 

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