LT Texan

So, on my search to delete the mechanical fan on my 1978 5 speed, to pick up a few ponies and not to have to replenish the whatever liquid in it......

My cooling is "under control" with two 12" fans strapped to the radiator shroudless and a 14" replacing the aux fan on the condenser. But, I'm only undercontrol when I jump the aux fan with the 2 12"ers running with no aircon. Not great. Must do better.

Here's the Summit Racing fans on the radiator....



So out with those and in with the Contour dual set up. I bought some aluminum bar stock at Home Depot for 5 bucks in addition to the used fan assembly for I don't remember how much off ebay. I didn't get the harness, but I have some high quality connectors from a great ebay seller (genuinedealz). I also have the old stock radiator in the garage for trial fitting.



The shroud is a great fit for the Behr radiator! Just need to file down this "tab" for a nice fit and to be the flush with the rest.





Cut off those 4 tabs.



Much better. Nice fit!



See? No lie!



Bottom left attaches by a strip of the aluminum holding it on.



Bottom right, I cut out a slot in the shroud for the aluminum bar stock to fit in. Razor knife worked great here. The plastic is pretty soft.



Bottom brackets....



CLose up of the bottom right.



I had to butcher the top air intake assembly. Wasn't excited about that.



Ouch.



Top brackets. Just like the bottom.



So now a trial fit in the car. I have an aftermarket aluminum radiator.

And the best laid plans of mice and men. Wouldn't you know it. The tanks are spaced about 1/8" closer on the aftermarket radiator, so more trimming necessary. But not today! To be continued next weekend.

heinrich

Taurus is a single fan. Contour is dual.

jwillman

Dan,

Not sure what you are planning for a fan controller but I just did the dual Mystique fans on my 79 and used the new Hayden Dual fan controller. It has 2 seperate relays and fused power wires. Can be set up to use with a multispeed fan or single speed duals which it controls seperately. First fan kicks on at temp set by potentimeter and temp probe thru radiator. 2nd fan comes on 10 deg higher. Eliminates the big power surge. Nice unit. Got mine at Oriellys for ~$45.

LT Texan

Fixed that

LT Texan

I was just planning on riding bareback and turn them both on with a relay and temp switch.

heinrich

Koenig-Specials 928

Excellent write up Dan. I'm doing this same swap on the coming weekend. Your pics explained a few of my worries away. Thanks

LT Texan

Got home a bit early today, so I trimmed the shroud to fit with the aftermarket aluminum radiator.

Just fit it in with the end to cut butt up against the tank. Marked it with a sharpie. Used making tape for a guide. And cut away.

Great fit.

Now onto wiring.

Dan

IcemanG17

I just ordered one of these for the Estate racer.......$116 on my door!!

https://www.stockwiseauto.com/index.php

heinrich

Great decision IMHO.

LT Texan

That link takes me to their homepage. What did you buy?

LT Texan

Installed and wired up.



Here is the attachment of the air tube shroud.



The left bracket.



And the right bracket.



Sorry, not pictures of the bottom brackets.

And the snow/fallen branches knocked out the power about 5 minutes after I finished!

Bill Ball

search Dorman 620-104

jpitman2

My experience of fans like those in your first pic is bad - almost useless IMHO. I tried one af Carl's 16" in front, one like yours behind, also poor result. In the end I bought a 2 x 11" SPAL assembly from thefanman.com ($200). These carry something like a 10,000hr motor life warranty, rated at 2780cfm @ 20A total. They have blow open panels top and bottom for good flow at speed.
I built a frame to pick up the original mounts from alloy angle from the hardware store, with the corners pop rivetted and epoxied (to stop them working), and pop rivetted the fan shroud to that. This also allowed me to fit the top air guide cover as Dan has done, so from the front you cant tell anything is non stock. I fire one fan from the original sensor and relay, and slave the second fan's relay from the first, powered via a fuse from the hot post. This set up will hold it on por under the second white line in 100F with AC on . After my first test run I happened to touch the fan relay on the CE panel, and it was too hot to touch Dates showed it as an original), so I replaced it, and now it only gets warm - check yours.
With the windows closed you cant hear the fans while stationery unless you turn all other noises off. My experience with using the std sensor (bottom left of rad) is not good - the lag between temp gauge and fans on and off is odd. One guy I know here who tracks his car and had cooling issues with fans, fitted a top hose sensor and reported much better temp control.
jp 83 Euro S AT 54k

jwillman

What was the purpose behind cutting out the center section of the air tube shroud?