Conversion to 12V thermo fan?

[ZX1990]

Hey David

Any updates on this?

Cheers

[murcod]

It's still happening, things have just stalled a bit. (I've been waiting for the weather to warm up so I can get some coolant temp voltage readings on a hot day.)

I've got a few days off this weekend so I'll start looking into making the bracketry up to mount the fans. It's going to be a PITA as I have to remove the fan and shroud to get measurements. The shroud appears to be fastened at the bottom on both sides in inaccessable areas, and it will take a few goes to get it all done right as I'll have to get the welding done by someone else.

[maybe]

great thread, i.m thinking of doing the same thing with one of the Flex-a-lite products.

[murcod]

Yes, it's still happening...... slowly....

We finally had a 41 degree C day and I did some voltage checks on the way home. It was a real eye opener and made me glad I hadn't done the conversion yet as the voltages varied a lot more that I was expecting. Normally it goes from 0.500 -> 0.560 V , today it got as low as 0.425V !

If I had of already done the conversion (and saw those voltages) I would have said it wasn't coping in hot weather. I can now go ahead with some knowledge on what I should be expecting in extreme heat- and what constitutes a successful conversion.

[murcod]

Originally Posted by maybe

great thread, i.m thinking of doing the same thing with one of the Flex-a-lite products.

Yes, Flexalite make great products as well. SPAL was easier for me to order from the USA, Australian prices were ridiculous when I ordered mine.

[XL7Limited]

great thread... 41 C?? wow thats almost 106 F!!!! In Philly its 25 F (3.8 c) now lolol

I am wondering how the alternator is going to fare thru all this . I imagine with both fans running full tilt its gonna take some amps to run them....

[murcod]

We usually get a couple of days each summer in the low to mid 40's. The record is apparently 47.6 IIRC set back around 1939! (You can now see why I opt for 10W40 engine oil.)

Early last year we had a couple of weeks with no days below 36- that was hard to take and the garden took a pounding. It set a new heat wave record.

The average day temp during winter is around 13 C. At night it will get down to 0 C sometimes.

The high temp point was driving up a relatively steep hill through some roundabouts in town. On my last vehicle I did a conversion on it was this hill that would cause me overheating dramas.

[murcod]

Progress!

The shroud is out (finally)- what a PITA to do. I ended up snapping off the lower two fasteners, they "push" in, but need to be undone with a screwdriver. But there is no way to access them short of removing the whole radiator with the shroud attached.

The viscous fan also has to come off to get the shroud out- bad design IMHO. Other vehicles I've owned had a two piece shroud to make removal with the fan in place possible- but not Suzuki! I lost a bit of skin and bruised my hands badly undoing the four bolts that hold it on, a trained gorilla must work at the Suzuki factory installing those bolts to 100000Nm

Measurements have been taken and it's now a case of buying the right steel and conning my father inlaw to weld it together for me . There is bucket loads of room in there once everything is removed.

It of course runs hotter with the shroud off, but I survived a 30 minute trip each way into the city yesterday in 37 degrees with the A/C on. I was a bit nervous about it overheating....

[XL7Limited]

moving along murcod... Ya gotta wonder why they engineer some things like that huh? Obviously not thinking about the poor mechanic who has to work on the car at a later date ..

[murcod]

It's all in and working (well sort of! )

The fans are mounted and all the wiring done, they work but are currently affected by voltage surges (eg. turning the headlights on etc) can cause them to turn on.

But they do pump a massive amount of air and the dual speed works well, there's just some "teething" issues. I'll get it sorted one way or another.

Pics shortly.