Cooling Fan Questions

[66 C10 383]

I'm in the research aspect of putting a 5.3/4L60E in my 66 C10. This truck will hopefully be a driver with some round trips up to 500 miles from home. I'm looking for the most rock solid reliability as possible. Something on the order of OEM reliable. Also, I've been trying to stay as close to OEM style parts as possible in case replacement becomes necessary while out on the road.

I haven't installed my engine yet until I can figure out if I need to leave room for a mechanical fan or electric fans.

Okay, my 5.3 currently has a mechanical fan on it. Mechanical fans with fan clutches have been around for years and are as dependable as they get. They also eat gas mileage.

Electric fans save the gas mileage but they have been known to fail. And with my luck, will do so 500 miles from home. There is also the question of running a 16" single fan or it seems the biggest dual fans I can run on a 66 C10 size radiator are dual 11" fans.

I have a Vintage Air setup I'll be running and I've got a PSI harness for the 5.3 if that makes any difference. I'm setting it up with DBW using the 2005 or 2006 blue/green ecm.

It seems most factory trucks that have the electric fans are running dual. I've also heard that the Taurus or Continental fans are 2 speed fans.

I've done research here on the board til I'm completely confused. I've read let the VA control the fans. Doesn't the ecm need to have some control of the fans, too? Would the VA control one fan and the ecm control the second? If I go with the single 16" fan, how would both the VA and ecm control 1 fan?

I need some thoughts and ideas on which way to go. I'm kinda leaning towards the mechanical fan for simplicity but I'd also like the more modern aspect of running the electric fans.

[ls1nova71]

If you put a mechanical fan on it with a good shroud, that should be all you need. That's the way my trucks are. I only use electric fans when I absolutely have to, and like you said, I did have one melt down a weather pack connector so the fan quit working. Wasn't 500 miles from home though. ..... more like 1500, but that's another story! LOL!
If you want to run an electric fan, and VA you would use a trinary switch then hook the fan control part of it to ground the same fan relay that the PCM does, that way either one can turn the fan on when needed.

[66 C10 383]

I was hoping you would chime in, Thanks a bunch for the reply! For both reliability and simplicity, a mechanical fan it will be ...

[87chevy.com]

Electric fans are not bad. As far as connectors melting... there's a lot of things that cause that, improper crimp... corrosion, to may amps for the terminal to handle which causes it to loose tension..
Clint

[mongocanfly]

I went electric...mainly because the mech fan wouldnt line up with the stock fan shroud...couldve built something thatd work I suppose...not had any fan issues but it being elec just means theres always that chance of failure

[rennat_2006]

Im going to try and use a 05 and newer truck/suv donor vehicle radiator and electric fans in my wifes 72 when i drop the 6.0l into it. You should have the room for that setup in your truck. I havent had any problems with these efans on any of the trucks ive been around and they are 10+yrs old and 150k or more miles.

Bonus is they will hook right up to a 03 and newer ls ecm and all it takes is a small change in the tuning to have the ecm run them. Automatically turn on with the A/c and everything. I swapped from the mechanical fan to a set of these with a 05 radiator on my 03 2wd silverado and it will idle all day long in 100* weather in traffic with the ac on full blast without hitting 210 on the temp gauge. A/c blows colder also because the fans automatically kick on with the a/c so you get good airflow over the condenser at all times instead of only when the truck is moving or the fan clutch is locked up, even locked up at just a 600rpm idle warms it up some.

Ive never had any issues with temps getting hot with these fans but for absolute cooling power your not gonna beat a clutch fan that is locked up and at high rpms. Thats why GM went to the elec fans in the 1500's but stuck with the mechanical fan in the 2500/3500's.

I would not run any aftermarket elec fan setup on any of my rigs. You hear about them going out all of the time, overheating, burnt connectors like you mentioned, etc way to often.

[Wildkarde]

When going with electric fans the most important thing is buy quality. Either something OEM that you have repurposed, or from a high end vendor like Spal or Derale. This is one of those places where you really get what you pay for.

The other major thing is proper wiring, so many people use too small a wire guage or connectors that arent rated for the load. Good fans that move a lot of air draw a ton of current, especially at start up.

[Rich84]

I sourced an Escalade radiator and electric fan setup with factory relays and harness from a junkyard. The radiator is humongous but fits nicely. The fans almost never come on which probably leads to their longevity. Almost done with my Vintage air setup so I will find out how it works with the AC soon.

[66 C10 383]

Originally Posted by rennat_2006

Im going to try and use a 05 and newer truck/suv donor vehicle radiator and electric fans in my wifes 72 when i drop the 6.0l into it. You should have the room for that setup in your truck. I havent had any problems with these efans on any of the trucks ive been around and they are 10+yrs old and 150k or more miles.

Bonus is they will hook right up to a 03 and newer ls ecm and all it takes is a small change in the tuning to have the ecm run them. Automatically turn on with the A/c and everything. I swapped from the mechanical fan to a set of these with a 05 radiator on my 03 2wd silverado and it will idle all day long in 100* weather in traffic with the ac on full blast without hitting 210 on the temp gauge. A/c blows colder also because the fans automatically kick on with the a/c so you get good airflow over the condenser at all times instead of only when the truck is moving or the fan clutch is locked up, even locked up at just a 600rpm idle warms it up some.

Ive never had any issues with temps getting hot with these fans but for absolute cooling power your not gonna beat a clutch fan that is locked up and at high rpms. Thats why GM went to the elec fans in the 1500's but stuck with the mechanical fan in the 2500/3500's.

I would not run any aftermarket elec fan setup on any of my rigs. You hear about them going out all of the time, overheating, burnt connectors like you mentioned, etc way to often.

You make some very valid points about the cooling while idling with the AC on and the mechanical fan. I'd love to run the e'fans from a newer model truck but unfortunately the radiators in the 66 like I have is much too small to allow anything larger than a single 16" or dual 11" fans. I think the 72 radiator is something like 28" wide whereas the 66 is only 23" wide.

I do have the same concerns on the OEM vs aftermarket fans. If an OEM fan goes bad you can usually find something either new replacement or salvage yard if your traveling but not just any auto parts store is going to have a usable aftermarket fan should one go bad.

I've run dual f-body fans on an 84 Cutlass years ago so I do know the importance of good heavy duty wiring for the fans. I've actually looked at using an f-body radiator and fans in my truck as the core height and width are very similar.

[michael bustamante]

im using 2010 maxima cooling fans. dual setup. the fit perfect with a 4 core radiator in 67-72 trucks. ill be using the pcm to run them. no ac

[rennat_2006]

Originally Posted by 66 C10 383

You make some very valid points about the cooling while idling with the AC on and the mechanical fan. I'd love to run the e'fans from a newer model truck but unfortunately the radiators in the 66 like I have is much too small to allow anything larger than a single 16" or dual 11" fans. I think the 72 radiator is something like 28" wide whereas the 66 is only 23" wide.

I do have the same concerns on the OEM vs aftermarket fans. If an OEM fan goes bad you can usually find something either new replacement or salvage yard if your traveling but not just any auto parts store is going to have a usable aftermarket fan should one go bad.

I've run dual f-body fans on an 84 Cutlass years ago so I do know the importance of good heavy duty wiring for the fans. I've actually looked at using an f-body radiator and fans in my truck as the core height and width are very similar.

Im using a ls1 camaro radiator and fan setup in my 71 nova also.