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Small block 400's
are notorious for running hot. The one in my Land Cruiser is no exception.
But these motors are amazingly tough. Mine has been hot enough to cook
bacon on, but it still keeps on chuggin'.
Over the years I've
run different radiators trying to keep the motor cool. I recently went
on a snow trip on Iron Mountain and cooked the last Black Magic ($200!)
fan I will ever buy. There is something cheaper, and better. Much better....
After doing some research
on our own beloved Bulletin Board, I found that there
was lots of talk about the electric fans in Ford Taurus cars. There are
a couple of different versions, but it seems as long as you find one that
is a two speed version (it will have three wires on it - one ground, and
two power wires for different speeds) you can't go wrong.
I went down to the
local junk yard and went through about 20 Tauruses before I found a damn
fan! I guess these things are popular! The last car I checked had one
sitting in the back seat. I didn't even have to get my hands dirty.
$45 later, I was the
proud owner of a used fan. The price was a little steep compared to what
most others seem to be paying for them, but you pay for convenience. I
could have driven the extra 40 miles to Sacramento to save $15, but I'm
lazy.
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I decided to
wire this turkey the right way, since they reportedly draw 33 amps
continuous, and up to 100 amps at startup! I went to the local NAPA
and found this continuous duty 85 amp relay. It was $40 and they
had it in stock. It is a universal application, but was listed as
used in electric golf carts.
NAPA Part# ST85
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I
mounted the relay in a central location on the battery box. |
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Since
my radiator is in the back of my rig, the fan is mounted behind it.
This fan is insanely strong! It is probably twice as powerful as my
old Black Magic fan. |
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The
fan is also very low profile and doesn't take up much space. |
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When my old
Black Magic fan died, I lost my Optima Yellow Top with it. Prices
on the Optimas were just out of my budget right now, so I bought
this Exide Orbital battery from Rock
Logic 4x4 for less than $100. It's got more cranking amps than
the Optima, and you can't go wrong with the price!
The battery
tray is from Summit Racing.
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Sources:
Rock Logic 4x4
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here to go back to the Tech Dept.
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