LiquidX
DSM Wiseman
- 8,280
- 132
- Sep 19, 2008
-
Anywhere,
Pennsylvania
Part 1
Part 3
I received my 9" SPAL fan in the mail yesterday and boy is that thing tiny HAHA!
To get to everything I needed to rip off the old air duct work and damn, that gorilla tape is a monster for grip. It didn't pose too much of a problem getting it off but it did put up a bit of a fight. I don't believe duct tape would do this well.
So I started by lining up the 9" fan as centered as I could but made sure it was within the cell I made that separated the radiator into 2 sections. I cut some aluminum bar that was from the first fan install and eventually came up with this beauty.
View attachment 3374
This way was the easiest way to mount it up to keep the mounting points solid and to a minimum.
I then went to the bottom mounts. Since there is only 1 mounting hole up top I would need at least 2 to keep the fan from shifting around since the top mount is vertical.
I came up with this and for all 3 body attachments, I used self tapping screws. I also used double sided foam tape to keep the fan plastics off of the core to prevent any rubbing. It also helps keep it in place too.
View attachment 3375
Not too satisfied with it's structure, I beefed it up a bit by adding a tie bar. I also put in an extra washer in between everything to help push the fan mount clips in some more since they were close to popping out.
View attachment 3376
View attachment 3377
View attachment 3378
I wired up the stock AC fan plug and ran it through a gap between the rad support. Pretty straight forward, the plug has 2 blue and 2 black wires. What a coincidence, the SPAL fan has a blue and a black wire too
Mocking up the old duct work, I noticed that the top piece wasn't sitting flush any more. So I ended up fixing that issue.
View attachment 3379
View attachment 3380
View attachment 3381
That is it for the duct and fan install. Now to tape it all shut. Gorilla tape is amazing by the way.
View attachment 3382
View attachment 3383
I managed to do the tape job a little different this way. I suppose a more improved way as I was able to tape up more gaps I never took notice to before.
The bottom plastic is 100% sealed to the rad support and FMIC so there is no chance for trapped air to find a way out from that area.
I took some advice from a comment on the other entry and it crossed my mind quite a bit. Next to the end tanks there are massive holes that air will pass through instead of going through the FMIC and eventually to the radiator.
So having as much fun as I was having and wanting to do things right, I sealed them off. That's right, I took out the gaps and with what you may ask - Gorilla tape!!!
View attachment 3384
View attachment 3385
View attachment 3386
About 80% of the bumper is now sealed off to the FMIC. The only spots that I couldn't access was the top where the crash beam is. I figured that the gap is minimal between the bumper and crash beam and also the beam is notched out. All air that goes up will have the beam as a wall to prevent it from backing out. At least that's my mind thinking.
I am much happier with this setup now. Here is the breakdown of my cooling temps from bad to awesome.
1 12" slim Mishimoto fan (driverside puller) with the fan shroud and no duct. Their fans are rated at 900CFM
215*-230* cruising temps. Been on the hot side of the 220* range recently.
1 12" SPAL (driver side puller) with duct work from Part 1. Fan is rated at 1630 CFM
195*-210* cruising temps. Saw as low as 183* coasting.
1 12" SPAL (driver side puller), 1 9" SPAL (passenger pusher), duct work from above.
Fans are rated at 1630 CFM and 708 CFM for a total of 2338 CFM when both are running.
180*-200* cruising. I've been averaging around 186* according to Link.
I shouldn't be but am totally amazed at how drastic the temps changed after blocking off the side holes, especially with the new fan hindering airflow to the radiator on that half.
When both are running, my temps drop at a steady rate.
This is a HUGE performance gain as I just switched back to the stock 2g timing map from a map that had a highest WOT value of 8* and was still knocking like a MOFO.
I have minimal knock now when WOT and this is without METH injection.
In conclusion, duct work is a must if you really want to see good, no, GREAT coolant temps. To keep the temperatures down , you need some awesome fans too. I got mine from www.the-fan-man.com
Part 3
I received my 9" SPAL fan in the mail yesterday and boy is that thing tiny HAHA!
To get to everything I needed to rip off the old air duct work and damn, that gorilla tape is a monster for grip. It didn't pose too much of a problem getting it off but it did put up a bit of a fight. I don't believe duct tape would do this well.
So I started by lining up the 9" fan as centered as I could but made sure it was within the cell I made that separated the radiator into 2 sections. I cut some aluminum bar that was from the first fan install and eventually came up with this beauty.
View attachment 3374
This way was the easiest way to mount it up to keep the mounting points solid and to a minimum.
I then went to the bottom mounts. Since there is only 1 mounting hole up top I would need at least 2 to keep the fan from shifting around since the top mount is vertical.
I came up with this and for all 3 body attachments, I used self tapping screws. I also used double sided foam tape to keep the fan plastics off of the core to prevent any rubbing. It also helps keep it in place too.
View attachment 3375
Not too satisfied with it's structure, I beefed it up a bit by adding a tie bar. I also put in an extra washer in between everything to help push the fan mount clips in some more since they were close to popping out.
View attachment 3376
View attachment 3377
View attachment 3378
I wired up the stock AC fan plug and ran it through a gap between the rad support. Pretty straight forward, the plug has 2 blue and 2 black wires. What a coincidence, the SPAL fan has a blue and a black wire too
Mocking up the old duct work, I noticed that the top piece wasn't sitting flush any more. So I ended up fixing that issue.
View attachment 3379
View attachment 3380
View attachment 3381
That is it for the duct and fan install. Now to tape it all shut. Gorilla tape is amazing by the way.
View attachment 3382
View attachment 3383
I managed to do the tape job a little different this way. I suppose a more improved way as I was able to tape up more gaps I never took notice to before.
The bottom plastic is 100% sealed to the rad support and FMIC so there is no chance for trapped air to find a way out from that area.
I took some advice from a comment on the other entry and it crossed my mind quite a bit. Next to the end tanks there are massive holes that air will pass through instead of going through the FMIC and eventually to the radiator.
So having as much fun as I was having and wanting to do things right, I sealed them off. That's right, I took out the gaps and with what you may ask - Gorilla tape!!!
View attachment 3384
View attachment 3385
View attachment 3386
About 80% of the bumper is now sealed off to the FMIC. The only spots that I couldn't access was the top where the crash beam is. I figured that the gap is minimal between the bumper and crash beam and also the beam is notched out. All air that goes up will have the beam as a wall to prevent it from backing out. At least that's my mind thinking.
I am much happier with this setup now. Here is the breakdown of my cooling temps from bad to awesome.
1 12" slim Mishimoto fan (driverside puller) with the fan shroud and no duct. Their fans are rated at 900CFM
215*-230* cruising temps. Been on the hot side of the 220* range recently.
1 12" SPAL (driver side puller) with duct work from Part 1. Fan is rated at 1630 CFM
195*-210* cruising temps. Saw as low as 183* coasting.
1 12" SPAL (driver side puller), 1 9" SPAL (passenger pusher), duct work from above.
Fans are rated at 1630 CFM and 708 CFM for a total of 2338 CFM when both are running.
180*-200* cruising. I've been averaging around 186* according to Link.
I shouldn't be but am totally amazed at how drastic the temps changed after blocking off the side holes, especially with the new fan hindering airflow to the radiator on that half.
When both are running, my temps drop at a steady rate.
This is a HUGE performance gain as I just switched back to the stock 2g timing map from a map that had a highest WOT value of 8* and was still knocking like a MOFO.
I have minimal knock now when WOT and this is without METH injection.
In conclusion, duct work is a must if you really want to see good, no, GREAT coolant temps. To keep the temperatures down , you need some awesome fans too. I got mine from www.the-fan-man.com
