Converting an 02 S10 to an e fan queations

As the title suggests, I want to convert SWMBO's 02 2.2 S10 to an electronic fan setup vs the clutched engine mounted fan that's there. Hoping for a few mpg increase as well as more consistent coolant temps, as from what I've read the air around the fan has to hit 170* give or take a bit to reach maximum cooling. Anyone done this and have any input in it?

I know I could wire in a switch and I'm pretty sure I have an old Taurus fan in the shed from my RX7 days, but this is her daily and I don't trust her to remember the switch. Anyone use the the "universal" kits from places like Autozone or Advance?

Thanks!

Interested in what people say; I've considered one of these for my Montero.

No help to offer however, sorry!

I have this answer.

go to the junkyard. look for longitudinal engine SAABs. There is an inline hose adapter in the upper radiator hose with a switch in it. Take the adapter, but throw away the switch and order one of the proper temperature from your favorite SAAB parts house. Install the adapter and switch in your upper rad hose and use it to trigger a relay for your fan.

'98-'99ish Intrepid dual fan, cut off a couple tabs and it fits like it was made for S10s; one of these, one of these, and a couple of these.

Sorry I can't find the wiring diagram for this method, though.

My friend used a fan assembly from an intrepid that had heat switches in it already for his 6ltre. swap. And it looks and fits good. He found it on an s-10 forum. S-10racing.com or something like that. I measured a fan from an Acadia and it is pretty close. Acadia's are a little newer to find salvage but they are close. I have used a switch kit groom Hayden that has temp probe that slides between the radiator fins that turn on the relay. Worked pretty good. Good luck.

Taurus dual fan setup......by far one of the best boneyard efan setups out there.

Sounds like you're considering a setup where the fan switch is triggered by ambient air temp around the fan...instead get a coolant temp triggered switch like EvanR's idea. The sammy crowd likes to use a sensor that has a thin wire probe that goes through a custom-notched gasket for this, it's one of the least intrusive setups you can get.

Thanks for the info guys, I'll check this weekend when I go to the yard.

Gameboy sorry I was a bit vague. The stock setup uses ambient air to engage the clutch. Trying to get away from it.

The 93-02 Camaro/Firebird electric fan setup could work too. They have about the same size radiator as your S10. The GM FWD big cars like my 99 Bonneville have two fans as well, each is mounted separately, so you could use just one or both. They should be quite easy to find as well in junkyards.

Back in the day (2003-ish), my (now ex) wife launched her car (1986 mustang gt convert) off a 4 ft embankment.... I got the core support pushed back MOST of the way.. but couldn't get the fan to clear the radiator (I was poor as heck at that time... I blame it on her.) So I grabbed an electric fan from another car (1989 grand prix) and ziptied it (shroud and all) directly to the mustang's radiator. I Just wired the power to a relay that turned on when the car was on, and off when the car was off... it was ALWAYS cooling. it worked fine.

So, I was a fan from a v6, cooling a v8, and never had an issue.

was it done right? nope. did it work perfectly? yep.

it's a 2.2 powered truck... pretty much any fan will do the job of keeping it cool, so just grab the first one you see in the junkyard... i once had a fan from a 4 cylinder 86 Celebrity cooling the 400ish HP 355 in my 71 Nova. one nice thing about using the Celebrity fan was that the whole fan harness was it's own thing totally separate from the rest of the car- the fusible link that powered it was hooked right to the big terminal on the starter, it had a temp switch right there (something like 235 on/225 off), the relay and fan ground wires were hooked up to the inner fenderwell, and the only wire that was tied into the car was the + wire from the ignition.. other GM fwd cars of the era will be similarly wired, but they changed it up in 87 and made the ecm control the fan so they eliminated the temp switch for it..

THANKS!!! that's the kind of info I was looking for!

I would use this to control the fan:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/der-16759

I saw this every time this comes up to no avail.

84 full size, 350, carb, three speed auto.

Clutch fan/electric fan/no fan = no difference in mpg at all. The clutch fan was hardly ever engaged, and it cost nothing to spin the hub around.

Just leave it, GM clutch fans are very good. The electric was a pain and the little modules I kept trying to use kept burning out (hence the 'no fan' scenario).

Only thing is this. I think our na miata puts more to the wheels than that poor 2.2.

In reply to tuna55:

Couple issues; your sample size for this test of e-fan improvement or not is a single vehicle. It's also not exactly the most efficient vehicle to start with. If this was a 5% improvement in operating efficiency, would you notice? If you got 10% out of it but the starting mpg was an average of 10 mpg, that's a single click when the math is done.

This probably could kick off a new thread but since I'm not playing with fans, I shouldn't be starting one, and sorry to the OP to thread-jack (even if it's topical).

pres589 wrote: In reply to tuna55: Couple issues; your sample size for this test of e-fan improvement or not is a single vehicle. It's also not exactly the most efficient vehicle to start with. If this was a 5% improvement in operating efficiency, would you notice? If you got 10% out of it but the starting mpg was an average of 10 mpg, that's a single click when the math is done. This probably could kick off a new thread but since I'm not playing with fans, I shouldn't be starting one, and sorry to the OP to thread-jack (even if it's topical).

Although I acknowledge my n=1 issue, does anyone have any other math based examples?

SWMBO is taking her truck on a 600 mile road trip in a few days, I'll have her.record mileage and compare it after the swap.

If you want to spend some cash... flex-a-lite has an e-fan specific to S10s

Make sure your alternator can handle the Taurus fan if you go that route (or whatever fan you choose). That fan draws ~35A on high. The fan's only going to come on when you're sitting still, at idle...

yeah, was trying to avoid the taurus fan for that reason. not sure what the amperage output of the alt is on this thing. Though from what I've read it's 30-35A at startup and like 10 running.

~35A running, there's a video on YouTube confirming. It moves a massive amount of air though, probably way more than you need. Even on low it draws 25A.

Ross does have a good point, though. Either you're using the belt to turn the water pump to turn the clutch-driven fan, or you're using the belt to turn the alternator to make more amps to turn the 'leccy fan. You have to come up with energy somewhere.

keep in mind that you could probably cool the truck with one of these fans:

so don't overthink it..

LOL