by Jessetygr Wed Sep 04, 2013 11:18 pmI got a little side tracked this weekend with my fuel tank swap plan and ended up diving into the van's cooling issue..
Like many of the post I've read, my van ofcourse has overheating issues.. I've upgraded to a new rad, changed filters, changed my stat, and Fred C. even helped further by installing a push fan on the front of my rad.. Even after these upgrades, the van was still running hot.
I'm sure there are some heat issues resulting from the stronger ignition system I installed but I'm still learning as I go.. What was pretty clear was the fact my engine fan itself was next to useless.. It was a small, four blade fan (without a shroud) and hardly pulling any air thru the rad. I decided it was time to pull the fan and replace it with a larger electronic pulling fan! In order to fit the new fan in place, I had to slide the rad pretty far forward towards the front of the dog house so it would clear the bell mount of the old engine fan. I decided to keep the front pusher fan (which operates on a switch) on the rad as its a good cooling option in traffic but it further reduced the space for air to get up into the dog house.
At lower speeds (& RPM's) the van runs cool but anything over 65mph will would cause the engine to heat. I have a belly pan on the van but there still seemed to be an issue of air flow the rad.. I came up with a pretty cheap solution to add a "wing" to the belly pan to angle the air flow directly up into the space between the dog house front wall & the rad.. I basically picked all the materials up at the local Home Depot for about 30 and spent about an two hours building, painting and installing it last night. I took my van out for a 150 mile highway trip this morning and it worked really awesome.. The wing curves so much air flow right up into the front of the rad where the fans can then do their thing..The temp gauge hardly changed..
Not the best pics but gives the general idea!
Placement..
Painted & ready for the install.
Like many of the post I've read, my van ofcourse has overheating issues.. I've upgraded to a new rad, changed filters, changed my stat, and Fred C. even helped further by installing a push fan on the front of my rad.. Even after these upgrades, the van was still running hot.
I'm sure there are some heat issues resulting from the stronger ignition system I installed but I'm still learning as I go.. What was pretty clear was the fact my engine fan itself was next to useless.. It was a small, four blade fan (without a shroud) and hardly pulling any air thru the rad. I decided it was time to pull the fan and replace it with a larger electronic pulling fan! In order to fit the new fan in place, I had to slide the rad pretty far forward towards the front of the dog house so it would clear the bell mount of the old engine fan. I decided to keep the front pusher fan (which operates on a switch) on the rad as its a good cooling option in traffic but it further reduced the space for air to get up into the dog house.
At lower speeds (& RPM's) the van runs cool but anything over 65mph will would cause the engine to heat. I have a belly pan on the van but there still seemed to be an issue of air flow the rad.. I came up with a pretty cheap solution to add a "wing" to the belly pan to angle the air flow directly up into the space between the dog house front wall & the rad.. I basically picked all the materials up at the local Home Depot for about 30 and spent about an two hours building, painting and installing it last night. I took my van out for a 150 mile highway trip this morning and it worked really awesome.. The wing curves so much air flow right up into the front of the rad where the fans can then do their thing..The temp gauge hardly changed..
Not the best pics but gives the general idea!
Placement..
Painted & ready for the install.
