1. Home
  2. Chevy Camaro and Pontiac Firebird
  3. First Timer Electric Fan Swap!

First Timer Electric Fan Swap!

My 80 Camaro Z28 currently has a dangerous belt driven fan without a shroud, and the stock shroud won't fit. I want to swap in an electric fan or dual fan setup, and am not sure how to mount it, or install it.

I'm looking at fans from various total loss cars at my collision shop, and also at fans on ebaymotors. I heard on another post here that 3600 CFM is necessary for a 383 stroker motor, so that's what I'm looking for.

My questions are, how do these aftermarket fans mount to the radiator, because the only possible mounting spots I can think of are the two screw holes at the top of the radiator where the shroud would have mounted.

And...What do you wire the fan to? Are there 3 wires, a positive to the battery, negative to a ground, and a neutral wire that goes to a switch or to one of these electric fan thermostat kits I've been hearing about?

What do these thermostat kits wire up to??

Any help would be greatly appreciated because I'm trying to do this asap so I can get her up and running mint again...

Thanks,

-Brian

Reply to
80 Z-28 work
Loading thread data ...

Keep the belt fan if at all possible. Dig around bone yards or call Summit Racing and see what they can get to cover up that fan. I've had many Firebirds and Camaros and the only one that never overheated was the only with a belt fan.

That said, if you swap in one or two electric fans, those aftermarket ones that mount with tabs that stick through the radiator work well. You'll probably end up with the biggest fan they make on the engine side and another smaller fan on the other side.

For wiring, you can either set them up to run all the time or to run off a thermostat. Don't hook them up to a switch - it's too easy to forget to turn it on.

An aftermarket thermostat can mount to the radiator fins and you'll need a fan relay. The relay switches the big power for the fan motors and the ignition + thermostat turn the relay on and off. I've seen all these parts and wiring in a single bag at the local auto parts store.

Count on a couple hundred bucks to set this up and it won't work as well as your belt fan. Bolting in the right fan shroud will help keep your fingers attached and make the belt fan cool the engine even better than it does now.

Reply to
The Reverend Natural Light

If you already have a fan shroud that will bolt up to the rad why not just grind off the excess plastic or cut it off with snips?

Reply to
speedracer7291

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.