10-20hp With An Electric Fan Swap On An Sc400..

[JIBBBY]

Ok, I have began changing out the stock hydraulic oil driven fan with a dual 2 inch flex-a-lite electric fan to free up space, horsepower and reduce front end weight. A question for someone, there are two oil lines coming out of the hydraulic oil pump located near the pulleys, I need to bridge those two lines so the oil flows easily through the in and out lines of the pump. However, I am wondering if the hydraulic oil pump can be permenantely disabled, I know there is a sensor which reads the oil temp and then sends a message to the ECU which then activates and powers up the Hydraulic fan pump. I would love to know if that pump powers anything else and can it be disabled permently. Here are some pics from today, my fingers are pointing to the soon to be bridged lines.

[barelyworking]

I'd love to know how your fan swap performs after you finish. I have the same fan kit but haven't dug in to install it.

[JIBBBY]

The dual fan works fantastic, no problems and cools just fine... Here is a pic of the before and after finished product..

[SCdriver]

What did the switch to an electric fan cost? Who makes the fan kit and did it really free up that much HP? Thanks...

[JIBBBY]

I ended up using the thermo stick heat sensor that came with the dual flex-a-lite fan that can be purchased at just about at any high performance shop, or summitracing.com and it all works and looks just fine. The car runs at the same temp as stock, I forsee no problems what so ever. As far as testing for horsepower gains I have not road tested the car yet, as I am working on other mods. Ran it for a long time at a stand still and all is ok. I can post later for power results. I do think it will free up horse power maybe 10hp is my guess. I am currently trying to mount these fat rear tires for added off the line traction on my car and was having trouble fitting them into the wheel wells had to curl the fender lip and use wheel adapters to just sqeeze these monsters in the wells. I am also installing these S&S headers. Here are some pics. I am hoping with all these mods this car will run 0-60 in mid four second range and not blow up the stock tranny, hopefully!! Should be hard to beat.

[dcfish]

I ended up using the thermo stick heat sensor that came with the dual flex-a-lite fan that can be purchased at just about at any high performance shop, or summitracing.com and it all works and looks just fine. The car runs at the same temp as stock, I forsee no problems what so ever. As far as testing for horsepower gains I have not road tested the car yet, as I am working on other mods. Ran it for a long time at a stand still and all is ok. I can post later for power results. I do think it will free up horse power maybe 10hp is my guess. I am currently trying to mount these fat rear tires for added off the line traction on my car and was having trouble fitting them into the wheel wells had to curl the fender lip and use wheel adapters to just sqeeze these monsters in the wells. I am also installing these S&S headers. Here are some pics. I am hoping with all these mods this car will run 0-60 in mid four second range and not blow up the stock tranny, hopefully!! Should be hard to beat.

Jibby, You would be in good company:

2003 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.9 sec.

2003 Dodge Viper 4.0 sec.

2002 Dodge Viper GTS ACR 4.0 sec.

2005 Chevrolet Corvette 4.3 sec.

2004 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 4.3 sec.

2002 Ferrari 360 Modena 4.3 sec.

2004 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra 4.5 sec.

2003 Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG 4.5 sec.

1995 Toyota Supra 4.6 sec.

[JIBBBY]

That's the goal, just don't know how much more hp this stock tranny can take with the new traction setup and all. Could have a Supra V160 tranny swap coming soon on this car or may just try and build up the stock tranny. Next mods currently underway- Supra big brakes, EGR blocker, and Headers. I am not trying to brag just sharing my mods with all plus, I love my digital camera as you can see...

[Hardway]

How did you end up bridging the oil lines? Did you have to make something or were you able to buy something off the shelf at a parts store?

[JIBBBY]

I opened the hydraulic pump by removing the bolts directly behind the pulley, just note "when removing the pulley the holding nut is reverse threading" if torqued the wrong way it will strip as shown in one of the pics with the funny looking nut splitter tool. I then opened the pump and removed the two star shaped vains that just slide right out of the hydraulic pump. I then closed and sealed the pump. Now there is no load coming from the pump and no strain on the engine, it just free spins and splashes oil around inside the pump. All I needed to do after that was run two hose lines from the pump to the fan tank resevoir and fill and that was it. Then mounted the fan tank and now the pump will always stay lubricated and filled with ATP fluid. Job complete. Here is a few more pics.

The secnd to last pic is of the front of my engine with all the plastic crap removed, I then changed the timing belts and distributer cap, rotor while it was opened, a piece of cake. The last picture I am wiring up the fan.

[JIBBBY]

FAILURE ON THE FAN SWAP!!!!! Today the bypassed free spinning hydraulic fan pump and pulley bearing over heated with the still ATP inside the pump. The seals blew out fluid shot everywhere under my hood and made a mess. I was lucky to make it home today with a slipping serp belt and squeeling hydro pulley bearing from Down Town LA to the beach. THE HYDRAULIC PUMP CANNOT BE BYPASSED!!! Removing the vains will not work.. Now I must delete the pump completely, fan tank, hoses, etc.. and then run a shorter serp belt or find a fast replacement idler pulley to stand in place of the hydro pump pulley...

On a brighter note the fan works better then expected, I was in 90 degree heat in Down Town Los Angeles with the A/C on in traffic ran cooler then stock... A minor set back that will be corrected...

[dcfish]

FAILURE ON THE FAN SWAP!!!!! Today the bypassed free spinning hydraulic fan pump and pulley bearing over heated with the still ATP inside the pump. The seals blew out fluid shot everywhere under my hood and made a mess. I was lucky to make it home today with a slipping serp belt and squeeling hydro pulley bearing from Down Town LA to the beach. THE HYDRAULIC PUMP CANNOT BE BYPASSED!!! Removing the vains will not work.. Now I must delete the pump completely, fan tank, hoses, etc.. and then run a shorter serp belt or find a fast replacement idler pulley to stand in place of the hydro pump pulley...

On a brighter note the fan works better then expected, I was in 90 degree heat in Down Town Los Angeles with the A/C on in traffic ran cooler then stock... A minor set back that will be corrected...

Jibby, I have to say, Huge props on the mods. The car is turning into a monster, Keep up the good work.

[JIBBBY]

FAILURE ON THE FAN SWAP!!!!! Today the bypassed free spinning hydraulic fan pump and pulley bearing over heated with the still ATP inside the pump. The seals blew out fluid shot everywhere under my hood and made a mess. I was lucky to make it home today with a slipping serp belt and squeeling hydro pulley bearing from Down Town LA to the beach. THE HYDRAULIC PUMP CANNOT BE BYPASSED!!! Removing the vains will not work.. Now I must delete the pump completely, fan tank, hoses, etc.. and then run a shorter serp belt or find a fast replacement idler pulley to stand in place of the hydro pump pulley...

On a brighter note the fan works better then expected, I was in 90 degree heat in Down Town Los Angeles with the A/C on in traffic ran cooler then stock... A minor set back that will be corrected...

Jibby, I have to say, Huge props on the mods. The car is turning into a monster, Keep up the good work.

DCfish - Thanks for the hype...I don't know about a monster maybe a disaster is the right word.....Just kidding, the cars actually runs fantastic, and I am actually getting suprised at how fast this car is becoming, and it's a fun hobby for me. This problem is really no biggie just hated spending that much time on something that didn't work out. Need to move on and this is the route I should have gone with from the start, total deletion of the hydraulic pump....my bad...

[dcfish]

FAILURE ON THE FAN SWAP!!!!! Today the bypassed free spinning hydraulic fan pump and pulley bearing over heated with the still ATP inside the pump. The seals blew out fluid shot everywhere under my hood and made a mess. I was lucky to make it home today with a slipping serp belt and squeeling hydro pulley bearing from Down Town LA to the beach. THE HYDRAULIC PUMP CANNOT BE BYPASSED!!! Removing the vains will not work.. Now I must delete the pump completely, fan tank, hoses, etc.. and then run a shorter serp belt or find a fast replacement idler pulley to stand in place of the hydro pump pulley...

On a brighter note the fan works better then expected, I was in 90 degree heat in Down Town Los Angeles with the A/C on in traffic ran cooler then stock... A minor set back that will be corrected...

Jibby, I have to say, Huge props on the mods. The car is turning into a monster, Keep up the good work.

DCfish - Thanks for the hype...I don't know about a monster maybe a disaster is the right word.....Just kidding, the cars actually runs fantastic, and I am actually getting suprised at how fast this car is becoming, and it's a fun hobby for me. This problem is really no biggie just hated spending that much time on something that didn't work out. Need to move on and this is the route I should have gone with from the start, total deletion of the hydraulic pump....my bad...

We fail so we can succeed When do you plan on forced air ?

[JIBBBY]

Forced air will come when the forged pistons and rods are in my engine and when the transmission is upgraded and figured out. Or I may just quit this car at 450-475hp after the headers and high performance cams are in...I think this sc will be up running with the big boys after these next two upgrades or either on a flat bed truck being hauled to the shop...ha ha...... we will see.....

[Platinum0921]

Forced air will come when the forged pistons and rods are in my engine and when the transmission is upgraded and figured out. Or I may just quit this car at 450-475hp after the headers and high performance cams are in...I think this sc will be up running with the big boys after these next two upgrades or either on a flat bed truck being hauled to the shop...ha ha...... we will see.....

Hey Jibbby, have you installed the forged pistons before? I have mine and are just weighting for my manual trans and headers come so I can get it all installed professionally at once. I want to do the pistons myself though........ but have never done anything like that. Wondering if you have some type of diagram or instructions on how to complete the task?

[JIBBBY]

No haven't done my pistons or rods yet, it will happen soon. You want a step by step info on mods go visit lextreme.com forum... That's where I learned everything....

[JIBBBY]

Update on the fan swap - The main pump stud bearing on the hydraulic pump overheated and the seals blew. Removing the vanes is not going to work....I did come up with an even better and easier alternative which I should have done in the first place. Using the pre-drilled hole on the right side of the pump face, I bought a cheap small universal bearing idler pulley at the auto parts store for $20 and a 3/8 drill bit and tap and then installed as shown in the pictures. Washers can be used as needed to get the pulley belt offset in the correct position. Unscrew the front main sensor to the pump that will disable it. This permenantly disable the pump.

Now that the pump does not function at all, the fan tank and oil lines were then removed... The engine is even more bare and spacious, and this took me about 20 minutes to complete. Drilling out the smaller threaded hole to a larger size was like drilling thru butter, the thread tapping was also very simple. The threads run deep in the pump and there is alot of metal to work with so this is a perfect location for the new idler pulley. The new belt was fitted and a small 1/8 inch grind of the corner pf the pump was needed for belt clearance as shown in the last picture. I suggest using thread locker and a locking washer for final bolt tightening of the pulley.. I will also make a thin cover plate to cover and dress up the front of the hydro pump. I think this will finally complete this fan job, I hope..

The picture with the shorter belt was what some people have done, I didn't not like it because it reduces the belt grab on the crank pulley by 50% from stock, did not want to experience slippage during nos boost...

[JIBBBY]

Just wanted to inform everyone who may be interested in these mods, for starters the electric fans work great, however I had to relocate a pulley and disconnect the hydro pump plug.. In doing so the hydro pump is disabled permently the only problem is the ECU will now get a bad read and the oil light will come on at full throttle and stall once in a while at idle. What I did is used a simple looping 10ohm circuit at the open end of the disconnected hydro pump plug as shown in the last pic. Any electric auto shop carries these little circuits. This tricks the ECU to think the pump is working fine... Problems solved here are the closing pic.

[BlueKush86]

Just wanted to inform everyone who may be interested in these mods, for starters the electric fans work great, however I had to relocate a pulley and disconnect the hydro pump plug.. In doing so the hydro pump is disabled permently the only problem is the ECU will now get a bad read and the oil light will come on at full throttle and stall once in a while at idle. What I did is used a simple looping 10ohm circuit at the open end of the disconnected hydro pump plug as shown in the last pic. Any electric auto shop carries these little circuits. This tricks the ECU to think the pump is working fine... Problems solved here are the closing pic.

just wondering which method you used to hook up your fan? using a thermostat? ignition power? or using a switch?

if you used the thermostat method i would like to know where you hook attached the sensor to and how you ran the wires. pics would be nice.

[JIBBBY]

I wanted 100% reliability with this fan swap, so I went with the ignition power source, so when the car turns on the fans turn on. When the car turns off the fans turn off....No heat sensors or additional wiring that could fail.... I also have a fan kill switch installed if I want to cut the fans off at any time manually....

THis is simple and effective.... Maybe more reliable the stock.... Cooling the radiator at cold starts doesn't effect anything, as the cars thermostate keeps the car running at operating temperature and not the fans and cold water in the radiator..... I recommend the ignition power source to work the fans on a relay.... Heat sensors and thermostics can fail over time..and nobody wants to overheat and break down.... The ignition wire will never fail....

I also want to say that by just unscrewing/unplugging the hydro pump power cylinoid source is all you have to do to delete...No looping 10ohm circuit is needed...The ECU (computer is not effected by the hydro pump deletion) The oil light comes on because the hydro fluid is removed and the oil sensor reads it that way (Empty)...The reported stalling at idle problem I had was not related to the pump deletion but to my intake...So your car will not run any different.....This swap has been completed and the car runs perfect for months now, no problems what so ever to report... I give it a thumbs up....

[MattHSC400]

Kinda late to the topic lol, I have a 97 SC400 owner before me did a electric fan swap and connected it to the thermostat sensor which doesn't seem to be doing the trick of turning the fan on when the car is needing to be cooled, so id like to just connect the electric fan directly to the ignition so that it will always be on when the car is running but I am not sure which power source is the ignition power source and is there anything else i need to do besides having the fan connected to the battery and then to the ignition source any other connections that need to be made?