The radiator has had a tiny leak since I’ve had the car. I used some sealant as a stop-gap measure. However, the leak finally got so bad it really needed a proper solution. Ordered a new radiator and parts to allow the Holley Sniper EFI to control the fan instead of the external fan controller.
Since I wanted to reuse my existing fan I had to make a custom cowl. On the original radiator I used fan zip tie’s. While this worked it did damage the fins a little and didn’t look as neat as it could.
The radiator and fan were modelled up in Autodesk Fusion 360. Using the sheet metal mode the cowl was created. The advantage of this is that the sheet metal mode allows you to enter the type/thickness of the material being used and it automatically puts in the allowance for bending. This includes cuts for overlapping corners.
With the plan created it was printed and stuck to a sheet of aluminium, cut out and bent with a press brake. Nutserts were fitted to make it easier to attach the fan once installed in the car.
(Note the cap on the top of the cowl might be added later, for now will go without.)
My brother used a lathe to make some spacers for mounting the fan. These spacers ensure the fan is securely mounted. The radiator was painted black on the front so that it doesn’t stand out from the outside. I decided to keep the inside unpainted.
When the electric fan was installed originally I installed a fan controller. Since then the Holley Sniper EFI was installed on the car. The EFI has the capability to control fans. While doing the radiator upgrade I felt it was a good time to switch over to EFI control for the fan. This involved installed a relay/fuse box. This was wired up to take the ground signals from the EFI and activate the fan. The fan has two speeds. The EFI will use the low speed from 88c(190f) down to 82c(180f) and the high speed from 96c(205f) down to 91c(195f). I may adjust these values in time, but that’s easy to do now from the EFI as I can monitor the engine temperature and adjust as needed from inside the car.
Just waiting on some battery terminal covers as a finishing touch.
With all the parts prepared everything was installed. Only had a few short trips with the new setup, so far it’s working really well 🙂
