LS Radiator / Fan Discussion

Glen1978 · Mar 4, 2014

Seen alot talked about LS's on here lately and this one is coming up quick for me. Radiators and Fans. I know alot of you guys mount em in the rear but Im full bodied and cant....still need it up front. My original plan was to put a Fbody radiator and fans in mine but its too much to package. I believe there 31" wide. Im 25ish max width and gona have to lay it back and can prolly squeeze 20" tall radiator in. I dont mind buying a good radiator....well maybe not BeCool price but a decent one. Also on fans....puller / pusher? Anything stock work? THIN is a plus. Talk amongst yourselves.

XJ savage · Mar 5, 2014

I used the Griffin CU-58202-tls and love the fit. Its 24x19x3 with rh/lh inlet and outlet with built in trans cooler. Its $$ but do it right the first time.

Glen1978 · Mar 5, 2014

DAYUM! Whats so special about it? Its a 24 x 19 alum radiator!

zjtrey · Mar 5, 2014

I've always been told you need 1 sq inch of radiator per HP and i've never gone wrong using this rule…

best fans for the buck are taurus fans the volvo equivalent…. being low profile is where the higher dollar fans come into play from my experience.

I've had good luck sourcing griffin radiators by size on ebay, can usually pick up what I'm needing for under $200.

Glen1978 · Mar 5, 2014

So for 300 horsies I only need a 20x15? Seems a little small to me. Im at work and I think Im 26" between the rails....so figure 24" wide would be safe depending on how I mounted it. Might could squeeze another inch in there. Probably 18" high.

What do you mean the Volvo equivalent? Ive only heard of using the Taurus fans and some of the Lincoln MkVII fans if you can find the right one that was two speed.

SomewhiteGuy · Mar 5, 2014

XJ savage said:
I used the Griffin CU-58202-tls and love the fit. Its 24x19x3 with rh/lh inlet and outlet with built in trans cooler. Its $$ but do it right the first time.

This ^^ the griffin units are nice as the combo is complete with shroud and fan all ready to go, we got ours from wod with an fittings on it ready to go.
http://www.wideopendesign.com/Product/188/Griffin-Universal-1-Tube-Crossflow-Combo-Kits.aspx

Glen1978 · Mar 5, 2014

Oh, didnt realize they were rad / fan / shroud combo. $540 for one that fits mine aint too bad. I have $450 written into the budget for fan / radiator. I could do a decent aluminum radiator and Taurus fan for probably $250ish. Anything I can save is just gona get me on the trail faster. Thats what Im looking at.

patooyee · Mar 5, 2014

Best bang for the buck radiators I've found to date are Allstar brand sold either by Summit, direct, or Jimmy @ EOR. (http://www.allstarperformance.com/product.htm?prod=826) BY FAR the best bang for the buck fan is Taurus. I run the biggest dual pass radiator that Allstar sells. It was $200. I splurged and bought a NEW Taurus fan from rockauto for $75 and made my own shroud. (I think the shroud is very important.) This combo cools my 400hp LS2 ridiculously easy. My computer controls low and high speed on the fan. The engine will run just idling and running around the parks and only kick the fan on low for a minute at a time every 10 minutes or so. It VERY RARELY kicks on high and it is only when I am absolutely flogging for long periods at a time non stop. But even then, it doesn't stay on. I can sit there and rev my engine at redline non-stop and the fan will kick on, bring the temps down, and kick off again while I'm still revving it.

When I built my system I was just going for the biggest radiator. I had always had cooling issues in the past and wanted to eliminate them without question. I am proud to say that now I have 99 problems but cooling ain't one.

Knowing how well it cools now I do know I could probably go down in size a bit. How small I don't know but if the 1 inch per hp rule applies I could go as small as their smallest dual pass 19x24? That sounds ridiculously small to me ... 1 inch per hp using how thick a radiator?

My radiator is in the rear, BTW. I don't think that matters in terms of overall cooling ability though.

Glen1978 · Mar 5, 2014

How big is your radiator your running now? 19x24 is probably the biggest I can fit. Im only a stock 5.3L right now. Might cam and head it with lower profile intake (ls1 / ls6) for clearance.

patooyee · Mar 5, 2014

My current one is 19x31. I recently put a hole in it and am probably going to replace it with a 19x28 to get a little space back.

Glen1978 · Mar 5, 2014

Cool deal. Literally. So getting a new fan from Rock or wher ever doesnt come with a shroud. didnt know that. I actually figured it would be pretty cheap to get a new one and I guess I could make my own shroud. Any year model Taurus fans better than others?

patooyee · Mar 5, 2014

It actually does come with a plastic shroud. But that shroud didn't cover my entire radiator so I made a very thin sub-shroud that the factory plastic shroud bolts to that does cover the entire radiator. I'll try to find a direct link to a product and post back ...

Glen1978 · Mar 5, 2014

Id appreciate it. Maybe with me running a smaller radiator the factory shroud would fit.

patooyee · Mar 5, 2014

Rockauto doesn't allow me to link directly but the application is 1992 FORD TAURUS 3.8L V6 OHV. I think I got Dorman PN 620101. Its gone up in price since I bought. Its now $91.79. They have other brands as low as $84.79.

Glen1978 · Mar 5, 2014

Thanks a ton bro. Im looking at either running this or the Volvo that was mentioned earlier.

patooyee · Mar 5, 2014

I don't know all the Volvo tech but I do recall that it uses the same motor as the Taurus fan only in a smaller housing or something. Might be worth some research. Apparently the Mark 8 (or whatever) fans are the same design but stronger motor and move more air also. But I've been so happy with my cheap and easy Taurus that I'v had no need to look for anything else.

Glen1978 · Mar 5, 2014

Been researching it today. The MKVIII is hard to wire up because its 2 speed but controlled by the ECM. The Volvo is basically the same as the Toreass but the shroud fits better in tighter areas. You can also get the relay setup to control the Volvo right out of the same car vs wiring up something to run the toreass one. Im not all wiring savvy so not sure I can tell my ecm programmer that Im running a toreass fan and have it come one low and then high when I need to. Running 5.3L LS engine.

patooyee · Mar 5, 2014

Glen1978 said:
Been researching it today. The MKVIII is hard to wire up because its 2 speed but controlled by the ECM. The Volvo is basically the same as the Toreass but the shroud fits better in tighter areas. You can also get the relay setup to control the Volvo right out of the same car vs wiring up something to run the toreass one. Im not all wiring savvy so not sure I can tell my ecm programmer that Im running a toreass fan and have it come one low and then high when I need to. Running 5.3L LS engine.

Honestly, once you learn how to let the ECM run them it easier than trying to hack an independent controller into your harness. The ECM work is very simple and if your guy doesn't know how to do it you need to find another. The low / high settings are preset from factory. Your tuner just has to flip a toggle that tells the computer to run them. You can run them as is or modify them slightly, but either way its easy. The wiring is just simply running one relay to run one speed or if you want to run both speeds two relays.

Glen1978 · Mar 5, 2014

Id be great with that!! Im ordering a harness / ecm from someone....havent decided who yet. Is that something I just tell them I have a Taurus fan and I want my ECM to control it? And it has the wiring pigtails that plug up? Ima wiring tard so bare with me.

patooyee · Mar 5, 2014

Sorry, I edited my last post a couple times so check it again.

But the ECM just has a fan 1 and fan 2 signal wires. They aren't high amp wires. They're meant to just control a relay which then powers the fan. So the ECM won't be wired directly to the fan, but to relays instead. If you're using a 411 ECM the wire may not be in your harness, you may have to add them to the plugs. That would be the most complicated part, IMO. From there fan 1 signal wire will control low speed and fan 2 will cotnrol high. Use 5-pin relays and power fan 1 relay from the fifth terminal on fan 2 relay. That makes it so that when fan 2 turns on it turns fan 1 off. The end.

If you are using the 411 ECM with the two big red and blue connectors fan 1 will be pin #42 on the blue connector and fan 2 will be pin #33 on the red connector.