I have searched around and only found efans for the Hemi's. Anybody know of one for the 5.9 magnum? I guess I could find a universal that would work but I would like a nice shroud that covers the entire radiator and fits like it belongs if I can find one?

 

Just pull one off a junkyard Lincoln or Ford Taurus I believe and get a fan controller to make it work

 

Yep - google Taurus fan swap and you'll find more than you ever wanted to know on the subject. I think most people with our trucks rig the new fan into the stock shroud.

It's something I'll do when I can have the truck out of commission for a while.

 

That's the ticket. I'm gonna do the Taurus fan but I think I'll buy one new. I just don't trust the junk yard electronics. I see them on ebay new for around $75.00

Anybody know of a good temp sensor/relay to work with the taurus fan? I know the taurus fan pulls some pretty serious amperage as compared to the average fan. I would like to go with the screw in type temp probe versus the probe that sticks in the radiator fins.

 

I know the controller that Autozone sells is the same one that Flex-a-Lite ships with their fans. I have the Flex-a-Lite kit in my truck, yeah a little more money at $279 BUT it's all inclusive and at the time I installed it my truck was 1 year old and I wasn't going to trust cooling the engine in a $35k truck to a fan out of a junkyard. Just my personal feeling on it.

A word about the Taurus & Mark VIII fans, make sure you have the factory HD alternator in your truck, these fans draw some serious Amps, as much as 70A at startup for their 2500 cfm output (on low). The Flex-a-Lite 180 Extreme by comparison draws only 18A and puts out 3300 cfm of air.

 

I've been down this road on another forum I'm on and the startup spike is overblown. It lasts a few milliseconds, kind of like HIDs starting up.

This site covers it in detail. It's not like the Ford Taurus came with some special, mega charging system to handle its cooling needs. It was a cheap econo sedan they made in bulk. They came with the same 130 amp alternator almost every Ford product used.

Installation is the key. Used brand-name relays, a good fan controller, and properly crimped connections. Yes, crimped -- OEM connectors are made this way and properly done it's more reliable than solder in automotive applications.

 

I'm not advocating NOT to use a Taurus or Mark VIII fan, just simply stating why I chose what I chose to protect my expensive engine. As far as startup amp draw goes, yes it only lasts a couple of milliseconds and I can attest to this because I've worked on a friends Ram with a Taurus fan (long time member here who I haven't seen around in a while) and he came to me because his fan kept blowing 30A fuses and the 50A I put in blew upon the fan kicking on. Now I measured his nominal amp draw and while not alarmingly high it fluctuated between 26-32 amps, not terribly high, but higher than the Flex-a-Lite that flowed a good bit more CFM. This difference normally wouldn't be an issue BUT we are talking about truck owners here and truck owners like to run high wattage off-road lights and other high current mods that the average Taurus owner doesn't.

I know quite a few guys, some personally, who run Taurus/Mark VIII fans and get adequate cooling and never have a problem. Just pointing out some differences in paying $300 on a "kit" and going the pick 'n pull route to save money.

As far as wire connecting goes, I do both regularly and wouldn't hesitate to grab my Taylor crimp tool and crimping, but I also will solder and shrink wrap connections especially if it's in a viewable area where I plan to make it look nice with wire loom/flex tubing. I'm also more comfortable soldering and heat shrinking for anything exposed to water. I recently completely stripped down a boat for a friend to include re-building the transom and running all new wiring and electric accessories and I soldered/shrink wrapped EVERY connection. I very rarely have an issue with either and I think you can get in trouble either way if you don't do it properly...

 

30 amps continuous is serious current, not like an amp that pulls it in short bursts. I still don't know how these fans work in beater Fords that are approaching 20 years old but they're a nightmare to put into other vehicles.

This was my old GMC truck 10 years ago:


Aluminum sheet cut to hold two generic fans (13s or 14s, I can't remember) with an AutoZone controller. It really pepped up the ol TBI 5.7 and it ran cool no matter what I was doing.

My truck is paid for in 2 more payments so then mods will be easier to afford. After a rear diff service, the efan will get done this summer!

 

man, I have an '02 w/5.9, and I made my own rig using two 16" 2750 cfm fans, and it is more than adequate.. one pushes from the outside of the rad, the other pull through the rad.. I ran a flex-a-lite controller over to them through 10ga wire, and 12ga to the fans- all heat shrunk and soldered connections.. I feed straight from the battery, so the fans operate when the engine is off too.. relay protected, and fused.. total investment: $125.. it is maybe the single best cost : performance mod I've done to the rig, and it is in the top five of overall mods no matter cost..

i used two eBay fans, @$20/ea.., I look at them as consumable, as I don't expect they will last more than a couple years.. So, I'll swap them for more when the time comes and one craps out.. together, and because you lose some flow setting one up as a pusher, I still have over 5kCFM on paper, but more likely 4400~4500cfm in reality.. either way, it's done it's job in a huge way.

 

Did you fab up a shroud? or just mount the fans to the radiator?
I did the same thing on an old Wagoneer I had and fab'd up a shroud that worked pretty well. My concern is that I use this truck to pull my travel trailer about once a month and do not want one of the ebay fans to fail me out on the road pulling a trailer.