Sunday, January 10, 2010 - 12:14 pm, by: James Wilson(Ser493)
Hi Dale,
I'm not sure about any one else on here but I have only heard negative things about running thermos in soarers. I am sure that loads of people do but lots of guys I know have issues. The most common one is overheating at high speed?? Go figure. A mate of mine has messed around for ages trying to get the system right and it looks like he will be going back to the factory fan and shroud - I don't think any thing will simulate properly the factory fitted fan plus there are a lot of really high powered 1jz's out there that still retain the factory fan. Any way it will be interesting to see if any one on this forum has switched to thermo's and loved it. Like I said I am sure there are people who have converted and never looked back.
Monday, January 11, 2010 - 06:18 am, by: Matthew Sharpe(Madmatt)
I've been running a 16" thermo fan for 3 weeks now with no problems. Of course a N/A engine doesn't produce the same under bonnet temps as a turbo, and the hottest day we have had here has been around 30.
I removed the fan (which had broken) and the hydro couple, and removed the four studs, then replaced the studs with 30mm high tensile bolts to hold the pulley onto the water pump. The studs are too long otherwise.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 09:17 am, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
In my OPINION, the main reason that most on SC do not like the thermo fans on Soarers is due to the fact the factory setup is quite well designed and very efficient with enough head room to cope with common engine modifications. This opinion was reinforced by my local,reliable NATRAD man when I consulted him on cooling needs for the track car. (He said the [well maintained] factory system will cope with track work- only consideration was any possible weight savings, but this went against my cost savings requirements)
On a lot of cars from the same era there is plenty of scope to improve the cooling system. For example, on my older Rx-7 needed a thermo setup as the factory fan could not cope with the addition of a turbo and extra heat.
It is possible to come up with a good thermo fan setup for your soarer. Plenty of newer cars have them as OEM fitment. If you consider going down this route I would look at some decent late model systems for inspiration on ducting, sizing etc. Slapping on a pair of Davies-Craig 10s no longer cuts it and will not be an improvement.
Thursday, January 14, 2010 - 06:38 am, by: Matthew Sharpe(Madmatt)
Yeah, I would have kept mine factory but I couldn't find a set of blades to replace the broken ones anywhere on short notice ($340 ex Japan), and I had to have the car for the holidays, so it was a last resort move.