briandunnington.com - fj40 rebuild: taurus fan installation

Thursday, December 01, 2005

taurus fan installation

After reading a ton of information on how to best cool a V8 in an FJ40, I felt more confused than when I started. Some people said to ditch the stock radiator and get an aluminium one. Some said the aftermarket radiators were no good, the stock radiator would be fine with a good mechanical fan and proper shroud. Still others said the stock radiator was good, but it needed to be recored - some said more rows, some said fewer rows. Due to my longer drivetrain, I figued I would have some space issues up front near the radiator. As such, I decided that an electric fan would be the way to go. Most of the reviews of aftermarket electrical fans were not too good, but several people had great things to say about the fans out of the 3.8L V6 Ford Taurus (Mercury Sable, etc). Since these were cheap and easy to come by, I figured it was worth a shot.
The Taurus fan is almost a perfect fit for the stock FJ40 radiator. One side even has a convenient mounting flange that I just bolted to the radiator frame. The other side of the fan was a little more tricky, but not too bad. I had a couple of little brackets laying around that looked like they would work perfectly (they came off of the Landcruiser somewhere, and they were in the 'I dont need these anymore' pile, but I cant remember where they were originally used). By standing these up vertically, they provided a secure mounting point for the fan.
The brackets sit inside (underneath) the fan when installed, so getting a wrench on them would be impossible. To solve this problem, the nuts on the inside are tacked to the bracket.
By mounting the fan this way, it is secured directly to the radiator, and not to the radiator mounting frame. Since I knew space would be tight up front, I figured I would be pulling the radiator out whenever I needed to access the front of the engine. I wanted to make sure i could pull just the fan or just the fan and radiator with ease. Also, the stock radiator mounting frame has not been modified at all in case I ever decide to go with a different setup.
It is amazing how closely the Taurus fan fits the Landcruiser radiator. Almost looks like it was made for it.
Because of my longer-than-stock drivetrain, my engine is sitting about an inch forward of the optimal location. As such, the nose of the water pump was interfering with the Taurus fan. I had a couple of options: trim the fan shroud to reduce the depth; run a short-style water pump; move the radiator back away from the water pump (toward the front of the vehicle). I didnt want to trim the fan because it would make replacing it in the future a pain if this one ever craps out on me. I didnt want to run the short-style water pump because the accessory brackets are harder to come by. So the only option left was to move the radiator.
I determined that the radiator needed to go 'back' an inch and up about 3/4 or an inch. I fabbed up some spacers that allow the radiator to bolt into its new position and then attach to the stock radiator supports using the original holes. By using some 1" by 1/2" channel, the radiator mounting frame bolt nuts are tucked up inside. To gain the additional height, I used some 3/4" square tube cut to the correct height as a spacer.
With these new spacers in place, the radiator sits perfectly in its new position and everything is completely bolt-on so it is easy to undo in the future if the need ever arises. I could also raise the radiator or move it fore-and-aft just by changing out the spacers and drilling a new hole.
With the Taurus fan mounted to the radiator and the radiator spaced up into its new position, things look much better. I have plenty of space between the water pump now and hopefully an efficient and effective cooling system.