thestig
resident misanthrope
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2008
- Messages
- 311
- Reaction score
- 150
- Points
- 43
- Location
- Melbourne's South East
- Members Ride
- E34 535i M - E70 X5 M - E60 M5 - No Fear
Heat Transfer
Today, it tured out, was the day for my Thermofan installation.
Some of the groundwork was laid on Friday night when Ari 'fabbed' up a fan clutch removal tool for me. The tool master provided excellent service at an outrageously low price. I thank him for his efforts. Cheers Bro.
An honorable mention goes to Reaper for cracking the nut on the fan clutch and bending Ari's 'spanner'. If you are afraid that you're going to break something, I have always found Reaper willing to help, his "back off only after you've hit something" attitude pays off more often than not.
You can see here the original viscous clutch driven unit and Ari's/Reaper's handiwork.
There's plenty of space left for the Thermofan to be installed.
Mounting the fan was suprisingly straight forward, though a little nerve wracking bending those fins out of the way for the nylon pins that hold it in place.
Wiring was accomplished easily enough. Speed control is provided through, what I assume to be, PWM via the stock carbon canister loom. Power is sourced from the back of the starter motor contacts. I pulled the Motronic ECM from the engine bay and plugged it into the computer. After a few dozen clicks I had the ECM software configured to use the fan and the results written to the chip for all four tunes.
The completed installation. I spent about 2 hours going through the obligatory M30 cooling system bleed ritual. I'll revisit it again over the next few days I am sure. At this stage all indications point to success!
Today, it tured out, was the day for my Thermofan installation.
Some of the groundwork was laid on Friday night when Ari 'fabbed' up a fan clutch removal tool for me. The tool master provided excellent service at an outrageously low price. I thank him for his efforts. Cheers Bro.
An honorable mention goes to Reaper for cracking the nut on the fan clutch and bending Ari's 'spanner'. If you are afraid that you're going to break something, I have always found Reaper willing to help, his "back off only after you've hit something" attitude pays off more often than not.
You can see here the original viscous clutch driven unit and Ari's/Reaper's handiwork.
There's plenty of space left for the Thermofan to be installed.
Mounting the fan was suprisingly straight forward, though a little nerve wracking bending those fins out of the way for the nylon pins that hold it in place.
Wiring was accomplished easily enough. Speed control is provided through, what I assume to be, PWM via the stock carbon canister loom. Power is sourced from the back of the starter motor contacts. I pulled the Motronic ECM from the engine bay and plugged it into the computer. After a few dozen clicks I had the ECM software configured to use the fan and the results written to the chip for all four tunes.
The completed installation. I spent about 2 hours going through the obligatory M30 cooling system bleed ritual. I'll revisit it again over the next few days I am sure. At this stage all indications point to success!
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