Intercooler Fan Replacement - cheap alternative to OEM

[stickman007]

Haven't contributed to the site in a while, but here it goes.

 

I've been dragging my heels in replacing my failed intercooler fan - mostly due to cost. The intercooler fan use to around $180 from the dealership, now the last I had checked, it was over $400!!

 

It may seem like a none essential component, but I've realized that on a hot day, it is definitely essential! My IAT reads close to 120C when going uphills on a 25C day. I don't know if its the root cause of intake manifold blowing up (its made of plastic and I've seen a few cases now), but I can definitely see it happening if high intake temps with 17psi of boost sustaining for a long period of time on a hot day.

 

Here's the solution:

 

Mounted an Amazon 5" radiator fan on to a 3D printed bracket. Printed with PETG filament, should be okay around 60C-70C temporary. The pics were from a prototype test fit. I haven't taken pics of the one I installed on to my car.

 

Tested yesterday at 25C ambient temp. On a continuous hillclimb going 104km/hr, the IAT never reached past 69C. I will probably make another with a 6" fan if this one holds up. 7" fan appears to be too big.

 

If there's enough interests in these fan brackets, I'll print them with polycarbonate or polypropylene once I have a solid design.

 

[stickman007]

Updates. Lately the outside ambient temp has been well over 25-30C - a good time to test my designs.

 

The 5" fan bracket that was printed with PETG warped, but did not caused any issues. Have been able to maintain IAT around 50-60C. Highest peak was at 80C. I've printed a new one with PA6-GF (should be able to withstand close to 200C).

 

The quad fan bracket was printed with PA6-GF with 8038 12v 16.8w server cooling fans. Took a trip to Jasper (roundtrip 750km) yesterday. The IAT never went above 54C with average around 35-40C. Might be placebo effect, but I definitely felt the engine having more grunt. I did not have to downshift when setting cruise when going up hill on hwy16. The biggest downside to the quad fan setup is - it's freaking loud. When driving, you can barely hear it, but in the parking lot, it sounds like a jet engine taking off.

 

 

 

This one was taken in the morning - ambient was only 15C

 

[ZCMK123]

Hey Stickman, this is pretty sweet looking! Way to get those temps down. 

 

I just took a 3 hour trip up into some mountains and back and also realized that while on the highway I was also keeping a sustained 94C IAT. I have been investigating putting in a liquid to air intercooler to replace the stock one, then run coolant lines up to an additional radiator in the front. Not sure if it would be worth it, but I have most of the parts lying around. Might have to rig up some sort of fan setup like the one you have here. 

 

A few questions:

• Did you wire up the fans to the stock fan cable? That is what it looks like. How did that end up working for you?
• What is the model of scan gauge you show pictured and how do you like it? I have been looking into something to display more info, but have been bouncing between ideas. 

[MikeT]

It should have more power with denser air, so yeah it's important to have a good fan or fans! I used to get IAT of delta 7C over ambient at steady speed of 95 on flat highway. One time when running at full tilt at redline up the Okanagan connector 6%+ hill at 125 km/h in 36 degree weather, it peaked at 85C (and coolant pealed at 112C). Kept my foot in it and all is good years later, even though my youngest daughter owns the car now. 

[stickman007]

@ZCMK123 The OEM connector is readily available. Plug and Play. I know guys that are running the Amazon 7” fan and those draw about 80w. This quad fan setup only does around 67.2w max - should have no problem.

I have a scangauge2. If you want one, @Avenge95 has one for sale I think.

 

@MikeT Today’s ambient was 32-35C. Going at 110kph, I had steady 103C coolant and IAT 50C. It peaked 108C coolant and IAT at 59C (highest recorded yet) going up hill with A/c in max.

 

@MikeT maybe I’ll finally catch up to your mileage? I’m at 178k. Thought about selling it to get an Abarth 500, but the thing with Smart cars is most people won’t appreciate the Brabus C1. I won’t sell to someone that’ll trash it (which is basically everyone in AB).

 

Only time will tell if the server fans will hold up to road abuse and moisture. I might also add a controller so that at idle the fans wont be at full power to help with the noise.