[matt91112011]

Hi guys,

I want to install a thermo fan, and my Vitara and get rid of that crappy Viscous fan holding back the ponies in my motor.

I've already got a 600W amp, cd player, 2 45W HID spotties and 2 55W HID's as replacements in my normal headlights.

So my issue is, would my alternator work with all that stuff running at once?

Cheers

[stocker]

mine carked it with 4 x 100w Halogens on, with headlights/parkers/taillights...

stupid altenators. just upgrade to a Falcoon one

[matt91112011]

I'd love to but I don't know how haha...

[stocker]

mate its easy as pie, search Falcon Alternator Upgrade

for a vit you'll need,

Sierra Altenator Bracket ( metal one )
1 x Mitsubishi Branded 100A Altenator out of an EL Falcon
A Piece of Cable Capable of carring 100A wired between the altenator &Battery (with a 100A Fuse inbetween)
Slightly longer belt


Hardest bit is getting your hands down there to install the new altenator because of its physical Size and Rewiring the plug cause its in a C$%t of a spot

[stocker]

http://www.auszookers.com/index.php?nam ... or+upgrade

[matt91112011]

mmm.....pie....

Do you think i'll have to upgrade it, just yet? I wanted to put the fan on tomorrow.

Cheers for the info

[FullyZooked]

Thermos are a bitch for pulling high amps.

On a small engine the results would be Questionable. Small displacement engines will have the added power from removing the fan robbed by the alternator under higher loads.

But, you can always run a smaller thermo And test it to be sure it is sufficient for the low speed driving that goes with 4wding.

Unless there is limited room for a viscous I would stick with what you got. Upgrading to the el alt is the easiest mod you will do. Then you can
subwoofer all day uleh!

[royce]

Alternator size will mean for bugger all, in a properly setup system the thermo should only run when you arent moving and the alternator is doing nothing anyway so it comes from the battery and gets put back later

but I have at least that much stereo, AC with a thermo fan, 60w high beam and 100w spotlights and can run down the highway with it all cranked and hold battery voltage fine, add another pair of 100w lights in and that too much and the battery drains

however something to think about, the fan does a good job, it freewheels when its not needed to cool, its unlikely to ever fail and allow the motor to overheat and where do you think the extra power comes from to turn the alternator to replace the electricity used to spin the thermo fan?

[matt91112011]

I've always been told that thermos give you more power because they free the motor from turning the viscous, I mean I know that they slip until needed, but I assumed they drew some power from the motor, I was told by someone years ago it can be up to 10%, made sense to me? Lol

I didn't realize the alternator put more strain on the motor when it was in use.

Cheers

[FullyZooked]

The higher amperage the alternator has to put out the more drag/strain it will put on your engine. This is why carbies have "idle up" for when large current drawing accessories are used like the blower fan to counteract the extra load placed on the engine by the alternator.

What you have been told is correct. But as I said before we are not dealing with 6 or 8 cylinder cars that generate alot more torque down low. On these types of engines the viscous to thermo swap can be beneficial as the added load on the alternator would hardly be noticed.

In the 4wd scenario, you will be doing slow trails not exceeding say 40km hour, during this time the thermo's will be on the whole time keeping the air flowing through your radiator. I would bet that this extra drag would be equal if not more so than the original viscous fan.

Hope my jargon is helping you see the other side to the story.

[matt91112011]

So just to poke a hole in your theory kind of...lol.

I was doing it more for drivability on the street. I'm happy with power in 4wd. .

So would my car maybe benefit from running a thermo in terms of street use?

Cheers

[royce]

if you can be sure there is enough airflow through the radiator naturally

look at the radiators on a lot of FWD cars that rely on a thermo, they are very large and thin and there isnt a lot of room for air to pass around them, Vitaras dont really share this design

youd be better putting the few hundred a decent large fan and temp witch would cost into an exhaust

Note I am a big fan of reducing drag on an engine and even had an electric waterpump on a car once but there is a time and place for everything and I dont think the advantages outweigh the problems

[matt91112011]

You make a good point.

I'll buy a set of extractors then haha.

Cheers

[FullyZooked]

Now were talking!

[whincup]

royce wrote:

electric waterpump on a car once

i've always thought i'd like to get one of these and somehow set up some sort of timer so that it and the thermo fan would run for like 2 minutes after the car was turned off. not really necessary, but thats just me and my useless ideas

[shandy92]

whincup wrote:

royce wrote:

electric waterpump on a car once

i've always thought i'd like to get one of these and somehow set up some sort of timer so that it and the thermo fan would run for like 2 minutes after the car was turned off. not really necessary, but thats just me and my useless ideas

i read a mag on some guys doing this on some of the older v8's because the mech water pumps couldnt keep up. would love to do this on mine but not sure of the gains over cost.

[MacDaddy]

whincup wrote:

royce wrote:

electric waterpump on a car once

i've always thought i'd like to get one of these and somehow set up some sort of timer so that it and the thermo fan would run for like 2 minutes after the car was turned off. not really necessary, but thats just me and my useless ideas

Unless you had a fairly decent battery, it could easily flatten it in those 2mins...

[banga]

i run a thermo on my vit and it didn't change the power at all but i didnt pay for the fan and switch so it dont bother me.

[royce]

whincup wrote:

royce wrote:

electric waterpump on a car once

i've always thought i'd like to get one of these and somehow set up some sort of timer so that it and the thermo fan would run for like 2 minutes after the car was turned off. not really necessary, but thats just me and my useless ideas

The Davies Craig ones use a controller that alters the pump speed based on temp, on a small engine it barely runs but when you turn the engine off it will continue to pump on and off till its cooled the sitting engine back down then just turns off