Electric radiator fan conversion
 

Hi guys,

While my S8 was in bits again I snapped a couple of pics of the electric fan conversion:

http://www.corradov8.com/pics/s8/radfan1.jpg

This is a Spal 16" slimline fan (VA18-AP10/C41A) bought from JJC Race & Rally for £70. To mount it I removed the original fan cowling from the front panel and traced the outline on to some 3mm Nylon 6 sheet. Cut that to shape, and then centered up the fan and cut out a hole for that in the sheet, leaving me with a large flat ring of plastic. Aluminium sheet would work fine too or course but plastic is easier to work with and Nylon 6 is within its working temperature range in this environment (not many other sheet plastics would be).

The plastic ring is screwed to the fan using some small self tapping screws and then slots in to the original mounting lugs on the front panel:

http://www.corradov8.com/pics/s8/radfan2.jpg

I removed the original fan hub and replaced it with the idler pulley from the C5 RS6. Its a straight swap for the 40V visco fan hub.

http://www.corradov8.com/pics/s8/radfanidler.jpg

The new fan is wired in to speed #1 of the stock electric fan so it comes on with the AC and with the rad fan switch. The stock fan now only comes on for speeds 2 & 3. All the wiring is bolted up to the resistor pack in front of the left front wheel well but I forgot to get a pic of that. I'll grab one next time the undertray is off.

Ambient temp yesterday was 25* and the new fan worked fine to keep temperatures in check, just coming on for a few seconds every now and then while it was idling in the sunshine so very happy with that :cool:

Nice job and neatly done. +++

A 2-post lift is on my xmas list..... along with a garage/workshop to put it in!

very neat and tidy
Dave

OCD at it best, lol!That is a beautuflly clean engine bay, a credit to you, Sir! Well done!

I had plenty of time to clean it while the engine was on the floor :D

Not 'sir' btw ;)

Ah! Apologies if I have gotten the wrong gender, lol. Could you post details of the wiring you spliced in please?

No worries ;)

I'll grab a pic of the wiring the next time I have the undertray off :)

Excellent work. Specifically liked the OEM pulley!

I remember this picture quite well when I was changing my radiator when it leaked as well as aircon condenser that developed another leak.

What are the benefits of removing viscose clutch driven fan and replacing it with electric one? Need some coaching here.

Nice work. As reliable as the viscous fans are they are quite paracitic. And a bit noisy too!

Yeah parasitic losses, and reduce & simplify. Access to the front of the engine is much easier without the fan in the way and its one less expensive thing to worry about. I take them off all my Audis tbh. It makes more performance difference to the 1.9s than it does to a V8 but still worth doing while it was all in bits.

Its wired up so the AC controller brings it on so it does run most of the time when the car is stationary as otherwise without the viscous fan the AC wouldn't get cold. It does go off in Econ though.