Well I thought it was a joke, but I haven’t been picking up sarcasm very well lately. Lol
Yep, that’s going to be the first purchase once the engine gets pulled out.
That’s what I wasn’t 100% sure on. Any thoughts on e-fans being a good or bad idea?
CK5
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'86 Jimmy 4in Lift, 40’s, tons, 8.1 Swap- 700r4 said PNNNNN
- Thread starter GWeakland620
- Start date
This is not a dedicated trail rig, but does trailer to the destination usually. I am currently in the planning phase of doing a 52/56" spring swap, and getting back to being more road worthy.
My plan is to stick with an HD fan clutch, big fan and keeping the 6.2 diesel radiator. It's what Larry's been using for years and it has not had a failure on either of his trucks. Our buddy Ian used the same setup on his CUCV with an 8.1 this year on the desert trip with vintage air and did not have a bit of issue in the death valley heat.
The reason why we've gone that way is it is stone simple and reliable. Nothing against e-fans but you add complexity by doing so. Relays, added strain on the electrical system and different options to control by the PCM or external t-stat or manual switches. Still more complex than a mechanical fan setup. I'm not sure you plan on going as far off pavement as we've done, but even on day runs with the heat you have locally would suck to have an electrical issue crop up and not allow the engine to stay cool.
It's not saying you can't use the electric stuff, but it's one less thing we have to worry about off road and one less heavy electrical load on the alternator when we have a lot going on with our higher electrical demand with 12v refrigerators, compressors and other power sucking devices. A mechanical fan clutch can fail, but it's pretty common part to replace from just about any parts store. Depending on what e-fan you decide on using it may be a junkyard find vs the corner part store. Replacement availability may not be the same as the mechanical clutch.
Just to put it in perspective all the 8.1's on the Workhorse P and W chassis' were cooled with mechanical clutches and fans. Some of the RV bodies had less than the required amount of opening Workhorse demanded for grill size and they still ran cool. Even summertime in Pheonix. One thing we actually got a complaint about with them was the noise during operation. They are loud. Some wanted it quiet and when I spoke with customers I flipped the idea on them. You WANT to hear that noise. When stuck in traffic in high temps or climbing grades you need to hear it. If you don't hear the noise you best be looking at the temp gauge because chances are it's on the rise. I prefer the rock solid simplicity and effectiveness of the mechanical system.
Awesome thanks for the info Rob. I was hoping to maybe ditch my efans and run mechanical just for the advantages you mentioned like less electrical and simplicity.
No body lift on mine, just the suspension lift. If you wanna install your 1" body lift, I'm sure that would be fine, shouldn't affect anything on the 8.1 install at all. I also have just a stock 8.1 mechanical fan clutch with a 9 blade mechanical fan using a 6.2 diesel radiator. I also have a 180* thermostat in it...this thing rarely ever gets close to 190*, even in the dead of summer towing.
The one thing I did just think about is if you put the 1" body lift on and stay with a mechanical fan, I'm not sure if your fan would then get into the fan shroud since the radiator/fan shroud are attached to the core support which would require 1" lift to line up with the rest of the body too...something to think about. Of course, if you put the 1" body lift on and go e-fans, then it wouldn't matter. E-fans are kinda nice on a rock crawler, but I prefer mechanical fan on something like my crew cab that tows
The one thing I did just think about is if you put the 1" body lift on and stay with a mechanical fan, I'm not sure if your fan would then get into the fan shroud since the radiator/fan shroud are attached to the core support which would require 1" lift to line up with the rest of the body too...something to think about. Of course, if you put the 1" body lift on and go e-fans, then it wouldn't matter. E-fans are kinda nice on a rock crawler, but I prefer mechanical fan on something like my crew cab that tows
I may compromise and just do the poly mounts, and leave the pucks out. I was thinking the 1" lift would help clear up room for any wiring and fuel I would need to run, but now that I think about it, none of my wiring is going to be running back under the truck really. I also won't have a distributor to mess with, so that's not anything to worry about either.
Other than your 1 wire running back to your fuel pump, and your couple plugs for O2's, that's pretty much it going under the truck. The only real thing back there that you may have to mess with is the crank sensor (FYI, I would recommend installing a new one before bolting it in the truck). But you do have just enough room to get that out of there with it in the truck. I had to do it multiple times on that old 8.1 that was in my truck. It was kinda annoying as I had to lay on top of the motor to get the little bolt out, and then reach my hand back there and pull that thing up and out. Sucked, but can be done. Shoot, I even changed the oil pressure sending unit on the back of there to one that would work with my factory square body oil pressure gauge with the motor in the truck (again, that kinda sucked, but I was able to do it). I would recommend changing that sending unit out with it out of the truck too (that is if you plan to use your stock square body gauges like I did)
Yep I knew about the crank sensor, and I'll have to buy one anyways as it's not there.
I also knew I was going to have to do something with the oil sender as I plan to use all my factory gauges. Do you have a part number for that oil sender sensor?
Oil Pressure gauge part number is "D1819A - Oil Sending Unit (AC Delco)". And you also need to get "PT2326 - Oil Sending Unit Connector (AC Delco)" which is the plug for that sensor, it only has 1 wire coming out of the plug. Then all I did was splice the one signal wire from the original oil pressure plug in my original harness to that new connector, and that was it.
For my temp gauge I bought this: "TS6469 - Temp Sending unit (Napa part number)" and pulled the plug out of the port on the driver head (some people have had problems getting the plug out and had to drill it out, mine just unscrewed without issues luckily) and attached the factory temp sensor plug to it and that's it!
Neither of us have hydro assist on the steering. If you have the ps and ac bracket is that uses the normal Saginaw pump all you'll have to do is swap the aero belt pulley over yo your pump and bolt it into the bracket. So your existing setup won't have to change. You just need the right pulley.
Did your engine come with anything for the accessory drive?
Awesome! That's the route i'll be going for sure. That's almost too easy.
Sounds like I need a pulley then.
And no, my engine was just a long block. But I am trying to get our guys at work to strip and engine for me to make up for missing stuff.
Just got off the phone with a local guy that used to do LS swap stuff. He said he'd knock out a 8.1 stand alone harness for me. Said we'll get together on the price later when he needs some parts for his next build. So that's cool!
Spare wiring harness and other engine parts get in tomorrow.
Spare wiring harness and other engine parts get in tomorrow.
Missing the intake an assorted goodies too? Ouch.
I have intake, throttle body, exhaust manifolds, fly wheel, ac compressor, and the wrong ac bracket lol.
I know your pain. My 5.3 was a long block only and had to source everything else. That's what got expensive.
Even if all you can snag is the truck brackets that would get you going minus a/c. I'd hold out for the right ones if you can but don't pass on the truck ones if they come up.
Well that’s what I was saying a page or so back. I got my guys at work stripping an 8.1 that just came in. I won’t get 100% all of it, but at least 80%.
That's good since these things are a lot more scarce than the LS stuff. That should get you going for sure.
Parts came in! I'm excited to get these home and laid out so I can see what all I got.
And something that excites me waaaaayyyyy too much.
