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Dual Circuit Windstar Fan - Final Shroud Update 05/11/11

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95-98 Windstar fans - Grab the factory pigtails too......
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I have a major update in the chute - Coming very soon.


I would have updated today, but a design flaw presented itself this morning. I was working from 10AM yesterday morning until 4:30AM this morning - 18.5 hours straight - Moving and succeeding at a high rate of speed towards getting something "trick" accomplished - My wife said something about dropping the Dew and stepping away from the exacto knife. :D

I drug out-o-bed this morning at 8:45 (4 hours shut eye) and ran some errands. Came home and inspected my design - It was sound and solid - I was wearing a grin. BUT, of a bad choice - The adhesive/glue in a particular area wasnt up to my specs at all. There went the grin. :doah:

I am in the middle of correcting this issue. Currently everything concerning the piece is cleaned up and reverted to ground zero, with fresh material awaiting my arrival home tomorrow evening.

So another day or two and I'll drop a bling bomb on you guys. This one tops any previous IMO. I cant wait to show it - But that isnt gonna stop me from teasing the arrival. :ignore:




Troy B
Ft Hood, TX
 
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I'll have to swing by this weekend and check it out.

Oh, we should take a look at my stud issue this weekend, too
 
What year Windstar do those fan come out of?

After seeing your install I realized I "NEED" to do that ti mine.

As said above on the years but I believe an easier way to tell is that the valve cover says 3.8L on the engine. They are a dime a dozen in Socal junk yards.
 
Lunatic said:
I have a major update in the chute - Coming very soon.

This update is certain to blow you away - And will be posted no later than THIS Friday evening.

A minimum of 50 pics.... From where we left off to finished installation.



Now..............Here's one lone pic to grab your attention..... :D

PanelAssembly0250.jpg







Troy B
Ft Hood, TX
 
OKAY..........So......... The update Ive been saying is coming - IS HERE.


Moving forward, to the electrical connections - And what I created to make it all come together. ALL of the following pics are of fabricated items, with obvious exceptions such as fuse blocks, fuses, relays, etc.


This is where I decided to centralize everything - The passenger forward inner fender.
PanelLocation50.jpg



....And the template I made for the location.....
PanelTemplate50.jpg



The panel begins.....
Panel0150.jpg


Panel0250.jpg


Panel0350.jpg


Panel0450.jpg


Panel0550.jpg


Panel0650.jpg


Panel0750.jpg



And now the relay bank cover begins to take form. 1/8 plexiglass which I bent on two sides and then hinged....
RelayCover0150.jpg


RelayCover0250.jpg


RelayCover0350.jpg


RelayCover0450.jpg


RelayCover0550.jpg


RelayCover0250-1.jpg


RelayCover0350-1.jpg


RelayCover0450-1.jpg


RelayCover0550-1.jpg


RelayCover0750.jpg


RelayCover0850.jpg
 
This is the standoff which I made from a solid 1/4" aluminum rod....
RelayCoverStandoff0150.jpg


RelayCoverStandoff0250.jpg



And now, the panel begins to wrap up....
PanelAssembly0150.jpg


PanelAssembly0250.jpg


PanelAssembly0350.jpg


PanelAssembly0450.jpg


PanelAssembly0550.jpg


PanelAssembly0650.jpg


PanelAssembly0750.jpg


PanelAssembly0850.jpg


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PanelAssembly1150.jpg



The panel installed, ready to wire.
PanelAssembly1250.jpg


PanelAssembly1350.jpg


PanelAssembly1450.jpg



And the switches and LEDs are located in these pics.....
SwitchLocation0150.jpg


SwitchLocation0250.jpg






Thats all for now. I'll post more pics once I shoot em.


Right now Im wrestling with the actual wiring connections. Long story short - I cant use the ground circuits for switching because the fan motors complete the circuit when not energized which backfeeds to the LEDs and all sorts of greatness. :doah:

I'll have it running by the end of the weekend easily.


More to come. Questions and comments welcome.


BGKYK5 - If you're referring to the main power block, the answer is NO, at this time. The block is tucked under the front grill and relatively safe. Making a cover however wouldnt take much time nor be too hard to design if I found it necessary to have one. An idea just popped in my head as I wrote that (FYI). More plexiglass comes to mind.




Troy B
Ft Hood, TX
 
That looks bad ass. Really nice job. So that is your fuse block, ground and power & ground block terminals, and relays? is that correct? Remember I told ya I know nothing about electrical, so I assume those are what they are. Relays & fuse block are obvious to me. The terminal blocks are what I'm assuming they are.
 
BGKYK5 - If you're referring to the main power block, the answer is NO, at this time. The block is tucked under the front grill and relatively safe. Making a cover however wouldnt take much time nor be too hard to design if I found it necessary to have one. An idea just popped in my head as I wrote that (FYI). More plexiglass comes to mind.

Yup, I am just thinking of dropped wrenches and what might happen if the rad support or fender takes a good hit in an accident or roll.

Otherwise looking good! :waytogo:
 
The fans are now operational, completely, and as I wanted them to be. Switched relays with indicator LEDs for when the relays kick over, turning the fans on. I will take pics tomorrow of the wiring at the panel and whatever else crosses my mind at the time which may be of interest.


On a side note, something unexpected happened today.

Another short story - I originally only ordered 7 relays, but then realized I had already a use for 6, leaving no spares for future accessories. When I ordered the second set of 5 relays, they made it all the way to Dallas and started bouncing around - 3 hours north of my address. They were then sent back to Parts Express ! :confused:

I was contacted by Parts Express and through the Fed Ex whatever happened senario, it was decided to immediately send a second shipment, expedited - Before the first even returned to them. Cool - At least I wasnt actually needing them or anything. They arrived last Monday.

The first shipment, somehow - Showed up on my doorstep Tuesday. :confused: Back on the phone. It was decided that PE would email a return label and I would send the initial order back - Dam - Woulda been nice to keep em for free. I got that email today. You can figure out the rest yourself.

****EMAIL****

Thank you for notifying Parts Express that you had received a duplicate package. However, after I spoke with you on the phone today, I evaluated the value of the package & decided that it would not be costly to return the extra items.

Therefore you do not need to return them. Please feel free to use them or discard them.

****END EMAIL****

.....Sweet.....5 free relays extra.


Moving on...........

ryoken - Thanks for the kind words, and dropping in and actually replying.

rdn2blazer - Yes, you are correct. Red is the positive power distributing block, black is the grounding block - The rest you already "get". The pics I take tomorrow will make everything very clear. And BTW, what ever happened to your soft top build ?

BGKYK5 - Dropped wrenches arent really much of a concern. The positive block is pretty well protected. The front clip is directly above it and the relay cover is in front of it.

A side impact of substantial force just may be a concern however, as also true of a frontal impact. This makes me think of a disconnect mounted in the cab for the battery cable which is jumping across the truck behind the bumper, in front of the grill.

The disconnect will kill the cable, from the battery connection - Rendering the entire front hazard and driver fender circuits dead. This is something I will definitely look into and then install.

Thanks for the input and persistant questions - It made me think and then realize the kill switch was needed - and missing.

1bgsub - :waytogo:

jms - I didnt choose my username by chance - OCD, ADD, CRS.....I suffer none but accept those and many more.... :haha:

My truck however, doesnt suffer. And it wont ever become a driveway trophy. Now that the fan install is done (albeit, not finished) - Im gonna DD it for a month or two "just because". All the finish work can be done "on the fly" (Fiberglass shroud, brackets coating, electric water pump, noisey direct drive etc.)


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Pics sometime tomorrow.

Keep the comments coming, questions welcome.




Troy B
Ft Hood, TX
 
.....Sweet.....5 free relays extra.



rdn2blazer - And BTW, what ever happened to your soft top build ?

Ft Hood, TX



Stoked for you getting free stuff, thats always awesome. Good for you. :waytogo:


You just had to bring that up didn't ya :crazy:. Working 3rd shift 7 days a week right now. ZERO time to work on the truck at all. When I go back to days in late May or early June I need to get back on the soft top build, your not the first, second, or third person to ask about it. :doah:
 
You just had to bring that up didn't ya :crazy:.

Working 3rd shift 7 days a week right now. ZERO time to work on the truck at all. When I go back to days in late May or early June I need to get back on the soft top build, your not the first, second, or third person to ask about it. :doah:


I've asked at least once before in your thread - But, Im patient. You said you'd get to it. It just crossed my mind again though, so I asked. :D

I can relate to the shift work. Ive worked suicide swing shift (Reverse 3-2-1), swing shift (1-2-3), 2nd, 3rd (Guess I should say..."ALL of the above, C"). The suicide was the worst. But 2nd and 3rd suck too. The shifts leave a person with little to no ambition. I myself became a sleeper. Work-sleep-work-sleep.

Those were my younger days though. These days Im all about working in the daylight, and only 10 minutes away from the house - I dont see it getting any better than that as far as scheduling goes.

Get to it when you get to it bro - I have a feeling that it will be there.


Time to go Radio Shackin - I blew a LED during the wiring process, while I was figuring out that switching the grounds wont work. Being Im no electrical wizard myself, I used resistors to drop from 12vdc to 3vdc (IIRC). Works great when you jump the LED off the battery lugs - Just dont start the truck. Thats when the true charging current jumps to 13.7-8vdc. That LED didnt make it. :haha:

I also somehow blew the indicator LED on the primary fan switch... I have no clue on that one - Just know it isnt working as it was before. :whistle:




Troy B
Ft Hood, TX
 
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Here's the pics I mentioned earlier......

The first 2 are obvious.....

AdvanceAutoLEDs50.jpg


AutozoneLightedSwitch50.jpg



With the ignition ON.....

IgnitionON50.jpg



With the fans ON.....

FansON50.jpg



The fan trunk lines.....

It runs down the drive's side fan mount, secured with two clamps/straps, under the fuel vapor canister where it runs with another loom - The battery jump cable - And then to the panel. It turns up at the bottom front corner of the panel and follows the fender roll.

Wiring0150.jpg



The thermal switch line.....

Coming from the driver's header area, in the large loom, then leaving with a smaller loom. It runs under the fuel vapor canister where it joins the fan trunk lines' loom.

Wiring0350.jpg


Wiring0450.jpg



Panel shot.....

In this pic you can see the fan trunk line (with thermal switch line) and battery jump cable coming up from "below". On the left of the pic, you can see the switch lines and LED lines coming into the panel area as well. This loom runs the fender roll to the firewall, next to an existing loom, and then meets a hole in the firewall.

Wiring0650.jpg



Simple pic of where the grounding block is actually grounded - On the other side of the wash reservoir. It runs from the bottom lug, under the reservoir, using the seam of the fender roll, then turns up on the other side of the reservoir.

Wiring0750.jpg



This is where I chose to go through the firewall..... On the inside, there's about 1/2" of space next to the fuse panel.

Wiring0850.jpg




There is one thing I am going to change. The next time the relay cover comes off (I take it off when wiring - To protect it :D), Im going to make the side openings for the passing wires...... Deeper.... To better clear the wires going through the cover.


If there's an pictures anyone would like to see in particular, just let me know and I'll go shoot some.


I had an interesting moment today while driving. I thought for sure something had gone wrong.


POP QUIZ !

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Why would the indicator LEDs for the fans barely light up....hardly a glow at all....at the same time....but different intensities....while I was driving down the road ?

Primary fan switch was ON, secondary OFF, and neither fan was actuated.
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If you want more info, just ask. I do already have the answer - I had it thought out before I reached my destination. But Im curious of what the participating brotherhood can throw out for ideas. I will give the answer in a few posts, or confirm the answer if somebody replies correctly - which ever comes first.



Questions and comments always welcome of course !



Troy B
Ft Hood, TX





Still thinking - GO FIGURE....

I dont see where this would back feed the ground. Im wondering now if I had something connected wrong - Such as LED grounds to 86.... :dunno: :screwy: :smokin2: :doah:

Post34-60.jpg
 
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Saw your post over on pirate and have been discussing your indicator led problem with a friend of mine.. You are getting power back through your fan, up the ground circuit to the led and the led is getting it's ground from the lighted swtich on your dash. To test this, remove the grounds from your switch.:dunno:

EDIT: For a permanent solution you will need grab your led pwr from another location.
 
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