SPAL Fans
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Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 1,042
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From: bacon
SPAL Fans
Sup guys. Ready for some gore?
So I replaced all the pulleys and whatnot on my Kraftwerks kit. How are they doing?
Ah kraftwerks. You can't do anything right can you? Thankfully I can fix this by chamfering the pulley down so it doesn't get destroyed but still.
Those 12" and 13" SPAL fans I installed worked super well. Held my temps rock solid with my massive 55mm PWR radiator with integrated oil cooler.
Lets see how they look;
Uh oh what doesn't look good. Like the fan somehow rubbed on something.
Zoom in. Take a close look at those fins, yes those are holes directly into the core.
Well, I'm not getting compression in any cylinder. That's good right? Lets check the ol' straight edge and see what's going on and see if the head is warped.
Oh boy. That's a bit of warp. Enough where you can see light on the other side (Flash obscures this)
How about the block? What do the bores look like?
Ok ok, we can sleeve it right?
lol
What happened:
Picked up car from SOS yesterday (7/3/15) after they romped on it and verified it had no problems. No sounds no nothing car ran great. That 12" SPAL fan behind the air condenser (PN# 30102029 ) was ridiculous. The AC was ice cold at a stop in 110 degree weather it pulled that much air. This fan combined with the 30102044 were absolutely insane. Needed 70a worth of fuses, but man could they pull some SERIOUS air. I drove to Scottsdale (Raintree & the 101) with absolutely no issues with the ac not even at full blast because it was too cold. Stopped, picked up something and was on my way back. Got down to Via de Ventura which is closed off and I hear a sound, not sure what it is. All of a sudden my temp goes from 8 to 14 in no seconds flat and I'm off the throttle and I turned on the heater, which blew cold air. Pulled off immediately on Indian Bend and the 101, and the engine dies while I'm coasting, odd. Let clutch back in, starts back up, I figured perhaps my fans killed my battery or alternator since I have a sound system in the car courtesy of the previous owner. Put clutch back in and cost into a gas station/repair shop.
Try and start car, no bueno. Repair shop uses a battery jumper to check voltage, looks good. Try to start car, sounds like no compression on any cylinder. Oh boy. Get towed to SOS. Can't see coolant, hmm add some. Pour in distilled water and it leaks as fast as we pour it in. Demonstrate lack of compression to Jeff. Do leakdown test. Nothing in any cylinder. Oh jeeze. Jeff pulls off the head today morning out of the courtesy of his heart in the event its just a gasket and the head warped a little bit, and my machine shop will do me a solid and get it done today so I could get back on the road. The above pictures tell the story. The block is completely and totally fsck'd. No boring, no sleeving, into the trash it goes. That head work I just did to fix the Kraftwerks stuff? Yeah that head is trash. What am I going to do, take of 15 thou and have 12:1 compression?
Moral of the story: Aftermarket stuff is always a crapshoot. Fans were not mounted right on the radiator, and the 13" didn't make contact with the core. Even pressing it against the core the 13" spun freely without issues. Would a metal shroud make any difference? Probably not, f@#ked fan is f@#ked fan.
So I replaced all the pulleys and whatnot on my Kraftwerks kit. How are they doing?
Ah kraftwerks. You can't do anything right can you? Thankfully I can fix this by chamfering the pulley down so it doesn't get destroyed but still.
Those 12" and 13" SPAL fans I installed worked super well. Held my temps rock solid with my massive 55mm PWR radiator with integrated oil cooler.
Lets see how they look;
Uh oh what doesn't look good. Like the fan somehow rubbed on something.
Zoom in. Take a close look at those fins, yes those are holes directly into the core.
Well, I'm not getting compression in any cylinder. That's good right? Lets check the ol' straight edge and see what's going on and see if the head is warped.
Oh boy. That's a bit of warp. Enough where you can see light on the other side (Flash obscures this)
How about the block? What do the bores look like?
Ok ok, we can sleeve it right?
lol
What happened:
Picked up car from SOS yesterday (7/3/15) after they romped on it and verified it had no problems. No sounds no nothing car ran great. That 12" SPAL fan behind the air condenser (PN# 30102029 ) was ridiculous. The AC was ice cold at a stop in 110 degree weather it pulled that much air. This fan combined with the 30102044 were absolutely insane. Needed 70a worth of fuses, but man could they pull some SERIOUS air. I drove to Scottsdale (Raintree & the 101) with absolutely no issues with the ac not even at full blast because it was too cold. Stopped, picked up something and was on my way back. Got down to Via de Ventura which is closed off and I hear a sound, not sure what it is. All of a sudden my temp goes from 8 to 14 in no seconds flat and I'm off the throttle and I turned on the heater, which blew cold air. Pulled off immediately on Indian Bend and the 101, and the engine dies while I'm coasting, odd. Let clutch back in, starts back up, I figured perhaps my fans killed my battery or alternator since I have a sound system in the car courtesy of the previous owner. Put clutch back in and cost into a gas station/repair shop.
Try and start car, no bueno. Repair shop uses a battery jumper to check voltage, looks good. Try to start car, sounds like no compression on any cylinder. Oh boy. Get towed to SOS. Can't see coolant, hmm add some. Pour in distilled water and it leaks as fast as we pour it in. Demonstrate lack of compression to Jeff. Do leakdown test. Nothing in any cylinder. Oh jeeze. Jeff pulls off the head today morning out of the courtesy of his heart in the event its just a gasket and the head warped a little bit, and my machine shop will do me a solid and get it done today so I could get back on the road. The above pictures tell the story. The block is completely and totally fsck'd. No boring, no sleeving, into the trash it goes. That head work I just did to fix the Kraftwerks stuff? Yeah that head is trash. What am I going to do, take of 15 thou and have 12:1 compression?
Moral of the story: Aftermarket stuff is always a crapshoot. Fans were not mounted right on the radiator, and the 13" didn't make contact with the core. Even pressing it against the core the 13" spun freely without issues. Would a metal shroud make any difference? Probably not, f@#ked fan is f@#ked fan.
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Much chagrin. Copious tears. Even my genitals ache for your loss.
The coolant ran out due to fan rubbing? What 13" were you meaning?
Well. I guess it could be worse, it's not like you blew your engine due to detonation and have to do a rebui.....oh..
The coolant ran out due to fan rubbing? What 13" were you meaning?
Well. I guess it could be worse, it's not like you blew your engine due to detonation and have to do a rebui.....oh..
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 1,042
Likes: 1
From: bacon
I was running a SPAL 12" 30102029 and a SPAL 13" 30102044 side by side with the 12" behind the condenser. Even putting a ton of hand pressure on the 13's motor the blade still spun freely and so does the 14" I have that came with the ptuning fan kit.
So going back together. Stock bottom end my head stuff in a new head and a turbo kit. All I need is a clutch to replace the garbage that's in there now. And a turbo kit. And a stock bottom end.
So going back together. Stock bottom end my head stuff in a new head and a turbo kit. All I need is a clutch to replace the garbage that's in there now. And a turbo kit. And a stock bottom end.