My 85 k20 with 350/th400:
I run a two core all aluminum radiator, spal dual 11 inch fans with integrated shroud, Dakota Digital controller and a powermaster 150 amp alternator.
It's an awesome setup and works great here in Southern Arizona where summer temps are 105-120.
Recently, on the way home from a desert run, the fans suddenly quit and I had to pull into a parking lot to investigate. I had a loose connection in an auxiliary power block that fed the controller.
Easy fix but I'm a die-hard for simple reliability and quick fixes to get me home.
Sooo....I wanted the ability to override the controller in an emergency. I added two micro switches and LED's in the bezel where the shift indicator used to be. That area gets blocked off with Dakota Digital guages (see pic). Anyway, out of sight and stealthy yet readable and easy to monitor. So one switch is just a ground input to the low fan relay and the other to the high side relay. The led gets 12volt at the fan input wire at the fan. With two fans, separate relays and override switches, it's kind of redundancy overkill.
I can't speak highly enough of Dakota Digital. There vhx and fan controller are excellent!
My .02 cents about added hp and milage...moot point. Your still pushing a 5000 # brick around. You won't notice any difference either way. And, IMO/ experience, a good working mechanical fan is just as effective in these vehicles.
Why then do we still spend big bucks and go thru the hassle of modifying our vehicles? Cause we're hottrodders with ideas and it drives us to be different whether it's a good idea or not. If we didn't experiment we'd still be living in caves and dragging the ol' lady around by her hair.
Now I just need to finish that nv4500 swap and lose the slushbox.
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Nice report, thanks. It's always nice to hear good things about a component that you have already bought. My research led me to Dakota Digital.
I thought of the same emergency fix, but my idea was to make a small wiring harness to just unplug and bypass the controller. Maybe your idea is better...