Installing a alu radiator with dual spals + trailling arms question

L

Lykkemark

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Joined
Feb 10, 2010
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12
Location
Falster, Denmark
I have bought this combo which is now waiting in the garage for installation:

sp030.jpg


By looking here and there and everywhere, there are different "schools" of installation. Here is one choice where it is done from the battery:

vemp_0911_22_z+corvette_c3_project_vehicle+power_wires.jpg


if this is the right way, what size is the wiring I guess we are talking 30 amps? ( I am an amateur and don't know anything about electrics (either).

Others say, just take the plus from the alternator.

What is the right, safe and easy way ?


and while we are ad it I have an extra question:

I am going to do some work on the rear end of the car, since I,m an old guy just doing sunny sunday driving with the wife (and perhaps the dog) I have bought a Hypercoil EZ monograndad spring. Now when I am installing this with Koni adjustable shocks one thing comes in mind: what about trailling arms ?
One of my freinds is trying to choke me with a pair of Van Steel offset arms, and he says: now you have everything off, why not install theese then blah blah you don't have to do it all over blah blah (he has turned coilover before installing them). How do i really check if my present trailling arms are ok ?

Best regards in the middle of the snow

Lykkemark
 
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:hissyfit: On the wiring, if you are using a variable speed controller, it has to be off the battery, so what you have shown would be ok, but I would pull it off the starter for a shorter run...make sure to put a nice 30+ amp breaker/fuse in there near the starter.....

with just on/off relays, it's better to run off the alt, directly, I did straight from the alt to the fan relay....:shocking:

on the t-arms, MY old OEM arms were rusted, so I just put on two new ones, and let the local vette shop rebuild the hubs with all new bearings....along with other new pieces to make it good...

assuming you bearings are good, future life is hard to predict....only way to be sure is knock them all down for a rebuild, but it's a PIA....or expensive....
 
I defer the wiring to Gene, he has that covered. You can get a wiring kit with all necessary relays and switches at a better price than piecing it out.

If you car has 100K or more on the clock without rebuilding the TA's, this might be the time to do it. By that time rust and age has taken its toll on bushings and bearings.

Off set TA's would be considered optional and only necessary if you are using wide tires out back. If you are rebuilding, and original arms are rusted, you can find good used original units at a reasonable price. Be careful where you take your spindle hubs for rebuild. It is less expensive to have it done right the first time than do it twice in a couple years. Most factory units will go 100K+ miles without failure.
 
Just buy yourself two chevy lumina fan harnesses with weatherpack relays. A battery power junction block and fan fuse holder from a 88-92 camaro.

run a battery feed from the starter motor to the junction block. Then two battery feeds from the junction block to the relays (fused of course)

Then run an ignition feed to both relays

a ground feed to each relay (from you coolant sensor)

run the power wires from the each relay to the fan motors

ground the other fan motor wire

real simple to do and you will have a excellent thermostatically controlled twin fan setup. Cost you about 10.00 at the most.
 
I totally agree about the junkyard solution, far cheeeper, and in lotsa cases better too....BUT, on that Lumina suggestion I have to say pick another earlier car, the high speed blower or fan relay that is NOT that GM oval thing with the weather pack connector....

reason is, Olds Silouette version of that Lumina van...some years ago my stepson had one for the family, that cooling fan relay kept burning out, we never did find out WTF was rong, must have gone through three motor/fan combo's, several relays, and many wiring plugs....I even introduced one of those large ceramic series surge resistors into the thing, which helped, but did not cure the burnups.....my dual spals have a 40 amp circuit breaker right near the alternator power take off, and feed a much earlier high amp GM style black relay, the older square types is about the only way I can describe it....

I know it's a lousy example of ONE on that repeated failure mode there above, but after 5-6 attempts over a 2-3 year period .....the thing finally shit the git and he dumped it for 300 bux, next man's problem....:hissyfit::flash:
 
I used Lumina as a example is all. Perhaps a dual fan harness even off a 90-91 vette would be better.

My example was more towards a cheap one can be built from GM stuff and avoid running all that wire under his car, that looks like a problem just waiting to happen! Just get main power for the fans at the starter either way it's in the charging circuit. You can also tap into the sensor ground wire and run a toggle switch to over-ride the thermal switch any time you want.

You could have a small bracket welded onto your radiator tank and mount the GM relays kinda how a 90 vette has them on the fan shroud. Then cover your wires with that plastic wire covering and you would have a clean thermal fan circuit for real cheap.

I built a setup like this for my 82 vette and it works great! Plus I've seen those after market relay kits and all there solderless connectors hanging underneath the relay. Just seems to me GM stuff make for a much cleaner home made kit is all.
 
I agree with all of Jeff's comments above.....if keeping that yellow under chassis wire, I would first off cover it with some of that wiring snakeskin, then obviously have a 30-40 amp breaker in there near the battery + post....

:3rd:
 
The electrical stuff is pretty much covered.... trailing arms:

- you need a press to press the new spindle in place. having this done at a shop cost you about as much as the entire press at harbor freight.... this is insane.... a shop is going to charge you 1 hr at $80 and the press is $99 on sale....

- don't buy cheap bearings and cheap seals. get these parts from reputable sources: Gary (GTR1999) or Mike (Tracdogg2) - it might be a little more expensive but cheaper in the long run....

Overall it is not as difficult as you might think - have a look at this thread (many photos) :

http://vettemod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2315&highlight=johnny+joints
 
Hi all

Thank you for all your inputs, now I have something "to work with". It is true, I do not have a clue about the trailling arms and their factual status on my car.
In my country "the season" for driving is not very long, it goes from the second week of April (where it is biting cold) until late September, first in October (insurence reasons=Vintage car very cheap 328 USD totally insured for the season.
So it becomes to approx 4000 miles (it rains a lot here, and i do not want the car wet) at 7 USD + pr gallon gas. So new trailling arms will last until oil doesn't exist anymore.

Best regards
Lykkemark
 
Lykkemark said:
Hi all

Thank you for all your inputs, now I have something "to work with". It is true, I do not have a clue about the trailling arms and their factual status on my car.
In my country "the season" for driving is not very long, it goes from the second week of April (where it is biting cold) until late September, first in October (insurence reasons=Vintage car very cheap 328 USD totally insured for the season.
So it becomes to approx 4000 miles (it rains a lot here, and i do not want the car wet) at 7 USD + pr gallon gas. So new trailling arms will last until oil doesn't exist anymore.

Best regards
Lykkemark
Click to expand...

I would HOPE the green weenies don't win, and oil will last lots longer, by a few generations, anyway....

:thumbs::smash::rofl:
 
Lykkemark said:
So new trailling arms will last until oil doesn't exist anymore.
Click to expand...

Be careful.... there are no "new" trailing arms, all these trailing arm assemblies are rebuilt, not new....

Rebuilt arms usually include new bearings and a new spindle, quality varies.... if somebody is doing a good job the endplay is set to .002" maybe .003" dry.... often the rebuilder doesn't care...often you find "professionally rebuilt" bearings with .010" play.... with all the grease in there you can't really measure very accurately so you might see .005" wet (with grease)... BS !!!

For a rebuild you can use $8 bearings or quality stuff that might cost $30 a bearing.... China junk vs SKF or Timken.... what do you prefer ??

There is a lot of junk out there.. some of the junk is nicely painted or powdercoated so it's at least good looking junk....
 
I don't want to get started on yet another rant about junk....:withstupid:

suffice to say, I have had to deal with my share.....:rain:

once the drawings are done and the specs set, how many ways does it take to make a simple object???

:amazed: or NOT.....:tomato::clobbered:
 
003 dry set is too loose. Set them for 0015. I just built 4 arms everyone I set to 0015" endplay,when greased and assembled they are smooth without any endplay. At 003 you will feel the spindle move in/out. Many just can't hold the tolerance because as stated they're done fast & cheap. If you can't find a shop over there to do them I can set up the bearings & you can assemble. I would need the iron bearing supports & spacers to do it though. You will need a press to assemble. Be very cautious of the advertising BS out there, some new arm assemblies are worse then rebuilt ones. It all come down to how they're built and what parts are used.

Good luck. I have a thread here on how to rebuild as well.
 
GTR1999 said:
003 dry set is too loose. Set them for 0015. I just built 4 arms everyone I set to 0015" endplay,when greased and assembled they are smooth without any endplay. At 003 you will feel the spindle move in/out.
Click to expand...

Gary, I agree 100% but for most "commercial" rebuilders .006" or .008" seems to be perfectly fine and if you buy a rebuilt unit that is set to .003" you can consider yourself lucky. To me it seems that many think as long as the bearing lasts longer than the warranty period it's good enough.... BS....

I've read so many complaints over the past years that I rebuilt my own set. With Gary's threads and photos it wasn't all that difficult :thumbs:
 
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