Long story short, I tried the options for clutch fans, didn't like any of them, suck to much power, do a half assed job, and are noisy AF. Months of research later, and I think I found a fan setup that looks like it was darn near made for the D2. I've been running it a few months now, and the highest ambient temp I've been at so far was 88 at Denver elevations, so there is still some data to find out at higher temps. But, It handled those temp perfectly, on hwy, up hills, I stayed at about 100° above ambient at all times. Engine warms up quicker, stays perfectly cool in traffic and idling, never gots hot even coming off the hwy, and does it all with or without A/C on. So, I thought I would go ahead and make a post for now, and I'll add any additional findings later if needed.
I have seen others use a single fan setup from Ford, but it doesn't completely cover the radiator core, and it is a single fan rather than a dual. I was hoping to find a dual fan setup for better CFM, and wanted to control it with a pulse width modulation controller (PWM) so that I could avoid any voltage spikes or issues with the charging system.
After many hours of looking at pics of OEM dual fan shrouds from all makers, and cross referencing any that looked promising with their radiator core sizes... I found that the Ford Fusion cooling fans and shroud for the 2.0 turbo and 2.5L were a near perfect fit. Its about 1/2-3/4" larger than the radiator core on the D2, and with a 1/2" rubber seal, it literally attaches to the core like it was made for it. OE p/n DG9Z-8C607-D. It's a dual 13" fan and shroud setup, with hwy flaps, wiring, and hose clips. From my research, I estimate it to pull around 3500-4000cfm, which should work even with an LS swap.


2014 Ford Fusion fan, junkyard with wiring $80

After trimming and clearancing. Removed all for corner mounts, and removed just a lil around were the hoses are on each side. Repurposed the wiring and connectors that came with it to wire up to my controller. The clips and wiring that came with my junkyard sourced piece came in real handy in doing a clean install for both the wiring and overflow hose routing.

1/2" rubber seal around the edges. Fan all but holds itself onto the radiator core with just this seal. The lower brackets I made and the old upper shroud hold this thing in like it was just meant to be.

You can kinda see how the new shroud just fits over the core on both the sides and the top. I removed a lil too much from the shroud around the hose area while experimenting, but you'll get the idea.

Aluminum bar stock bent (like a double L, or flattened out Z) and bolted to bottom cross member on each side, with slots cut in shroud just to hold it in place against the radiator. The shroud assembly sits perfectly on the cross member which holds its weight, and the seal perfectly fills all gaps.

Trimmed and repurposed the OE upper fan shroud to lock the new shroud in place. Used the OE shroud bolts to attach it to radiator like normal, then screwed down thru the old shroud into the new one with the silver screws you can see close to the hose. Old shroud holds the hoses like normal, almost looks OE from the top.



You can see the PWM controller mounted on the jack/battery box. I used a Derale controller, but if I were to do it again, I might try a DCC brand. You may just want to do a 2 speed controller, or the myriad of other options in that department.

 

That's a high tech setup! I've used the big single Ford fans on most of my vehicles, but that dual fan with the full shroud is a nice setup. I'd say you pull similar CFM (Single 18“ fan is just under 800in², dual 13" fans are just over 800in²), but I like the redundancy. If one motor goes out at least you have one still running.

You could also do a simpler set up with dual speed controllers. One fan cuts on early, one fan cuts on later as needed. Or one cuts on with ignition and the other cuts on at a set temp. I always have all mine just cut on with ignition.

Very nice job there.

 

I think it was your original post about the Ford fan that inspired me to do some research and try this out, so THANKS! I almost just copied yours, until I stumbled on this one, and it was really just the desire for dual fans that lead me to it. I also didn't want to spend over $500 on the Derale aluminum dual fan kit either. Oddly enough, the next best one I found actually came stock on the LR2, but was just a lil too wide for my liking. This one fits about perfect, are cheap, and even new they can be had from Ford for under $150.

Thanks again for the props, I want to make sure to send them right back at ya. I have copied and been inspired by at least a few of your mods. I'm sure you'll recognize the intake in my pics

 

Absolutely brother! Sharing back and forth is exactly what this community is all about. Thanks!

 

I might do this before I do the Extinct thrmermostat mod to compare temps.

 

This is brilliant. Thanks for sharing. Where do you place a temperature sensor for controlling the fan? How many amps does it draw?

 

adding this to the list of parts to buy and install next time I dig into the white disco..

 

The temp sensor info for what I did with my setup will pertain only to the Derale PWM controller style. Other methods of controlling the fans will likely have a different type of sensor and will need to be mounted according to their specs. I would also like to let folks know the Derale is a screamer, lol. It makes a squealing noise at low fan speeds that can be a little odd at first. Like I said in my original post, I may try the DCC controller brand if I ever do it again, both for the easier sensor it has, and the lack of squealing noise it supposedly does not have. But, for what I did.....

I tried multiple mounting places, and two different types of sensors trying to get a good temp signal. The sensor you get with the Derale kit is a stick on piece that they want you to stick on the radiator next to the outlet. This was a problem because the D2 radiator has no flat spots at all to stick it to. I tried glueing it to the plastic of the side tank, but it wasnt able to read the temps as quickly as needed thru the plastic. Then I tried a probe style temp sensor in the inline thermostat port, but that type sensor has a resistance that the controller wasn't reading right. It worked well, but at the wrong temps. So, I came up with the idea to mount the correct sensor for the controller, on the lower radiator outlet hose. I tried a few mounting methods (ie hose clamps) to test it out, and when I figured out it worked well, I came up with a better way to mount it. I found some clear 2" heat shrink tubing, and basically shrink wrapped the sensor to the hose. It's really secure, not moving a bit, and working great. I had to buy like 10 feet of the heat shrink, so if anybody ever needs some, just drop me a message, lol.

As far as the amp draw goes. I'm not exactly sure, as I dont have an amp clamp to measure that with, and Ford fans OEM specs have been hard to come by. The Derale comes with a 50amp auto reset fuse for the system, and it has not popped at anytime thus far. One of the benefits of using a PWM controller, is that it turns on and off slowly, never causing any electical spikes. I have been watching my Ultragauge to see how the alternator is charging while the fans come on, and it literally never changed more than .2v from full on to full off, so I felt confident the D2's system would be fine.

A few added side notes....an observation I've had is that the fans continue to run after the engine is shut off, which drastically reduces the amount of heat soak the engine gets right after being parked. They also don't turn on right away like the clutch fan does, so the vehicle heats up much quicker in the cold weather. I've not had any issues with battery drain, it only runs for a few minutes after shut off, but basically it cools the engine down to the fans set temp before shutting off. I think this is going to go a long way towards the longevity of this engine, as it is brought up to temp quicker, kept in a much tighter operating range, and is not allowed to heat soak after shut down.
I'm finding that one of the biggest issues with the D2 is heat management of the engine, and after the last few months of testing, the combination of inline thermostat, flowkooler water pump and electric fan setup, this thing is running better than it ever did stock.

Can you see the sensor on the hose? Its labeled Derale, under the clear heat shrink on the lower hose.

 

The noise is caused by the frequency of the PWM controller probably. I build PWM controller myself and it requires a little bit of tuning to get them almost as silent as under DC.
I want to add a temperature sensor to the lower intake manifold (coolant outlet for the throttle body heater, which I bypassed already) for my cabin gauges. This is planned when I am replacing the valley gasket, but not anytime soon.

 

I wasn't as happy with this controller as I wanted to be, but I didn't hear about the DCC brand stuff before I bought the Derale. And while I'm quite a happy lil mechanical tinkerer, I am not as much of an electrical engineer. I would have liked to have been able to use the port sensor on the inline thermostat, but the sensor I got was reading about 100 ohms lower than the other one, so the fans were coming on around 20 degrees before I want them to at max adjustment. I'm sure that either the Derale controller, or the sensor itself could be adjusted with resistors or the like, but again, not my area of expertise. If anyone could help me source pieces and parts to make the port sensor work, or stop the Derale squeal, I'd really welcome the input. The fan itself does a fantastic job, fits great and works better than I imagined, but I'm still not super happy with my temp sensor or controller. But, that's what tinkering is all about sometimes, the constant pursuit of perfection....