I installed the Flex-A-Lite 270 electric fan kit yesterday (2/8/03). If you are thinking about electric fans, here's what I experienced:

1. The kit is quite nice. It bolts to the truck using the factory shroud mounting bolts. The edge that is closest to the radiator is a soft, spongy rubber that touches the radiator like a gasket and makes a nice seal between the radiator and the shroud.

2. The mounting brackets are painted black and are drilled to the factory mounting points precisely.

3. The supplied screws are black Allen head screws. For some reason, they supply shiny nickle washers and nuts? Go figure. The Allen screws are fine for the shroud brackets, but I would replace the rest with standard stainless steel bolts of the same size for everything else. There are too many areas where a regular wrench or socket would be so much easier to reach than using a Allen wrench.

4. You have to fasten 2 brackets to the shroud (1 on each side) and 2 brackets to the truck (again, 1 on each side). You then slip the fan assembly into the truck and use 4 of the Allen screws, nuts and washers to attach the brackets to each other. The brackets are slotted to allow some adjustment. The bottom screw on each side are 2 tough cookies to start and tighten. Be prepared to spend some time on those !!

5. You have to wire than fan assembly before you install. They supply all kinds of crimp-on connectors for this, but I soldered and heat-shrink wrapped everything instead. Just my own preference. You also have to drill a couple holes in the shroud for wire routing. No big deal, it's plastic and drills easily.

6. FAL recommends that you mount the controller on this angled section of the shroud, closest to the battery. Be sure to mount it BEFORE you put the brackets all together in the truck. You can't reach the lower bolt for the controller once the brackets are installed on the shroud (guess how I know that ??? ).

7. The wiring is easy enough, although the instructions could use a little work. They give you a black and white sheet that has a photo of the controller. Obviously, the photo doesn't show up very well. They do give you plenty of wire for the entire install.

I am going to wire in a manual override switch to enable / disable the fans from the driver's seat (the controller has inputs for this as well). When driving on the Interstate for any appreciable distance, I don't want them to run just because the A/C is on. At highway speeds there is enough air flow without the fans for the A/C and the radiator, so I don't see the need of putting the extra run time on the fans.

All in all, it went pretty easy, especially since I had everything out of the way for the ASP install anyway. The hardware is top notch (minus those Allen screws) and it really looks good under the hood. Lots of room between the engine and fans now.

BTW, it sure does take a long time for the engine to warm up so you can start adjusting the controller. "A watched pot never boils" certainly seemed applicable last night.

Well, like sscully said, I was surprised by the way the engine revs without that giant clutch fan on it. That sucker must weigh 15 pounds!! I have not had a chance to really test it yet, because when I finished at 2:30 AM it was raining and traction is definitely a problem in my truck. I'll post once I get a chance to test her out...

 

Thanks for the good write up.

I have a smaller fex-a-lite on my 4.2. While I know the engine does not have to spin that heavy fan, I really could not feel any more power getting to the wheels. However, my gas mileage did improve by at least 0.5 mpg.

Also, the vehicle is much quieter during normal operation when the electric fan is not spinning.

Another good thing about the electric fan is you get heat from the heater much faster on cold mornings.

Overall, I think you will be very pleased with the changes.

 

I've been putting off my install of my Flex-a lite 270 for a week now since it rained and was cold out yesterday. Yeah I'm a backyard mechanic, heh.

Anyways how did the electrical hookup to the gray - AC wire go?

I'm going to try to mount my controler over by the right headlight to avoid some of the radiator heat and boy does it get hot here in the summer.

I don't think I will get a manual shut off for the freeway driving here becuase if it gets shut off my wife will surely forget to turn in on, heh. I don't think it will be a problem runing the fans on the freeway here anyways since it's pretty hot out if the AC is running anyways.

 

Mounting the controller on the sheet metal behidn the pass side headlight is a good idea.

Easterisland had a contoller take a dump a while back at the track, and when he got his replacement, FAL suggested mounting it here.

His last FAL set before the 270s also said to mount them there as well ?? Go figure, don't know why they changed the mounting locations from kit to kit.

The fan off switch is illuminated while they are turned off, so it is noticable if they are turned off, I myself did not put either the constant run nor the system off switch in. I did not need either feature.

Be careful which way you store the stock fan and clutch, I almost did not notice the wirting on it, that said which way to store it, so the clutch still would work later.

I did a little change to the wiring, by not using the bullet connectors, I ran both back to the controller, and put them under a larger wire body spade connector, less splices the better is what I thought with this. Maybe it does not make a difference though.

Congrates on the electric fan kit, you are going to love it, like you already do.

 

OK you guys got my psyched to pull my fans and new 2 row radiator out and get things mounted up to drop into my truck. The (2) allen bolts on the side angled mounting plates are a pain to install. I can only image what a problem it must be when they are under the hood.

Here ya go

 

B-Man thanks for the write up. I was
thinking about the FAL 270 but only
looked briefly at it in passing. Sounds like a winner. Was the kit vehicle specific
or not and who carried it cause I just saw it on their web sight. Let us know how it
effects your performance.

P.S. Price tag??

 

Twisted Mister,

The FAL-270 kit is for the Ford Trucks specifically.

I got mine at Summit Racing, I am sure there are other plaes to get them at.

 

Twisted -

I appreciate the thanks. After I wrote the pulleys and fans up, I thought that maybe some folks would take it wrong, like I was bragging or something. I just try to share what I learn, and a lot of what I've learned has come from HERE. I bought the kit because of what sscully said about his. I've read a million postings here, and he gets my vote as one of the top info sources that I would trust. Thanks, sscully !!!

The kit is definitely vehicle specific. It uses the factory mounting holes and slots from the old shroud. No holes to drill at all.

I bought my kit from a local speed shop called Automotive Engineering. $378 + tax. However, I'll say again, it's a very nice kit. Complete down to the last screw.

I think I'm going to relocate my controller anyway. I'm not big on having electronic pieces under the hood, especially without some kind of cover for the controller. I'm not sure why you don't get a cover with it. I know it is sealed and potted, but I think it would be easier to dress up (or hide) if it had a cover. Oh well, nothing's perfect, short of an ice cold one in your hand on a Saturday afternoon...

Get the kit if you can... You won't regret it.

 

I sure didn't take it the wrong way there
B-man. I've been turning a wrench for
a long time and learning from someone
else's experiences wether good or bad
makes life easier no doubt about it.
I would rather pay more for a good
vehicle specific kit than save a buck rigging one up. I'll be calling Summit
soon since SScully says they have them
and I normally deal with them alot.
Let us know how the performance is.

Thanks again

 

Everything is in and I ran it up to temperature and the fans come on albeit for only 10 seconds since it's 40* out right now.

I got a problem though. The AC splice to controler is NOT working when I activate the AC the fans do not turn on.

I busted into the wiring bundle by the oil filler cap instead of going down below. The wires in this bundle go down to the AC compressor. They seem to be in a shielded bundle with a blue a gray and a bare wire. I tested the wires out with my 12V test light and the blue is always hot. The gray I get no signal off of with or without the AC on. The wifey was helping me and she said that the light flickered on the controller and the fans twitched once when we hooked the AC splice up to terminal 8 on the controller. All I can think of is that the splice is defective. Any ideas would be appreciate at this point or if I have the wrong wire.

Here's picture of my splice into the gray wire.

 

I took what I am guessing is the same Gray wire /w white stripe under the fuse box.

The other day I was messing around, and found that I had to go to A/C MAX full blast, temp all the way to cold to get it to activate the fan. If you click just the defrost, the fans would not kick on with it this cold out.

When I tested it when I installed it in the summer, clicking on any of the controls, less the floor only mode, the fans would kick on ASAP.

Jsut what I found the other day.

Steve

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence, but to tell you the truth, I learned the same way your are, reading the forums.

If you go back a year on this forum listings, reading all of it, you would find out where I got this stuff from

BTW : There are a crap-load of more people that have forgotten more then I'll ever know

Keep up the info flow, the next members to register will say the same kind words about your info !

Steve

 

You tapped into a gray with white stripe - AC control wire under the fuse box? The fuse box in the passenger cabin? Is this a hot wire or negative return wire?

What I can't figure out yet is why the AC is set up on this F150 so that there is a power supply always HOT to the AC compressor and it activates thru a return wire (negative) to complete the Circuit to the switch.

The Flex-a-lite has a provision for a negative switch wire from the AC that plugs onto #8 on the controller but this still has me a bit confused. I'm going to take another look at it later today. I warmed the truck up to operating temperature and the fans came on and cycled for a short burst (like 10 seconds). What I dont understand is why at that temperature I wasn't able to get the fans to engage when the AC was tturned on. The LED indicator light on the controller for the AC circuit was not coming on. It seems like if the engine is at operating temperature and you engage the AC clutch that the fans should come on. I may have to look into installing a activate/deactivate switch in the cab to get the fans to run manually when I run AC. This was one of the major considerations for me buying this kit - to improve AC performance. (any comments appreciated)

BTW - the engine runs so smooth and quiet at idle now, heh

 

I picked the Flex-a-lite 270 just for that reason. That it is specific to the F150. Even though I replaced my radiator with a new 2 row radiator it mounted right on with the provided hardware. The Troyer performance fan kit from what I've seen and read doesn't seem to have a shroud and the fans mount onto the radiator with the poke thru straps that go thru your radiator core. I dont like that.

However the Flex-a-lite kit could have the holes in it's shroud pre-drilled to pass the wires from each fan thru. I had to drill my own holes when wiring it up (not like my original picture above - is wrong) Also the allen bolts on the side mounts could be easily replaced in the kit with hex bolts for easier installation, IMO.

I got my kit from Summit back at the end of last year and had to wait a couple weeks because it was on back order. The price then was $289.95 and I got in on the 10% discount code they run like twice a year to bring the price down to $259.95. Anyplace you can find it for under $300 sounds good to me! The reason I've taken this long to put it in is because I then found out I only have the 1 inch - 1 row radiator so then I had to upgrade and get me one of the 2 row - 2 inch radiators and then that meant I had to also order new hoses and a thremostat too if I was going to visit that cooling issue (new radiator), heh.

Z

 

Sorry should have been more specific, the fuse box under the hood.

I just looked and this goes to pin #8 A/C Compressor Pos. signal input on the VSC.

So when you look at the controler, the row of pins on the bottom, going left to right ( 11 to 5 order ).
11 & 10 : temp probe
#9 I took a fused connection from the Run position in the cab under the steering column for this.
#8 Gray w/ white stripe wire under engine compartment fuse box.

My 7-6-5 pins are empty ( no override switches installed ).

I got this wire color / connection from Easterisland or Don's bolt, I forget which one.

Sorry about that, clarity has not been my strong point the past few days.

Steve