Cotton's FMIC and Ramchargers dual fans

[stickybones]

Anyone have this combination and run into trouble getting the pipe from the turbo outlet to the intercooler to pass the fans and fit properly? On my GN, if I connect the pipe to the intercooler it hits the fans on the way up to the turbo preventing proper alignment. With the fans removed, the pipe fits properly, but leaving no room for the fans. See pictures.

Wondering what others have done. I doubt I'm the first with this combination. Don't want to do something drastic just yet...like cut the pipe...if I don't have to. I'm working with Jack now on resolving this, but I'm interested in what others have done before me. Figured it might be an issue with just about any front mount/Ramchargers fan setup where the pipes come up from under the radiator support.

Thanks
Mike

[Jake]

I have "the Jack", RC fans and a be cool rad, which is thicker than stock and it all fits. I dont know what the problem could be.

[Steve Wood]

often the fans have to be shifted a bit toward the driver's side and the length of the hose at the bottom of the ic may have to be changed to move the pipe away from the fan as required. More severe actions may require a rebending of the pipe.

[Orlando_87GN]

It looks like you can make plenty of room by shortening the silicone reducer on the turbo. It appears to be pretty long which is most likely pushing that pipe into the fans. See how it fits with the reducer removed before you cut it.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by Orlando_87GN

It looks like you can make plenty of room by shortening the silicone reducer on the turbo. It appears to be pretty long which is most likely pushing that pipe into the fans. See how it fits with the reducer removed before you cut it.

Thats what I thought till I looked at the 2nd picture. It looks like the IC is mounted up a little too high.

[Night Train]

Try re-clocking the turbo to point down a bit.

[stickybones]

Jack and I discussed the length of the turbo reducer hose and its effect on the pipe positioning. He's sending me a shorter hose and a longer one for the bottom pipe/intercooler connection. I'll see how they work.

Jake...actually the intercooler is mounted pretty good. The bottom of the pipes...both sides...exit the intercooler in a pretty straight shot indicating to me that the intercooler is in proper position. Also, the intercooler to throttle pipe fits well.

Can't clock the turbo with a stock style wastegate. Well I could, but not much. Not enough to help at least.

[Jake]

I'd post pics if I could but my car is apart right now. The turbo side pipe looks like it needs to be lower than it is so it can get around the fans. A longer hose should accomplish that. Let us know how you make out.

[stickybones]

Well I finally finished the installation.

The longer pipe to intercooler connector and shorter, right-angle shoulder turbo to pipe reducer did the trick. In fact, I even needed to shorten the length of the small diameter side of both the turbo reducer and the throttle body reducer for the best fit. The turbo to intercooler pipe clears the Ramcharger’s fans easily now, but it's real close to the sway bar (36mm hollow bar). Enough space though that it shouldn't be a problem.

I attached a bunch of pictures for the search records.

1. First picture is the mandatory Cotton's vs my old Mease big neck stocker. It's obvious I painted the Cotton's intercooler black for the stealth look. I used Eastwood's satin black radiator paint. That stuff goes on nice.

2. Second picture is a front shot of the intercooler in the car. Fits nice. It’s hung from two existing holes in the header panel/rad support. Just remove the stock bolts and nut-serts and the center brace to make it fit. I didn’t need to remove the cross braces from the radiator box. I used two 5/16-18 by ~2” long studs to hang the FMIC and held them in place on the top side by SS acorn nuts. I used washers on the bottom side between the intercooler and header support to position the intercooler at the right height. At the bottom of the intercooler is a bolt that attaches through a hole in the center of the bottom of the radiator support. Don’t remember what size it was. I used rubber spacers between the FMIC and the radiator support for the proper standoff (~3/4”) and a nylon lock nut to secure the bolt.

3. Third picture is with the grill and bumper back on. I like the stealth look. Can't even see there's a FMIC in there.

4. Forth picture is of the passenger side pipe connection under the radiator support. Notice how the longer connector makes it work. Alignment is off a bit to clear the Ramcharger's fans, but it works.

5. Fifth picture is of the driver side pipe connection under the radiator support. This side fits great...well the hood pad rubs on the top side of the pipe when the hood is closed, but when has anything aftermarket fit absolutely perfect.

6. Sixth picture is a shot of how the turbo pipe clears the Ramcharger’s fans. I helped out a bit here by making sure I had the fans mounted as close as I could to the radiator. I used a piece of windshield washer hose cut lengthwise to edge the fan shroud all the way around to make a tight seal to the radiator.

7, 8. The next two pictures of engine bay shots of the pipes.

9. Ninth picture is of my trans cooler. After installation of the FMIC, I needed to replace the trans cooler. I mounted it front and center under/behind the license plate. Using flat aluminum strip stock, I attached the front/top of the trans cooler to the lower bumper and the bottom is hanging down at an angle, level with the bottom of the plastic air dam and hung from the bottom bolt that holds the FMIC to the radiator support.

More pictures to follow...

[stickybones]

Continued…

10. The tenth picture is shot of the new grill springs I needed to use. Got them at my local hardware store. I needed to remove the grill extension to allow the grill to clear the intercooler. When I did this, I lost the ability to spring the grill the stock way.

11. The eleventh picture is grill springs installed. I just used existing bolts holding that silver plastic gizmo behind the bumper on the top side. I drilled a small hole near the edge of a big OD washer to hold the spring. On the grill, I just used holes that originally had the rivets holding the extension to it.

12, 13, 14. The twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth pictures is of the Casper’s wiring harness. While I was messing with re-positioning the Ramcharger’s fans, I decided to install Casper’s wiring harness for a safe setup. I didn’t like Casper’s recommendation of mounting the relays on the fans, so I mounted them to existing holes in the driver’s side front corner. Plenty of room there even with the filter in place and the battery + cable with the fusible link was still long enough to reach with the relays mounted here . Casper’s harness didn’t come with the middle pin to attach to the factory engine harness (don’t ask me why they don’t include the middle pin…the high speed relay). I wanted to be able to command the fans with my coolant sensor ground switch, so I installed my own middle pin using a male spade connector with the blue plastic neck sleeve cutoff, a small piece of 16-gage wiring and an insulation piercing main line tap to connect the 16-gage wire to wire “A” of the Casper’s harness.

Another mentionable is that with the FMIC pipes running under the radiator support, I had to remove my Kirban’s style front frame connecting brace. Won’t fit anymore.

That about does it. Hope this helps someone installing their own front mount.

Oh, almost forgot to mention, Jack Cotton was helpful with my installation problems the whole way. Sent me out the different reducer and longer hose connector at no charge. Answers his emails and phone. Wonderful!