E fan conversion.
 

Looking to convert to an E fan for space savings and hopefully one or two more mpg if I'm lucky.

Can someone point me in a direction to start? I would like to have enough cooling ability to keep the engine at 180 degrees at idle in summer. Manual switch would be nice if possible. Thanks!

First thing I'd look for is if newer Rams have E-fans. It's a popular and easy swap in Chevy trucks. Look to see if your computer has the ability to activate a fan too, it might just need a tune and a wire added to the harness off the computer. Manual control is a concern it case you aren't paying attention in traffic, someone borrows your truck or other unforeseen circumstances. The truck engine in my car had the spot for a relay ground to activate the cooling fan, I can change turn on/off temps in the tune using HPTuners.

I would check out a Ram forum and see what others have done with the same truck. It's a fairly common mod for trucks; the belt driven fan takes a few ponies to spin so it frees up some power.

Even if the ECU eventually doesn't have the ability to control a fan, it's still viable to just use a thermostat to kick it in. And it wouldn't prevent the fitment of a bypass switch.

Here is my writeup from when I put an electric fans in my 2005 Tacoma. The cost/effort was higher than most swaps, but I was not trilled with the reliability of most aftermarket controllers.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ler-32368.html

I bought my E fan conversion off ebay for $51 USD. The 16 inch fan was $26 w/free shipping and the thermostat was $25 w/free shipping. The thermostat is temp adjustable. So all you do is throw it on the vehicle and dial it in to turn on/off at whatever temp setting you set. Then you can wire a switch to manually turn it on/off if you choose.

My plan is slightly different than what you said. I'm considering adding a second fan in front of my radiator with only a manual switch for when I pull my trailer with the AC on. In that situation I would just leave it on the whole time. But the main fan behind the radiator will only be run automatically switched by the thermostat, no manual switch.

Here's my build thread for my van

A 1 to 3mpg improvement is typical for a truck or SUV.

1 to 3 mpg would be wonderful but I already gained 7 so that would honestly blow me away if I can exceed 20 with this level of power.

Thanks for all the build guides, looking them over and I think I will try to do the electronically controlled route so I don't have to keep messing with a switch.