This wasn't too terribly complicated, except for the temp sensor that tells the fan relay to engage the fan itself. I didn't want it running all the time because that would only delay the engine warming up, which is part of the problem I had before with the stuck thermostat, so I had to come up with a more viable solution, which I did (by throwing a little money at the problem).
I'm not a fan of wiring nests, and the previous owner was a hack (the mess I had to clean up behind the stereo alone still boggles my mind). Unfortunately, however, the fan relay has a lot of wires running off of it, and its placement was limited by wire length (didn't want to splice any extensions on ). To keep the wiring clustered efficiently-ish and out of the way, I put the fan relay next to the starter relay on the passenger's fender inside the engine bay.
I'll probably come back to this area in the future and make some improvements in the layout and weather protection. Perhaps a plastic dome enclosure to shield it from random splashes or debris. I really don't want to damage the fan and have it die on me, leaving me stranded.
This was the slightly more complicated bit. I was hoping to use a manifold port for the temp sensor, but none were available. Essentially, this thing has to be in the coolant flow to know when the coolant temperature has reached the engagement point. It then sends a signal to the fan to turn on. (The engagement point is adjustable, which is nice.) The fan shuts off when the temp drops 10 degrees below that point, or when the engine is turned off.
My solution was to order an aluminum insert that gets put into the upper radiator hose, allowing the temp sensor to get screwed in there. There's also a ground wire to keep everything safe. I ran the wires down and around the battery and then back to the relay itself. It works, and it's out of the way of the moving parts of the engine. I'll probably wrap it in sleeving later.
I let the rig idle in the garage for about fifteen minutes, waiting until the fan engaged, which it did. The first time it spun, there was a bit of a rattle, but that sound hasn't returned since, so I'm okay with it. All in all, the new fan, the new radiator, the new temp sensor, and the new water temp sender are working as they should to keep the engine running cool and smooth.
