Install was a success. I was pretty worried a couple times because it is not a "drop-in" like on the trucks that have done the conversion. A big thanks to Nelson Performance, HP Tuners, EAD, and Tbyrne for providing the parts and support necessary.

First off, the H2 does have the 34" radiator so that is what got me convinced to give it a try. Second, the Flex-a-lite fans have failed a few H2 owners so I didn't want to go there (the fan blades breakaway in deep water crossing and the VSC's don't last). The Stock GM fans have that nice outer ring on the blades that supports them completely so the fan blades will never fail - not that I plan on fording any rivers, but at least I know I could Also, I bought the fans from EAD Performance.

http://www.eadperformance.com


Anyway, the stock was removed easily with a 15 inch crescent wrench (the big nut is somewhere in the 1.5 inch range) and about three quick blows on the handle from a 2 lb rubber mallet to break it loose. After that the fan spun right off. I left the stock serpentine belt in place the whole time.

The stock shroud came out easily after removing the 2 bolts on the upper radiator support. No problems there. It took less than 1 hour to yank the fan and shroud.

The only issue we had took about 4 hours to finally solve. The oil cooler hard lines do not work with the 2005 fan shroud. The H2 oil cooler lines don't run the same as on GM trucks We bent the stock lines until they looked like they would work... but they didn't. They eventually kink down and leave no choice but to cut them. We took most of the 4 hours trying to make the stock lines work. Once we (okay... I) conceded that the hard lines wouldn't work, it went much easier. We cut the hard lines off right after the elbow on the cooler end and about three inches past the soft to hard line connection on the engine side. The 1/2" soft line (with double hose clamps on each end)that we used tucked in perfectly and sealed well, too. Then the fans dropped right in and located properly.

The H2 doesn't use the wide fan shroud mounting points that are on the 2005 shroud. I ended up redrilling the shroud to fit the stock shroud mount bolt holes in the frame. Reusing the stock bolts made it look factory.

The fan wiring harness I used was the one from Nelson Performance. Excellent fit and finish and a damn good price for the quality and function. I couldn't build it cheaper or even close to as nice as what he provides. The harness wires up fairly easily, there isn't much possibilty of fouling it up or going astray. The only issue I had was some trouble removing the gray retainer on the PCM so I could plug in the PCM fan control pin. I just wasn't sure how to do it. An email to Allen Nelson for some tips on removal solved that and I had it done an hour after I started again.

http://www.nelsonperformance.com/


I used HP tuners to program the fans to turn on at about 185 degrees and off again at 182.

http://www.hptuners.com


Last week I installed a 160 degree t-stat from Tbyrne to make this all work in the end

http://www.tbyrne.com/


The fan conversion is perfect and way nicer than the factory manual fan. I got a little seat of the pants performance gain, too. I wondered if I'd feel it in such a heavy truck, but I can feel it climbing my driveway at low throttle angles. I'm very pleased.


LINK TO PICS...

http://community.webshots.com/album/292063946PcQyvf?308

 

This thread is worthless without pics!

 

Yeah defintly some pics, but a very good right up.

 

good info, I'll keep this one on tap.

 

I haven't downloaded the pics from my camera yet.

However, the oil cooler issue I had could be a common one for anyone doing this conversion on a HD 4WD chassis. Not that many will do it but for the few... expect to go and buy about 3-4 ft of 1/2 oil cooler line with clamps.

I would expect the trucks that do the conversion not to have to redrill the two top shroud mounts as I did. As the H2 is "like nothing else" it can be a real bitch sometimes But, even if you do have to redrill, it still looks very nice and isn't really noticeable.

 

NOW FEATURING PICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finally got off my *** and signed up for free photohosting. See the end of the first post for link to pics.

 

Alright you redeemed yourself.