Troyer E-fan Review w/Pics & 0-60 Video's
 

Troyer E-fan installation. Took me a while as I was a bit intimidated by the wiring, more or less the lengthy directions. Those of you who are considering e-fan's, don't let it intimidate you, I do not have a lot of experience with vehicles or wiring. The instructions are just lengthy in their descriptions (good thing). The hardest part for me was getting the inner fender liner out, and now back in, which is needed to route 2 identical wires to the passenger-side kick panel fusebox which provides power to the controllers when the key is in the ignition I'm assuming. Those fasteners (aka pushpins) are a mother to get out without damage and they are everywhere on our trucks. I need all new ones as I didn't pull a single one out correctly (I don't think there is a "correct way"...I've tried everything...and to date, I've never successfully pulled one out without damage). I'd appreciate it if someone would point me in the right direction for pushpin removal and where I can purchase the same ones I broke. Other than lengthy directions, it was not too hard. I can't tell you how many hours it took me, getting past that intimidation factor was frustrating. The temperature controllers are not of the greatest quality, the screw adjustment head that controls the temperature broke on one of mine so now it just spins to no end but works nonetheless (sorta...I still need to replace it). Troyer includes everything you need including much that is not neeeded.

Troyer E-fan Performance. I use the 0-60mph method of tracking my performance with each mod as when I race I usually stop shortly after that speed. Out of the Troyer Air Force One intake and the Magnaflow SIDO exhaust, these e-fans produced the biggest gains in performance. You really feel it in the top end of each gear, it pulls much harder. The low-end remained the same, none of my mods did anything for that. Post E-fan's I now get a 7.3-7.4 second 0-60mph. Prior to the e-fans I got an 8.0 second 0-60. Read on to find out how I calculated these times. You definitely feel the difference.

Overall I am very happy with my Troyer E-Fan purchase, and I'd definitely recommend it over my other mods if performance is your goal. The mounting system Troyer used is crap but they claim in the instructions all e-fans use the same system. It uses long nail-like needles to hold itself to the radiator, and rubber insulators on each end to keep them from sliding out...very cheap if you ask me and it was very difficult getting the bottom needles in. If there is one thing I'd do differently, I'd pay someone to install it, it can be a PITA.

Onto the media like my usual reviews:
E-fans Installed (image)
E-fan Wiring (image) Note: take a look at the extra room in the engine.
0-60mph Run Comparison (video)
Local Mudding for kicks ;) (video)

Let me explain my timing formula. I opened my primary video editor (Premiere in my case), and I align the video's so they both start at the same time. There is really no low end difference with the e-fan so at 10mph they should be spot on. (I compensated for the first 10mph the speedometer does not show). If this makes sense then so should the rest of the formula.

I displayed the counter (no dropped frames in original format) in frame format (29.97 frames a second, rounds off to 30 for ease of use), as opposed to time format (minutes, seconds) for accuracy purposes. This means, each frame is [roughly] 3 miliseconds (100 miliseconds in each second). From start to finish, the pre-Efan 0-60 took 240 frames which breaks even at 8 seconds (240/30=8 seconds). The post-efan 0-60 took 221 frames, (221/30=7.36 seconds) 221 frames is equal to 7.36 seconds, so there is about a 2/3rd's of a second difference with the e-fans in the 0-60. Doesn't sound like much but you definitely feel it. This is as accurate as I could get without a G-tech [with video that is].

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UPDATE

No longer am I happy about this kit. I posted in another thread and might as well update this for future reference. Read the last post in this thread to hear more on my experience.

Result: I need to replace both fans, both controllers, and possibly my radiator soon. I think I'll be buying the Flexalite this time around.

Not sure how accurate your method is, but it has to account for some increase. It would be interesting to measure 10-30 and 30-60 comparisons as well. It looks like the before video has a faster 10-30 mph time. You cleaned up your wiring and it looks nice, btw. :thumbsup:

It's the best I could do for now. If you question this method, you can always make a donation to the Make a Gtech Josiah's foundation. :lol: The wiring is better yes, but I'm still not that happy, the loom does not fit the wires like I'd hoped. Could be better. What a long writeup, it's 4am, I gotta head to bed.

Nice mudding!!!!

With those push pins I have found that if you take a pair of "bent nose pliers", kinda like needle nose but with a curve, you can usually get under and pull straight out. However this doesnt always work and so the last time I was at the you pull it type junk yards i just grabbed as many of those pins as I could and stuffed em in my pocket.

Thats a good idea, I'm going to have to try that. As for my current 0-60, it's been pretty slow the past week, the battery was unplugged and it had to relearn, yada yada yada. The shift patterns are crap now.

Also, I just changed my oil to Royal Purple 5w-30 Synthetic blend. Trucks (the tv show) did a dyno on a lifted Dodge and it gained 24rwtq just by changing the oil to Royal Purple. I feel no difference whatsoever, the bottles were about 8 bucks a quart or so, I am also using the K&N filter. It's SO much easier to change that filter with the stock fan and shroud off, there is so much more room.

Edit

If i were doing a Troyer Efan conversion, i would be looking for more detailed pics/instructions. Where did you mount the controllers? ANy issues with the wiring? Lessons learned... Special Tools...That sort of thing. I am completing my fan conversion tomorrow (hopefully) and i hope to have some pics/instructions completed and posted over the holidays. Good job though!

Good point Gobra. I mounted the controllers on top of the windshield washer fluid container. I rented the fan clutch remover from Kragens but had to go out of town, the local one did not have it. It cost me $45 to rent it. The only peice I used was the part that holds the 4 bolts in place on the pulley, their wrench did not fit my fan. For the fan I used a large crescent wrench and it came off pretty easily (first person to probably say that). Hope all goes well for you, don't forget to ground the fans themselves (I forgot)!

I dunno, the E-fan wiring looks like it caused a little more clutter than any that may have been lessened with the removal of the mechanical fan and shroud. Guess I'm old school, I'm alright with having a belt driven fan up front. And I'm cheap. And lazy. ;)

I'm right there with you. This is one mod that looks to me like a complete waste of time and money.

I would have to disagree. I have yet to do the efan conversion on the 04, but on my 02 4.2 it made a big difference. As Josiah mentioned it pulled more up top, it reved (sp?) faster, and best of all I gained about 1.5 mpg. (MPG difference was measured over 30k with original fan and 35K with efans) I was saving up for this mod on my 04, but the Edge group buy wiped out that money. :D This time I plan on doing the efans and pullies together to get it all out of the way at once.

UPDATE

No longer am I happy about this kit. I posted in another thread and might as well update this for future reference.

You may void my experience if you are a street queen but you can't ignore the radiator leak the Troyer kit has caused. Then again you can argue that was due to obstacles offroad as well.

Here is a timeline of events with the Efan kit.

1. Installed Fans, nice gains, very happy.
2. One E-fan controller breaks while setting temp. Troyer blames owner.
3. Second E-fan controller breaks while setting temp. Yet again. This is a common problem as the temperature pots are very weak...rafa and several others have had both Troyer controllers break on them, Troyer replaced none.
4. Pismo trip, one fan burns out due to a little rinse in the ocean. My fault.
5. Recently, they caused a pretty good radiator leak. The leaking fluid burnt out the other fan. I used a radiator "STOP LEAK" product at the store, worked GREAT!

Result: I need to replace both fans, both controllers, and possibly my radiator soon. I think I'll be buying the Flexalite this time around.

At the very least they could work with you and meet you half way or something! How did you pop the radiator again?

i didnt have it as bad as you but the mounting kit did make my radiator leak, and went threw 4 controllers, the fans themselves worked great tho, everything else blows.