Evans Cooling Systems Upgrade - Project ProCharged Pony - Cool Under Pressure

Because the ECS thermostat housing is flat, you won't be able to use these two factory bolts. A quick trip to the hardware store is in order. Be sure to get some lock washers to go with the shorter bolts. We used the smaller stock one as a reference.

Evans Cooling supplies a Fel-Pro housing gasket, as well as a water pump gasket. Although we've used silicone gasket sealer in past water pump/thermostat installations, we opted not to use it here. As it turned out, we didn't need it. The water pump is mounted using the studs that you previously marked. Don't over tighten them, as they are secured into the aluminum timing cover, and breaking one of those can be a time-consuming and costly repair.

The hard part is over. Now, drop in the new radiator. Our project car had an oversized battery that prevented us from getting the radiator over as far as it could have gone, but it was less than an inch difference so we didn't worry too much. Getting the unit to fit will require you to relieve the upper and lower support brackets of their rubber insoles. You'll have to modify the upper support brackets with a pair of pliers to get them to clamp to the new radiator properly. Just take your time and don't bend them too much or they may break.

The lower tabs will need to be bent outward slightly to allow the radiator to sit in the slot. Once we had the radiator's arrangement straightened out, we pulled it back out so we could mount the fan and overflow bottle.

We chose a single electric fan because it was thinner than the dual unit. This extra space was required because of our supercharger's serpentine beltdrive. The single unit also allowed us to move it around on the radiator to gain the most clearance. The fan comes with its own mounting straps, but we had to dig into our own stash of nuts and bolts for fasteners. We already have a few other items running to the solenoid, so the unit was wired to a switched lead in the fuse box. The ground wire was mounted to another ground on the inner fender. We ran the wires along the bottom core support to conceal them.

Though its not too pretty, it is out of sight and will hold strong. We used some of the left over fan mounting straps to offer some additional support. We used one of the clips from the original shroud and its matching screw to secure the one side, while a nut and bolt were employed on the other. You'll need to drill the holes, so be careful and drill through the metal tab. You don't want to drill into one of the cores of your brand new radiator. The metal tab between the two fasteners comes with the radiator. They are for the factory shroud should you decide to use it. If you do plan to use the factory clutch fan and shroud, take note of the clearance between the two, as the radiator's increased size will set the fan further into the shroud.

The upper tab on our overflow tank was broken. The factory fastener is a screw with a large washer that held it in place over the years. Since we couldn't use that, we utilized another leftover piece of mounting strap and used a plastic tie to secure it. This will do until we get around to replacing the tank.

Once you have finalized the position of the fan, radiator and overflow tank, install the air compressor and its bracket, the power steering pump (it bolts to the bottom of the bracket) and then the radiator assembly using the upper support brackets. Check all of your clearances again and then install the upper and lower radiator hoses using the supplied clamps. These may need to be cut to fit, but ours went in without modification. Top the system off with the Evans NPG+ coolant and install the supplied 7-pound radiator cap. Make sure you use the ECS piece, as the stock unit has a different pressure rating.

Here is our supercharged steed ready for the summer onslaught of hot temperatures and high humidity. We will now laugh in the face of bumper-to-bumper traffic, as our Evans Cooling System is up to the task.