Get in control of your cooling fans. (A re-wiring guide)

(Note: this was done on an ’87 CRX Si, your model may be different, just change the directions according to your particular model)

As you may or may not know, keeping an engine cool to begin with is much easier than trying to cool it down once it is hot. So that’s why you might want to get in control of your cooling fans so that you can choose to have them on all the time, off with the ignition on and the engine off to save battery power, or on with the ignition off the help cool the engine compartment/engine down after a race. NEVER RUN THE ENGINE WITHOUT THE FANS ON!!!

What you will need:
Switch (RadioShack: $2.44)
Wire, 2 colors (Graybar Supply: 100' $26.99/roll)
Female blade connectors (RadioShack: $1.44/pack of 6)
Wire cutter/stripper/crimper (Home Depot: $6.49)
Soldering Skills (Priceless)
(You will need to solder the connections or else use special hi-heat electrical tape, otherwise the adhesive and the vinyl will melt in the heat from the radiator/engine and corrode the connection!)

Procedure:
Take off the front bumper, this makes it much easier to work with the front fan.
Because I am lazy, I decided to just hook the fans straight up to the battery, so:
Get one roll of wire and set it on the floor on the driver’s side, this will be for the positive terminal.
Get the wire and poke one end through the fire wall (there are like 4-6 holes in it, each one has a rubber "plug" in it, so just force the wire through the hole in the rubber plug)
Now go around to the engine compartment and look at the fire wall and find the wire you poked through it, grab on to it and pull gently, get about 5' or so of it and thread it through the wire harness holders around the outside edge of the engine compartment until you get to the battery, hook it up to the (+) Positive battery terminal.
Go back inside the car and cut the wire off about 12" longer that you think you need it, its always easier to cut off a little more now than to not have enough later...
Now get the other roll of wire and put it on the floor on the drivers side, poke it through the fire wall, go around to the engine compartment, grab hold of it and gently pull about 8' through.
Thread this through the wire harness holders around the engine compartment over the driver’s side wheel well and down so that it is poking out into the space that would be behind the front bumper, if it was still attached.
Now this is the tricky part:
The fans are connected to the chassis/engine wire harness with a square plug, pull back the insulation (they are usually wrapped in black electrical tape) on the wires that lead to the plug and cut it off so that the wires are about 12" long.
SOLDER the wire that’s poking out into the empty space onto the COLORED wire coming from the plug for the fan, wrap the soldered connection with electrical tape to prevent a short. (Note: there are two wires attached to the plug, on my car they were Bl/Wh and Black, one wire is ALWAYS black (-) Negative and the other one is ALWAYS colored some 2-tone color like Blue and White or Yellow and Green)
Get the first roll of wire and un-spool about 5' of it.
SOLDER it on to the BLACK wire coming from the fan plug, wrap the soldered connection with electrical tape to prevent a short, thread it around the side of the condenser/radiator and leave it hang there for a minute.
Go under the car and disconnect the square plug from the rear fan and do the same thing as with the other fan (cut it off about 12" long).
SOLDER the wire you just threaded around the side of the condenser/radiator to the COLORED wire connected to the plug (cut off any excess wire before you do so that there isn't loose wire floating around in the engine compartment) wrap the soldered connection with electrical tape to prevent a short.
Un-spool 4' of wire from the first roll of wire.
SOLDER one end to the BLACK wire, wrap the soldered connection with electrical tape to prevent a short, attach the other end to the (-) Negative battery terminal.
THIS NEXT STEP IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!
Go back inside the car and gently pull back any excess wire from the engine compartment, this wire is on the "Belt-side" of the Engine an it would be BAD if that wire were to get caught on anything!
Cut this wire off about 12" more that you think you need it, its always easier to cut off a little more now than to not have enough later...
Install the switch on the dash or where ever you want to put it.
Go into the engine compartment and hook the fans back up by simply pluging the square plug back in where it goes, and push until it locks/clicks.
Trim the two wires to the correct length and strip the ends of each of them.
Touch and hold the two wires together and give them a little twist to hold them together.
Go up in the engine compartment and inspect the two fans to make SURE that BOTH fans are spinning and spinning in the CORRECT direction!
Go back inside the car and disconnect the wires, crimp the blade connectors on and plug them in to the switch.
Put the front bumper back on.
VIOLA!

This seems complicated but its not. It took me about 1.5 hrs. to do the whole thing.