Heat Exchanger with or without fans

What’s up guys. Looking to buy an upgraded heat exchanger. Was going to get the VMP dual fan but after reading up a little I’ve been getting mixed reviews. Some are saying the fans are not necessary unless you’re going to the track or driving the car heavy. Looking to see what you guys think for the ones that have done the upgrade already. If I don’t have to spend the extra $300 I’d rather not.


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If U R not going to drive the car hard enough to experience heat soak, i e, track or WOT pulls, don't spend the $. Why should you have a car of this caliber and not enjoy the performance they have. IMO a heat exchange with fans should be one of the first mods for these cars.

RLB01 said:

If U R not going to drive the car hard enough to experience heat soak, i e, track or WOT pulls, don't spend the $. Why should you have a car of this caliber and not enjoy the performance they have. IMO a heat exchange with fans should be one of the first mods for these cars.

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Don’t get me wrong, I definitely plan on using the car to its potential, I’m just wondering if it makes that much of a difference if I get one with the fans or not.


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I would definitely get the HE with fans, you won’t regret it later down the road. It’s a big difference

The only guy who has actually done testing shows that you are probably better off without. Next time my car goes in for mods, the fans are coming off.

My .2 cents, $800 is $800 do the upgrade once and be done. I got the VMP dual fan triple pass HE. Never looked backed.

I don’t experience heat soak and when I do take the car out every weekend i get on it. highway pulls, back road pulls, going to the track . I’m glad I got the VMP unit, would of kicked myself for having to upgrade multiple times like some folks have.

Get the VMP unit. I have a Steeda triple pass because I got it for an amazing price. They are all good but VMP and Steeda only triple pass units I know of.

I have the triple pass HE with fans and to be honest, I did not see much difference. Ice box in the trunk would make more difference at drag strip


Roush TVS, 79 mm pulley, E85

This is an interesting read. There's another thread in the 13-14 forum I think discussing the same basic thing.

Why You Don’t Want Fans On Your Heat Exchanger

If you have seen an 07-12 factory heat exchanger, its laughably small. Also, depending on the application youre running these for (drag, street, road race) will dictate what you want to get. Also, the supercharger is a big factor as well. If you have an 07-12 and still run the M122, youll want the fans lmao.

Road racing you dont have to worry about lack of airflow coming into the heat exchanger. Id agree that fans will block airflow at speed, reducing its effectiveness.

Street/Strip you dont have that constant high flow of air through it. Stop and go etc. Ice tanks are a fantastic option to run if you have the cash for it, but those only make sense at the track as you constantly need to drain and refill the tank after each pass. Street use thats just not going to happen unless you roll hard like that lol.

Fans guarantee airflow through the exchanger at slow or stopped speeds. The argument that the Radiator fan is the only fan you need is a little misleading in and of itself. The radiator fan is of course an extremely capable unit, keeping high heat buildup out of our cars over a wide range of uses. The problem with this argument is that unless you have the low speed fan set to run ALL THE TIME in your tune, then its only working when the ECU commands it on to pull heat out of cooling system. This would also render the argument of amp draw moot since that low speed fan pulls amps like the exchanger fans. Also, you have to spend the time to seal the heat exchanger to the AC condenser. A quick search found no kits on the market designed to do this so this will be DIY.

My opinion, Id get a fanned unit. If you take it road racing, remove the fans and tape over the connectors. If you use it for street use, you dont have to worry about anything. Of course, my opinion.

I'd say get an aftermarket heat exchanger (since OP has a 2010 car with a small factory HE), but the fans could be left off, and don't even worry about sealing it to the radiator fan. Either that or get a 13-14 unit, which to me is fine, even though it is fanless.

To me, this point from the Dept. of Boost article rings very true:

"Engine cooling systems run at much higher water temperatures over a given time period than a A2W system does. You’re only putting significant heat into your A2W system while making boost. The engine is putting significant heat into its system all the time. A heat exchanger will have water temps in the 5-20deg over ambient range most of the time (on a 75deg day, 80-95deg). Your engine cooling system is at a minimum of 160deg (if you have a really cold thermostat) and is usually running in the 180-225deg range. Because heat transfers faster the bigger the temperature differential a fan on the radiator is far more effective."

Based on their testing, the temp delta between the intercooler fluid and the ambient air is only enough to cool the fluid ~3 or so degrees, even with the best fan setup. It does guarantee airflow at all times, but it appears to be an insignificant amount WRT actually exchanging heat from the intercooling system to the environment. I haven't seen any manufacturers give any test numbers that show otherwise. I think the marketing hype is thick.

This is such a heated debate somehow over the past couple of years really. Seems like most believe the fans improve airflow. One company passionately argues that fans impede air flow. I'm not going to pretend to have the answers. I have however installed and ran two C&R heat exchangers with fans on two different GT500's. In Oklahoma summers of 100* and 90% humidity they don't heat soak. That's my result.

limitedex said:

This is such a heated debate somehow over the past couple of years really. Seems like most believe the fans improve airflow. One company passionately argues that fans impede air flow. I'm not going to pretend to have the answers. I have however installed and ran two C&R heat exchangers with fans on two different GT500's. In Oklahoma summers of 100* and 90% humidity they don't heat soak. That's my result.

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me too

limitedex said:

This is such a heated debate somehow over the past couple of years really. Seems like most believe the fans improve airflow. One company passionately argues that fans impede air flow. I'm not going to pretend to have the answers. I have however installed and ran two C&R heat exchangers with fans on two different GT500's. In Oklahoma summers of 100* and 90% humidity they don't heat soak. That's my result.

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Did you run them without fans? The fact that there is no data to refute the aforementioned opinion says volumes. Fans do impede flow when at speed. Fans don’t flow enough to matter at low speeds. HE fans are a gimmick. If you’re really serious about racing, then staging lane fans could have their use... but then again you aren’t really serious if you’re using fans limited by size to be mounted to the car.

ViperRed91GT said:

Did you run them without fans? The fact that there is no data to refute the aforementioned opinion says volumes. Fans do impede flow when at speed. Fans don’t flow enough to matter at low speeds. HE fans are a gimmick. If you’re really serious about racing, then staging lane fans could have their use... but then again you aren’t really serious if you’re using fans limited by size to be mounted to the car.

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No, but great question. I did imply that I can't debate. My results with fans however, are great.

I’m all for this debate and would like to see non-fan HE data once DOB releases there setup. If I can reduce the amp draw by not running HE fans then I’m all for that.

Wouldn’t the simple answer to this debate be to wire a switch into the interior of the car to be able to control turning the fans off & on manually?
Stuck in heavy traffic or going to the track, turn on the fans. Going on a highway road trip, turn them off....

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Some guys put a switch on the HE fans... Only run when needed... Traffic etc..

Zedeater said:

Wouldn’t the simple answer to this debate be to wire a switch into the interior of the car to be able to control turning the fans off & on manually?
Stuck in heavy traffic or going to the track, turn on the fans. Going on a highway road trip, turn them off....

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If you already have fans that came on an aftermarket unit, leave them.

I think the main idea of DOB's article is simply that fans don't provide a significant benefit (all other factors equal). I don't think the focus of the article is the idea that the fans block airflow (although they do state & discuss that). It is focused on the idea that if you are upgrading your HE, you probably aren't going to see much benefit from having fans vs not having fans.

I agree with it because I haven't seen any testing, datalogging, or real world experience from anyone yet that says otherwise. Upgrading from a pre-13 unit to an aftermarket fan-equipped HE....will you see big benefits? Of course you will. Are those benefits due in any significant amount to the fans? Nope. They are due to the more robust design of the aftermarket HE over the stock piece.

Don't forget...the fans sound cool too