In the midst of sweltering summer heat, more than a few heads and wallets turn toward the performance (or lack thereof) of their cooling system. How many people in today's world of monster SUVs outfitted with more TV screens than the occupants can watch really turn off their air conditioning when they tackle a steep grade to avoid overheating? How many people even read those or any other road signs anymore, for that matter? Granted, $40K-plus new vehicles can probably handle the abuse of their unaware pilots, but those of us with older, more delicate cooling systems need to make sure they're in tip-top shape.
There's another side to this story, a cold one. A cooling system's performance is just as crucial in the wintertime as it is in the summer, believe it or not. An engine that doesn't warm up all the way can't burn out all the sulfur and things in the exhaust gasses that can be harmful to its longevity. Also, if you've ever been in the Midwest in the middle of winter in 10 degrees below zero weather waiting, waiting, and waiting for your truck to heat up enough to blow lukewarm air out of the heater vents, you'll know why it's important to have an engine that warms up as well as it cools down.
Most cars and trucks have always had a mechanical cooling fan assembly that runs much of the time. This is good in the summertime, but in the colder months it prevents the coolant and, in turn, the heater from reaching a "normal" temperature. In addition, the mechanical cooling fan assembly puts extra wear and tear on the water pump and robs precious horsepower from the engine, which translates into a potential loss in mpg. So what's the alternative? Electric fans.
Electric cooling fans are becoming more popular in passenger cars and custom vehicles. One of the main reasons for that is their relatively small size and the fact that they're really easy to adapt to most applications, some of which don't have space for a mechanical fan. This has been great for the hot rod world and the cramped engine bays of new vehicles. There are numerous electric fans on the market; SPAL-USA (http://www.spal-usa.com) provides some nice, reasonably priced performance fans. After talking with SPAL, they told us a pair of their 14-inch performance fans would move more than enough air even under the worst, most blistering conditions. They also gave us a short list of things to keep in mind concerning your own cooling system:
In order to get to the back of the radiator to install the electric fans, the two-piece plastic mechanical fan shroud had to come out. The top half of the shroud was secured on the top, middle, and bottom to its other half as well as the radiator assembly. Make sure all the fasteners are out to avoid busting the plastic shroud upon removal. | 
Radiators can get kinda messy, so with the shroud out of the way, now's a good time to clean and detail an area that's not always easily accessible. | 
Next, it was time to remove the mechanical fan and fan clutch assembly. The fan is bolted to the water pump with four bolts; remove them and lift out the fan/clutch assembly |