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YAMAHA FZ1
MANUAL FAN SWITCH
INSTALLATION

....With  manual fan switch you can turn the fan on whenever the combination of slow traffic and hotter weather produces a situation where engine temperature will start going up over normal ranges.  
....Excessive heat can be a killer for cycle engine, especially in the modern aluminum heads, as they tend to 'warp' along joint and gasket areas.  
....Take a look at the Blown V65 Engine.  It gives one a visualization of what can happen in excessive cases.  STAY COOL!

....I have ridden the FZ enough to know the engine heat reacts almost exactly like the build up in the Vmax and V65. It becomes excessive very quickly at slow town speeds or stop and go traffic in relatively cool outside temps in the 60's and up,  the fan needs to be on manually long before the thermo switch activates the fan.  
....I observed this over and over on a longer trip to Road America, especially when "stuck" in cycle traffic inside the track grounds.  The FZ seems to be a more efficient cooling system than the Max or Mag but heat still builds.  
....I do like the water oil cooler witch sits just to the right of the oil filter.  The oil on the R1/FZ engine is being cooled by the cooling system and by the exposure to frontal air.  
....The fan needs to be on long before the thermo unit activates, so the temp build up can be kept in check.  The FZ temp, like with the Vmax and V65, will come right back down out of the high range when road speeds resume.  
....I am a champion of a manual fan switch on every cycle and use them religiously. 


A Modern  Muscle Bike right out of the box? Yes.
A Super Standard, Race Tourer, Road Predator, Mantid
One bike that can do it all for me?   Yes!

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Yamaha FZ1
INSTALLING A MANUAL FAN SWITCH
will give you manual control of engine temperature

WHY A MANUAL FAN SWITCH?
Manual control of the cooling fan in hot weather and in heavy traffic will assist in temperature control.  You will/can have the fan on long before a chance of overheating occurs and thus do not have to attempt to bring the temperature back down, which is often the case with even a different thermo switch which turns on the fan at a lower temperature.  The manual switch is the way to go.  Trust me, it works.  And works better then changing out to a different thermo switch.
TAKE A LOOK AT A CASE OF EXCESSIVE ENGINE HEATING a blown V65 engine

There may be some useful installation ideas on the Vmax Fan Switch pages


Before you go any farther read FZ1jackson's suggestion!!
This may be a better method than what I present below.
.... I found it was easier just to mount the switch, fasten a wire to each of it's terminals, run them across underneath the tank to the other side of the bike to the two wires that are fastened to the fan thermostat switch and SPLICE one of the switch wires to each wires attached to the thermostat. Be sure to leave the original wires attached to the thermostat. That way the fan can be operated by you closing the circuit manually with the switch or by the closing on the circuit by the thermostat.


FZ1 Manual Fan Switch Installation Summary
....Buy a standard two pole toggle switch 
....Remove left cowling panel.
....Mark spot to drill hole for switch.
....Carefully "Drill" tight fitting switch hole using knife point.
....Fit switch to panel, then remove and set aside for later wire attachment.

....Remove the right cowling panel.
....Locate the thermo switch connector just inside and under the radiator cap.
....Snap the male end of the switch off, releasing the clip with a long/thin screwdriver.
....Feed the male thermo plug from the right side over to the left side.
....Cut the thermo wires and spice an extension lead to each fan wire lead.
....Run the extension fan wires over to the right side.
....Splice together the two sets of  fan, thermo and a switch leads.
....Slip the thermo switch back in place.
....Run the two switch leads back to the left side.
....Attach the switch leads to the switch.
....Install the switch in the left cowling panel.
....Test the switch before reinstalling the cowling panels.

  

Where is the best place to locate the fan switch?

....You may locate the manual switch anywhere you like on either panel or the handle bars.
....Trust me however when I say the location near the left hand as it drops down off the bar is very functional.
....I have a toggle switch mounted in the same location on the FZ, Max, V65 and would not consider any other location for me.
....With a tank bag and loaded for long hauling, the above location is absolutely perfect on the highway or in town.
....My hand can just drop straight down to the switch with no fumbling or looking for location.
....The FZ's "hot indicator idiot light" apparently comes on every time the fan runs.
....Thus if one watches the panel lights you will have an indicator light for the manual fan switch.
....I generally just drop my hand down and check it periodically, and the location is absolutely perfect for me.

 


Mounting the Switch

...Remove the left cowling panel.

....Mark a location for the switch.
...."Drill" a hole with a knife point.
....Start by just carefully twisting the knife back and forth into the plastic.
....Go slow and be patient.

.....While working the hole for the switch, test the fit often as you want a very tight fit to stabilize the switch.
....The reason for using the knife is to get the perfect fit that is not possible with a drill bit.

....Fit the switch into its mounting hole.
....Then remove the switch and set it aside for later wire attachments to the fan leads.

 




Visualize with me a moment

....The engine temperature is kept in control by water flowing in the water jacket around the outside of the combustion chambers, oil cooler, etc.
....The water carrying the excessive heat away from the engine enters the top of the radiator.
....Near the radiator cap, sitting inline and just before the thermostat is a thermo unit or switch.
....If the water flowing through this region to above a certain temperature the switch closes a circuit turning the cooling fan on.  
....There is a hot wire coming from the fan which runs through the thermo unit and back to the fan, thus the thermo unit is just a switch that is sensitive to a temperature and closes the circuit at that temperature. There is a negative wire from the fan to the frame, but we never even see this wire, only the positive lead. 
....By cutting the two leads into the thermo switch, and splicing leads from a toggle switch into the cut ends, the thermo switch continues to work to close the fan circuit or the manual switch can be used to close the fan circuit and turn the fan on at the discretion of the rider.
....This will work on any bike with a thermo switch controlling the fan.


Splicing the switch into the Fan hotwires.

....Remove the right cowling panel.
....Locate the thermo unit.
....Use a long, thin screwdriver to flip the clip on the male end of the plug up enough to remove the male end.

....Feed the male thermo plug from the right side over to the left side or see if you can pull the plug out to the right side and get enough wire/room to cut the two thermo wires and splice them with a lead that you can run back over under the top tubes and behind the headset to the switch mounting point on the left cowling.
NOTE:  I cobbled this process up and never did see if leads could be made to the switch from the right side.  I assumed that the plug had to be moved over to the left side, its wires cut and a segment of wire ran from the fan leads back over to the right side for splicing into the thermo plug leads.  Confusing, yes, follow the pics.

....In the pic below you are looking at the left side of the bike.  The male thermo plug has been brought over from the right side.
....The two wires coming out from the fan below to the male plug have been cut and the ends stripped.
....IMPORTANT, at this time take the male plug and just set it over to the right side of the bike and out of the way.
....VISUALIZE:  We are going to splice some extra wire onto the two wires coming from the fan and then run those leads back over to the right side of the bike.  The reason for the extra wire is there is just not enough length of wire coming out of the fan to work with on the right side of the bike where we have to spice a lead into and run it back to the manual switch on the left cowling panel.  Confusing, just follow the pics as we go, re-read and visualize.

....With the male thermo plug set out of the way over on the right side of the bike.
....Cut a couple of sections of wire, strip the ends and splice each to one of the leads coming from the fan.
....Use a wire nut of the correct size, and put a tie wrap around the wires to hold them securely together.
....The color of the wire is not an issue. I was in a hurry and did not have the right wire.  Sometime I will go back and redo the wiring.  At that time I will use only very thin black wire, as the wire can be seen down under the front of the tank and the wire coming from the fan is very small.



....After extra length sections have been spliced to the wires from the fan, run the two leads over to the right side of the bike, through the same area you pulled the male plug.  

....The pic above shows the two fan leads passed over to the right side.
....The pic below shows the two fan leads coming out on the right side, with the male thermo plug laying on the radiator cap.

VISUALIZE:
....If you cut the fan leads below to length and spliced them to the leads of the male plug, we would be right back to the initial thermo circuit.  What we have done so far is just to lengthen the wire coming from the fan to the male thermo plug to get some room to work.
....Now we will spice together two groups of three wires, each containing a lead from the fan, the male plug and a length of wire that will be taken back to the left side to attach to the manual switch.
....When done we will have two switches in place on the positive wire into the fan.  One switch being the automatic thermo and the other the manual.  Either switch when closed will close the circuit to the fan, thus turning the fan on.  In other words, both switches work.

....Cut a couple of sections of wire long enough to go back across the bike to the manual switch, leaving extra room to work.
....Strip one end of the manual leads.
....NOW PAY ATTENTION:  Splice together a lead coming from the fan, the male plug and the wire that will go to the manual switch. There will be two sets of these leads spliced together.  Use a wire nut and use a tie wrap to hold the wires secure. 


....Note in the pic below how big the extra wire is.  Much too big for this job.  Buy some smaller wire similar to the size of the thermo switch wire.  I will someday replace this mess.



....With the splices made run the two leads going to the manual switch back over to the left side where they can be hooked up to the switch.

....With the manual switch leads over on the left side of the bike, it is time to replace the male thermo plug.
....The thermo unit is fairly delicate so do not force it back into place.  Inspect how it fits.  The pic below slows the proper orientation with the top in the up position.
....With the thermo unit reconnected, move back to the left side of the bike to attach the leads to the manual switch.

....Bring the left panel up and into relative replacement position to judge the correct length to cut the leads coming over from the right side.  In the pic below the fan switch is attached to the panel, but you had removed the switch and set it aside, which is the way to do it, as the wires cannot be easily connected to the switch while it is in the panel.
....Cut the wires to desired length and strip the end to attach to the manual switch.

....Attach the leads to the switch and test.
....Note:  I like to flip the toggle forward for the on position.  So not is a good time to test and see if the fan will come on using the manual fan switch. If it comes on in the off position of the switch just reverse the wires.



....When the switch is working properly, reinstall it back into the hole.

....Replace both the left and right cowling panel and clean up.

 


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