At SEMA, everyone is trying to prove they have the latest and greatest wares. But, with so many brands crossing over with what they offer, it’s rare that we see something that truly surprises us. Every once in a while, though, we come across something exciting and fresh. Such was the case when we stopped by Proform‘s booth this year.
What got us so excited was Proform’s new line of radiators. These aren’t any ol’ run-of-the-mill radiator, though. We spoke with Booth Platt from Proform, and he had this to say about its new line of integrated-fan radiators, “We’ve totally re-thought how radiator systems should be done. A big breakthrough that we did was, we took the fan motor and punched a hole through the core of the radiator, and put the motor inside the core.”
Proform has 14 part numbers for this system at the moment, accommodating a variety of makes and models for classic Mopar, Ford, and GM applications. By placing the motor of the fan inside the radiator core, it accomplishes a few things. First and foremost, it reduces the amount of space being taken up by the cooling system. The system pictured above, for example, is 4 1/2 inches thick – which includes the fan shroud, fan, regulator, and of course, the radiator.
The system even integrates a fan controller and temperature sensor into the face of the fan shroud. The controller has an operating range that users can adjust with the knob pictured above. This allows a further level of customization to the unit. It truly takes the guess work out of the installation. Users can expect to connect the upper and lower radiator hoses (just like any other radiator), wire the weatherproof harness/relay, set the temperature sensor to the preferred operating range, and hit the road.
It was a real treat to see a brand like Proform taking a fresh look at technology that has remained unchanged for a very long time. Under-hood space is almost always a limited commodity when it comes to hot rodding, and this is a great option for anyone looking to do an engine swap or stuff a monster motor into a small engine bay.
If you’d like to find out more about all of Proform’s new parts, check out proformparts.com. Check back with us for more updates from SEMA 2018.