How to mount a rad up top in a TJ07

Just thought I’d show every body how to mount a Black Ice pro II up in the top case fan area without using any bolts or screws through the mess to hold it up there.

Things are pretty tight up there and the only way to get the rad & fans up there is to reshape the grill to allow the rad to get as close as possible to the case top.

The first thing I did was flatten the mess out, then cut it to the right size. The best way to flatten it out, is to turn the case upside down and bend it outwards, when you have done this then you need to finish it off on a bench to get it nice and flat.

You then need to cut the mess just the other side of the screw holes, because you still need to be able to attach it latter.

I used a Dremel with a fine cutting blade to lightly cut the mess.

Next I had to make two brackets to fit either side of the rad.

One is fitted to the runner that guides the motherboard tray in to place.

The other bracket is fitted to the three holes that are on the opposite side of the case that would be used if you inverted the motherboard tray guide runner.

I used a U shaped bracket to fix onto the runner guide; you have to drill a large two holes in the back of the guide so you can get to the bolts that tighten the bracket to the rad.

The other bracket is L shaped and this one is fixed to the three holes on the opposite side of the case.

You can see I’ve used a spacer on this side. It’s there to leave some room for the screws that hold the mess in place.

Once I’d made the brackets, I fixed the U shaped bracket first and then marked the two holes for the rad.

I then drilled and taped two 4mm threads and fixed the rad in place.

I then fixed the other bracket in the same way.

I would defiantly recommend using a pillar drill when drilling the holes in the rad, because you need to be able to control how deep you go through the side of the rad wall.

Even fixing a rad this way still leaves problems attaching the fans because they can still come in to contact with to mofset coolers.

I will be solving that problem in the morning, and will up date this thread as soon as I’ve finished.

I hope this will be of some help to anyone who is thinking of mounting a rad in this area.

If you would like to know any other details please don’t hesitate to send me a pm.

Ps.

It's 1.30 in the morning over here, so if I've made any daft grammar mistakes sorry.

more pics

Last few pics

nice :) I was originally planning on mounting my BIX240 up there but that ended in tragedy so it's nice to see a fellow UKian getting the job done properly :D

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Originally Posted by eXceededgoku

nice :) I was originally planning on mounting my BIX240 up there but that ended in tragedy so it's nice to see a fellow UKian getting the job done properly :D

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Thanks mate.:up:

At first I tought I was beaten, but I worked my way around all the problems.

It took me all day though.

You can't use any rad thicker than 30mm. The EVGA 680i is a right headache when it comes to putting anything up top

Man that looks very very nice keep up the good work

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Originally Posted by ladderman

Thanks mate.:up:

At first I tought I was beaten, but I worked my way around all the problems.

It took me all day though.

You can't use any rad thicker than 30mm. The EVGA 680i is a right headache when it comes to putting anything up top

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I admire the work and planning you put into this. Keep it up. I'm sure I could use some pointers like that for future TJ-07 builds for coworkers and colleagues.

thats just beautiful craftsmanship. excellent job!

Good job, mate! Very clean and nice !

Good job!!! That looks great.

Nice modding job!

great work! thanks for the pics :clap: :D

As I promised here are a few photos of adapting the fans to fit.

You can see by the photos one or two resistors, and the mofest cooler would not allow the fans to go back far enough to screw down.

I had to use the good old Dremel to grind some of the plastic off. At one point I thought the fan blades might still
catch things when they were spinning, but with relief it turned out ok.

I also had to countersink the screw holes in the fans because the fans would not fit if the screws stood proud.

If you have a good look at some of the close up photos you can see just how tight things really are. The cpu fan pins are about a miller meter off the fan.

It’s taken me about three hours this morning to finish it off, and I’m please it’s over cos it’s not for the faint hearted ha ha.

I hope this will be of some help to anyone who want to do the same.

I would like to thank everybody for there kind remarks:up:

And some more

Talk about nuts & bolts!!!!!!!

Lol :rofl:
Fans are too close to your mobo :D
Isn't it a littlebit risky :confused:
Anyway great work man. Nice mod :up:

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Originally Posted by SharkerSk

Lol :rofl:
Fans are too close to your mobo :D
Isn't it a littlebit risky :confused:
Anyway great work man. Nice mod :up:

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Yes the fans are very close to the motherboard, but they are not touching any part of it, so I can’t see how there could be any problem with their proximity.

The fans are made from plastic, so there is no chance of any short circuit.

If you think there could be anything else that could be a problem please let me know:)

now that is a very tight fit ;)

Nice job ladderman!

I'm currently attempting to add a rad to the top of my TJ07 and ran into the same issues that you have. Question: If you moved the fans to between the mesh screen and the rad, would this be to detrimental to the cooling? If venting out the top this would make it a pull config instead of a push.

The reason I ask is you can gain about 3/32" to 1/8" with the fans in the recess of the mesh instead of loosing that extra 3/32" since rads are too wide to fit in that recess. My current working plan is to cut the mesh for the two 120mm fans allowing much more air flow and attach a radgrillz on top of the screen. I understand that ladderman's intentions were to do this without cutting or drilling the screen at the top, but I have a spare screen that I don't mind whittling up.

What do you guys think?

I think since heat rises the heat that you are "pulling" through the radiator will go back into the radiator and get trapped in your case causing the ambient to rise incredibly.

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Originally Posted by vladimir

Nice job ladderman!

I'm currently attempting to add a rad to the top of my TJ07 and ran into the same issues that you have. Question: If you moved the fans to between the mesh screen and the rad, would this be to detrimental to the cooling? If venting out the top this would make it a pull config instead of a push.

The reason I ask is you can gain about 3/32" to 1/8" with the fans in the recess of the mesh instead of loosing that extra 3/32" since rads are too wide to fit in that recess. My current working plan is to cut the mesh for the two 120mm fans allowing much more air flow and attach a radgrillz on top of the screen. I understand that ladderman's intentions were to do this without cutting or drilling the screen at the top, but I have a spare screen that I don't mind whittling up.

What do you guys think?

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Hi valdimir.

Yes you could gain a little extra space if you mount the fan next to the grill before the rad. I looked at that option when I was planning, as you can tell by the photo I’ve attached.

I almost thought I would have to do it that way because of how tight it is doing it, rad>fan.

If you do put the fan next to the grill you may get better cooling by pulling air from outside the case rather than pulling up through the rad.

This is my first attempt at watercooling so you’d be better off starting a thread on that subject, then you would get help from guys who have a lot more knowledge than I have.

Hope the photo helps you in your decision. (THAT PHOTO IS TAKEN WITH THE CASE UPSIDE DOWN)

Let me know how you get on.

Good look

hmm the case fan rad setup looks better for some reason... besides that extra space...