Ok, first I will explain what I have going on before laying the questions on ya'. I have a 1950 chevy 1/2 ton truck on a s10 frame. I am running a sbc 350 with a 350 tranny out of a 4dr 72 chevelle. They are pretty much stock now but I will probably add a 4bbl in the future. I have the original 1950 radiator installed, but will probably need to get one of those desert cooler rads. to seriously drive it. Anyway, there just doesn't seem to be any room to get a engine driven fan in, and the engine sits too low to allow cooling if I could get it in. Instead I am stuck using an electric fan in front of the radiator. My questions are what is a suitable pusher fan to cool this thing down. I was looking at a zirgo 3300cfm "S" blade 16 inch unit. It has a lifetime warranty and is in my budget but I have heard a few bad things. Anyone with exprience on these fans or this type of situation? What should I run? Second, I got to get a transmission cooler, I was looking at those aluminum finned heat sink looking deals on ebay. It will probably be mounted on the splash pan in front of the radiator and the fan. Anyone use one of these and what size do I need, They have a 15inch dual pass type I am considering, but if a 12inch will do the job they seem to be easier to find and cheaper. Let me know before I waste a bunch of money!
I have a 47 ford convertible with a 305 sbc in it. I am using the stock radiator with a the same fan that you described. The cooling is borderline at 90* ambiant temp. The fan doesn't seem to move much air in the pusher mode when I put my hand behind the radiator. Supposedly the fan is shipped configured in the pusher mode, which is how I installed it. I may try turning the blade around and changing the rotation to see if it gets any better. At this point the fan doesn't seem to be good enough for stand alone cooling. I was going to add a/c also, but I'll never be able to run it in traffic. I think I'm gonna have serious problems when the temp gets up to 115*
if you can possibly rig up the fan as a puller, do it. Even if it means doing some metalwork to move the radiator forward.
get a fan that fits your space that pushes as much air as posible. also get a stat to turn the fan off when it's not needed running the fan all the time make the fans burn out and it can stop air flow at freeway speed. trany coolsI've installed a bunch I have put them in front of the radiator but like them mount under the cab better. they cool just as well you dont have to make a mile of cooler line cheers Dustin
As said a puller fan works better than a pusher if you can get it in. Spal is the best. For the tranny cooler mount a good sized one in front of the radiator or if you put it underneath try one from PermaCool with a fan. I'm using one on my cpe and it's mounted way back by the rear-end and it does a good job. Put the fan on a switch so that it's not running if you don't need it and use a tranny temp gauge.
Hit the late model bone yards. Lots of variation in electric fans and all cars come with them now. And I'll bet the price will be better. Make a cardboard mock up of how much space you have to work with and take it with you. Then you can easily compare size and configurations. If you have a digital camera, take some pics of your situation, print them out, and take them with you. They'll be more accurate than your memory when it comes to the little details of what you're trying to do.
I wish I could set up a puller but as it is right now there is about an 1.5 inches between the water pump pulley and the radiator. I am not loving the idea of moving the radiator foward because I would have to pretty much cut the upper rad support off, since I have it on a s10 frame I cut the bottom of the support off to clear the steering gear, the upper support is where most of the front sheetmetal is mounted from. I am afraid things might get pretty sloppy if I start cutting into that. Sounds like Zirgo's cfm claims are exagerated to the point of not even being useful. Do the extruded aluminum trans coolers work well, they look nice but looking nice doesn't get the job done.
The tranny cooler in front of your radiator won't help you much. Really, the tranny cooler doesn't need a much airflow as you think, unless you're hauling a trailer or heavy loads in the bed. Reputable sources claim that the front yoke of your driveshaft throws out enough air for a tranny cooler, so you can mount it back there. I'll totally agree on the puller fan if you can do it. Also, you might want to add a kill switch for the fan, no matter which side of the radiator it goes on. I've seen more than once where an electric fan can actually IMPEDE air flow at hiway speeds, as the air naturally going over the radiator is more than the capacity of the fan, so they overheat @ 70mph, but do ok at the stoplights. Vintage Air sells some real good fans-- pricey, but you get what you pay for. And make sure you get a fan that's set up as a pusher or puller, whichever you decide you really have to have. I'll also agree that you need to get the biggest one you can fit in there. I can't remember who makes them, and don't have any personal experience, but a bunch of the fiberglass & billet crowd where I lived in NC ran a special aluminum waterpump on their SBCs. This wp was cast so it actually raised the pump and pulley up a couple inches (Still mounted to the stock wp holes in the engine block), then it had bosses cast into it for mounting your alternator (and air compressor). This let the dudes run a mech. fan in a car with a deuce grille.
I wasn't planning on running a manual kill switch but I am planning on using a fixed temp themo. switch and relay. From what I have seen adding a kill switch to the relay wiring should be no problem and might be a good idea from what you say. mounting the tranny cooler on the transmission crossmember might be the way to go, didn't think of the yoke as a way to move air but it makes sense.
I have a 53 chevy pickup with the 350/350 combo. No room to mount the manual fan. Went with a 16" electric straight blade puller fan, came in a brown box (generic sister company of spal). Mounted it a little offcenter of the radiator (new heavy duty 6cyl), so it would clear the wp pulley. Have a thermostatic switch that is supposed to turn on at 180, but rarely gets there. As far as the tranny cooler, it is a cheapo, greasy, and seems to work just fine. as stated, it doesn't really need that much flow. Mine is mounted on the underside of the front fender. I've only had this truck running for a couple days now since I got it, but so far it seems to be running good. Good luck Tito
You have 1.5" betwen the water pump pully and the radiator? That is enough room to run a mechanical fan. I probably have that much room or less in my comet. I dont think you really want the fan more than an inch away from the radiator anyway.
I think the engine driven fan will sit too low to draw air properly through the rad. , I am also worried the fan blades might contact the lower hose. I should take pics, maybe this weekend...
ZIP make a water pump riser that raises the fan 5 and 1/2 inches.... (shown above ) and it uses standard SBC short water pump pulleys......and a Chevrolet water pump.....about $200 ..... I run the ZIP on my 32 Roadster and have a new one for my under construction 32 3W...... Install a ZIP and fix the radiator to clear..........END OF PROBLEM....
I reccomend looking at the spal website--I got TWO 17 inch fans stuffed between a big block, a vortec blower and the stock pulley set up. they have a "thin line" fan that is SUPER thin and pulls 7000 cfm. with both fired up, it would literally noticably pull air from about 3 feet in front of the truck (90 454 chevy) it also had a GIANT ron davis radiator in it. I only had 1.5 to 2 inches between it and the motor for 1/2 of the radiator. they also pulled 40 amps as a pair. (which is alot, but we ran 2 optimas to combat cooling problems) they have "burst panels" in them as well, so when the air "coming in" overpowers the pull amount of the fan, it allows the shroud to open up. slick set up and easy cheesy to install. the "rail type" cool looking trans coolers pretty much suck. they are either exactly 1 inch too long to fit anywhere realistic, or too short to cool down the fluid. the mulit pass coolers work much better. I like the perma cools alot because the fittings allow for more than 1 way to attach a hose (or line,or braided stainless...whatever) the brackets make them easy to mount ( versus zip ties or other b.s.) and the fin count is about double the el cheapo version. I used to get all paranoid about how much air moved across them until I tested one on a vehicle I thought was having a line pressure problem-- sitting in the shop, at idle , with the cooler on a rollie stool face down, it STILL dropped the tranny line temp about 60 degrees. that's a bitchin' cooler,yo. hope this helps out. Good Luck! Lux
That ZIP thing looks interesting, do you have any contact info on the company? Does anything else need changed to mount the other belt driven accessories?
Try custom auto radiator they have a variety of fans. Maybe two small ones so the motor hub is not inline with your waterpump hub.
I run a Walker radiator with a COOLING COMPONENTS elect. fan and shroud. Adjustable temp. thermostat . I hooked up a overide switch in case the adjust. thermostat shoots craps, which it has before. This way I can turn the fan on or off when needed. Right now I'm running the trans lines thru the radiator but going to change over to a remote cooler to take a little of the strain off the engine cooling system.
It is a completely BOLT ON deal... Nothing else required......and has a built in alternator and A?C mount cast into the housing. It uses standard SBC short water pump pulleys....and a 6 cylinder 230 - 250 6 Cylinder Chevrolet pump....( which shares the impeller with a SBC V8 ) so it cools great... Parr Automotive sells them........as well as most good street rod supply shops....Parr has them for $229......... http://www.parrautomotive.com/ Look under Zip as a manufacturer and the info will show a photo and ordering info....
Thanks for the info, I really like the idea of moving the fan up to become useful. I'll have to save up for it. In the meantime I began reworking the engine mounting to move the engine back, think I might get about 2 inches more from that. Didn't do it before because there is some clearance issues with the motor mounts and the upper control arm mounts but I am going to trim the motor mount to fit. Doing all of this probably sets me back a month in terms of progress but I hope by doing it now I will end up with something fun and reliable. Let you know how the repositioning pans out.
I am working on my first "old" truck right now, a 41 ford with a 289, and so far have a pretty limited knowledge about it. I am running an electric fan, that is connected to a switch, not the ignition, to turn it on or off. It is not cooling the engine at all, and so far what I have gotten from all of these posts is that the puller fan is the ideal way to go, with a kill switch for freeway driving. What is the difference with having the shroud? If I have the room does it make sense to have it? I really want to be able to drive this in the heat without having to worry about overheating, so I would like to put in the most realiable setup.
If your working on a 1930s vehicle: When you move that engine, make sure you take into account clearances for: -Spark Plug Wire Boots to the Steering shaft. -Some way to actually be able to take the oil filter on and off. -Exhaust manifold to steering clearance. -Exhaust manifold to Frame clearance. -Somewhere to run the exhaust tail pipe. -Master Cylinder and lines clearance. -If it is a chevy Engine, make room for Distributor removal - Brake Pedal (Clutch also if applicable) Movement if using under floor M/C. -Accelator Linkages/cable -Room for your starter
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