I'm looking into taking off the flex-fan I have on my '66 Toro, and switching to an electric fan, or, given the voluminous size of the radiator, probably a pair of electrics. I'm told that "puller" configuration is better than "pusher", but as for the fan itself, which is better, the straight-blade or the S-blade? Who makes a good quality, long-lasting fan? Which would be better- an adjustable temp controller or a simple fixed temperature switch? I'll be converting to EFI (part of the reason I might go electric- to get the stock fan out of the way of the throttlebody air snorkel) which will need its own temp sender. Can I use that with a standalone relay for the fan? If I have two fans, should I have them come on together or just one, then the other only if it exceeds a set temp? For the latter case, who makes a good controller that can handle dual temps? Is such a thing made? Basically, what's the best setup for switching to electric cooling fans? Doc.
I have a Cooling Components for the 32, came with the shroud, worked well. Have the engine in a T roadster now, had a Painless switch, with relay, went put on me @ Roundup, car overheated, I'm going to a manual switch with same relay for now, fan on T is set up as a pusher, no room for puller, not happy with it. Going to have to figure something out.
I have always designed my own from junkyard fans and relays ect. from NAPA. I get their application guide and it gives all the values, thread sizes ect. for OEM parts and you can design your system without trial and error. The best fan I found was from a 2.6 K-car but the dual one off some of the older Caravans works good too. The K car fan may not cool an a/c equipped Torosaurus in the dessert. It does come encased in a shroud that fit quite nicely in the F-100 I put it in.
From my understanding the difference between the S blade and straight blade designs is fan noise, S type ones are quieter. The best fans I have ever seen (excluding KISS groupies) for sheer volume of air moved is a electric pusher fan (S type blade) on a 95 E class Mercedes. (Although a lot of early-mid 90's mercedes had the same deal) they spin like a M-F and blow more air than your mother in law at christmas dinner. They are also huge and relatively quiet. The only problem with them is they have a snub nose which prtrudes forward about 3/4 inch from the front of the fan making the depth of the whole unit about 3.5 - 4 inches. I assume this snub nose is because the fan motor itself sits inside the fan hub. They are a front mount fan so they can be hidden nicely. I think it is a A/C fan rather than a cooling fan because mercedes have a pair of fans on the backside of the rad for the cooling part. If it is too big for your needs the next best one I can recommend is a pair of A/C fans off an Audi 100 or 80. (from the early 90's again) These are really really noisy but for their size they do there job fan-didddly-o-tastic (no pun intended) These are a straight blade pull type fan. they are very very deep though about 5-6 inches in overall depth including the motor. If you want to get a brand new fan that is shallow and efficent, one of them 17" generic auto parts ones is fine but get the A/C version cos they move more air and for some reason are cheaper than the "cooling"fans It seems A/C fans are used to short high energy bursts of speed so they pump more air in a shorter length of time. I dunno how they handle extended periods of use though. If it were me and I was using an electric fan, Id put the fan on a driver operated switch and keep a good eye on the temp gauge. PS. the best type of fan I found for my own vehicle was to stick with an aftermarket 17" mechanical fan, I know.... they are noisy, they suck horsepower and man are they dangerous without a shroud when in an exposed engine bay. But it seems to work best for my needs. Cheers, hope this helps
The most reliable cooling setup is a properly installed belt-driven clutch fan. That said... I have two 10" zirgo fans in my garage that cooled the A really well, but didn't fit with the style of the car. Something about an A with a Nailhead with electric fans just didn't work visually. Send me $50 to cover 1/2 my cost and shipping and I'll UPS them to your door.
Sounds similar to what I'm using in my Morris. It's made by Kenlowe and advertised as either an auxiliary fan or a replacement for your mechanical fan. I wired it up for testing and it puts out enough air to blow my car inside out! It's mounted on aluminum straps to the rad surround as I hate the idea of clamping anything to my soft brass core. I blagged it off my dad as he used it on his Volvo for towing. I'm running an electric water pump too, so hope to have the whole shebang operated by thermo switches or a controller, so it all works automatically. Electric pump installation:
Walker makes a nice rig with a shroud. Also, see my post on the electric fan switch. pigpen http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32829
Yup that one of your dads Volvo is exactly like I am thinking of. even looks the same as a mercedes one.
Some to chew on, thanks. Next question: My radiator is 28" wide at the core. Should I cover as much as possible with fans (say, two 12" or 14") or just go with one big 16" fan? Also: On the temp switches, are they just switches? As in, when the set temperature is reached, contact is made, on/off? I assume that's different from a temperature sensor which has a variable (ohm?) reading so a controller of some kind can switch on the fan? Doc.
two 14" sounds the go but I would check the width of the fans before you buy them because I don't know if the 14" is the fan width or the width of the overall unit including the shroud. the more fans the better, justvwatch your current draw though especially if you are running a gennie, the battery won't last long idling on a cruise with 2 monster fans draining it.
Most of the early OEM fan controllers are just switches. Single wire ones just ground the wire at the set temperature. The two wire ones connect the two terminals. Some of the early Chrysler minivans used a low temp two wire switch, that switches on at just over 180. Napa has good discriptions of the on/off temps of OEM switches. You should run a relay as most of the OEM setups use one. I suspect the switches can't handle the amps of wiring the fans directly. I run a minivan switch with an idiot light on the fan circuit so I know when the fan is running.
My bud runs a 16" Spal on his "A". Don't bother with the "s" curved blades. He has a straight blade Spal in one car and curved Spal in the other andthe noise difference ain't shit. Not worth the diff in price. He also sets his up with a relay and manual switch but wires in an idiot light to come on when the fan is not on. The light reminds him to check the guage and turn it on to make the light go out. Makes sense to me!!
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