Another E-fan install ?'s thread

[Makdaddymac]

okay i'm battling overheating issues and im going to replace my radiator fan and alternator.

i already have my 3g wiring stuff,just hunting a 3g alternator down on craigs. as for a radiator i was going to go buy one at autozone but im trying to get a 3core or at least a quality peice. but my main question is the fan.

i want a basic e-fan that will kick on high speed with key on. i can find a power source, it just choice of fan. do i have to get a taurus fan or mark viii. not that it matters but i see universal 12-16" e fan for 20.00 on ebay they just have a simple ground and 12v wire hook up and im sure would get the job done...not saying a taurus fan can't be found for 20.00 but im just asking. and is one fan truly enough? what cfm's are required to cool the ol 5.0 better than the mechanical fan...

 

[Darkwriter77]

FWIW, I have a 16" universal fan (I think it's a Hayden - got it at Checker) in my '89 that I've been running for like 5 years now without any issues. I have it hooked up to run full-time. Between that and the 3-core radiator and 180* T-stat I also have in there, I've never once seen the temperature go over the halfway mark in that car.

The Taurus and Mark VIII fans will draw a LOT more amps running in high-speed mode than a universal fan ever will. Honestly, if you go with one of those two fans, you'd be better off running it full-time with the LOW-speed side and then having the high-speed side on a switch of one kind or another - either a manual or thermostatic switch and/or wired to kick on when you use your A/C.

 

[Jaym14]

I had a black magic fan when my motor was first built and had heating issues with it.... went back to clutch fan and it was ok.. but still not great... since I've upgraded to a taurus fan and Delta controller and its works amazingly well.

 

[Makdaddymac]

darkwriter do you use a/c?

and honestly i like mechanical fans better but without a clutch,im thinking about making my fan permanent.

 

[Darkwriter77]

darkwriter do you use a/c?

and honestly i like mechanical fans better but without a clutch,im thinking about making my fan permanent.

On my '89, no; on my '84, yes. The A/C was already deleted on my '89 before I got it and it already had a (very poorly rigged) electric fan in place, so I just beefed up what was already there by upgrading the alternator to a 3G, throwing in a bigger radiator (old one was leaking), and putting on a slightly larger fan while I was putting in the new radiator.

On my '84, I've got a mechanical fan and (I think) a 1-core radiator. On the highway, it stays perfectly cool and happy, and the A/C will make your nipples HARD. However, in city traffic, I avoid using the A/C at all because the engine temps start to creep up a bit more than I'd like, and the A/C doesn't blow nearly as cold (around 50-55*F, rather than the 36-40*F I get on the highway) because there's not enough air moving over the condensor and because the dinky little 1-core radiator just isn't quite cuttin' it. I've already got a 3G on that car and I was thinking about putting on an electric fan, but I just didn't feel like messing with all of the wiring crap and, when the fan clutch crapped out, it was cheaper just to buy a new fan clutch and throw it on than switch fan types.

I've got mixed feelings on both types of fans. Electrical fans free up horsepower, quiet the car down, and make the engine bay look cleaner, but they're expensive (especially when you factor in the cost of a 3G swap on top of that to do it right) and it's hard to find a good fan for really cheap anymore, since EVERYONE wants a Taurus or Mark VIII fan these days. (Extremely difficult to find them at a junkyard now.) Mechanical fans are much simpler and cheaper, and you don't have to mess with any potential wiring problems (no blown fuses or faulty relays or bad connections or failed switches or whatever), but they make the car sound like a Hoover vacuum cleaner on steroids, they're ugly as hell IMO, and they create a lot of drag.

On my '84, it's my DD, so I really don't care about making it fast or fancy at all; on my '89, that's my weekend beast, and I don't care about creature comforts like A/C and such, so I just run the bare minimum of everything I can with it.

 

[Makdaddymac]

i agree with you traditional is more reliable in this case. i think just a 3core upgrade and new fan clutch and im good. i already am doing a 3g install but that is just cause i have ud pulleys and i want to install a amp/subwoofer.

i know this is not the normal mod here, but i was thinking about making the current fan straight up belt driven (clutch delete) this would of course create more drag tahn stock(right??). im stuck here at this point. i could lose some hp, replace the clutch and be the same, or spend the extra dough and go e-fan and maybe pick up some hp. either way i doubt my butt dyno is going to feel the hp difference. at the end of the day its just about keeping the car at a good temp. I am def. getting a nice new replacement at least 2core maybe 3 core but def n ot 1 core(no offense,i know they are the cheapest and help the wallet)....

right now i'm sleeping on it,and want to here some opinions on just making the fan clutch less,im assuming i would just have to install an old school fan and what size would fit in the shroud...would this really hurt hp at high speeds? im also assumig i would need to have a way to put the an in the sweet spot in the shroud to help with directing airflow...need some suggestions to go old school or just replace the clutch?

 

[LarsD]

i agree with you traditional is more reliable in this case. i think just a 3core upgrade and new fan clutch and im good. i already am doing a 3g install but that is just cause i have ud pulleys and i want to install a amp/subwoofer.

i know this is not the normal mod here, but i was thinking about making the current fan straight up belt driven (clutch delete) this would of course create more drag tahn stock(right??). im stuck here at this point. i could lose some hp, replace the clutch and be the same, or spend the extra dough and go e-fan and maybe pick up some hp. either way i doubt my butt dyno is going to feel the hp difference. at the end of the day its just about keeping the car at a good temp. I am def. getting a nice new replacement at least 2core maybe 3 core but def n ot 1 core(no offense,i know they are the cheapest and help the wallet)....

right now i'm sleeping on it,and want to here some opinions on just making the fan clutch less,im assuming i would just have to install an old school fan and what size would fit in the shroud...would this really hurt hp at high speeds? im also assumig i would need to have a way to put the an in the sweet spot in the shroud to help with directing airflow...need some suggestions to go old school or just replace the clutch?

Flex fans (IE fixed fans) are very meh IMO. I've had all three and I'd run a clutch fan first, electric fan second, and a flex fan as my last choice. Not only do they eat up HP, but they are dangerous as well. Only real advantage, is they always move air.

 

[Darkwriter77]

My '84 had a flex fan on it when I bought it. Lynn had one on her Capri when I met her. Both fans are now gone and in the trash, and not missed at all by either of us. I HATE flex fans.

They're a royal PITA to work around because you can't rotate them slightly to access the bolts easier whenever you have to remove the fan for something, and they'll cut the piss out of your forearms in the process because those blades are razor-sharp. After trying to sell it for like a month I finally just wound up tossing the stupid thing in the garbage. And if you think a fan with a seized fan clutch is annoyingly loud, you ain't heard nothing 'till you've rocked a flex fan. Hoover vacuum cleaner from hell. They also have a nasty reputation for flying apart sometimes and slicing through things like coolant hoses, radiators, hoods, human flesh, etc.

And, FYI, they do NOT cool any better than a proper OEM fan and fan clutch because the blades flatten out at higher RPM. Basically, above 2,000 RPM, they don't really pull ANY air at all, they just make a crapload of noise. An OEM fan with one of those "severe duty" fan clutches driving it would be about the absolute most air-moving setup you could go with; I hate those "severe duty" fan clutches because they're just about as loud as a flex fan, but at least you don't have to worry about them slinging sharp metal blades around and there is SOME slippage to those (they're not 100% engaged at all times) so they're easier to work around because you can turn the fan slightly when the engine is off.

FWIW, I've had a regular fan clutch, a "severe duty" fan clutch, and a flex fan on my '84 with the same radiator and such. The regular and HD fan clutches cooled exactly the same (although the regular one isn't NEARLY as noisy and doesn't cut into my gas mileage), and the flex fan actually did WORSE than the other two; with my current setup, it never gets above the 1/4 mark unless I'm rocking the A/C in stop-and-go traffic, but with the flex fan, it would hang around the 1/2 mark in normal driving without even using the A/C.

 

[Makdaddymac]

okay okay you guys win.....
i will replace the clutch with another one, and go get a 3core radiator.

 

[LarsD]

okay okay you guys win.....
i will replace the clutch with another one, and go get a 3core radiator.

Be aware, with a three core and a clutch fan, you might end up with the fan hitting the shroud (assuming you are running one). I went through this last weekend when I was replacing my radiator. I ended up with a HD radiator from Autozone cause I couldn't get anything else to work.

 

[Darkwriter77]

Be aware, with a three core and a clutch fan, you might end up with the fan hitting the shroud (assuming you are running one). I went through this last weekend when I was replacing my radiator. I ended up with a HD radiator from Autozone cause I couldn't get anything else to work.

Hmmm ... first I've ever heard of that happening. The center section of a radiator doesn't stick out any farther than the side tanks, so if your fan doesn't extend any farther forward than the side tanks, it should clear just fine. I would think if it's close enough to contact the fan, maybe you've got an issue with your radiator mounts or radiator support - maybe evidence of a prior wreck where things got pushed inward, or bent radiator mounts?

Usually, the issue with 3-core radiators is that they're just getting hard to find new, anymore. Some moron in the RediRad company (or whatever manufacturer supplies all the major parts stores) decided that it was okay to play the bait-and-switch game with people by having Autozone/Checker/everyone list a 3-core radiator as being available for order ... but when it shows up, it's actually just a 2-core (which they claim is "heavy duty" and equivalent to a 3-core ). Apparently, they're substituting 2's for 3's, perhaps to save money ... but yet they're still charging the same price for a 2-core as they do for a 3-core, which is a total rip-off. Had to go through this with many a pissed-off customer when I worked at Autozone.

If you're talking about a 3-core aftermarket performance radiator, not an OEM-replacement 3-core, then that's a whole different story...