Electric Fan/Alternator Experts needed

mikemustang289 · Oct 4, 2006

I'm looking to ditch the mechanical fan for a dual Spal electric setup I've had my eye on for a while.

I want to have the fans controlled by a thermostat and I would like to be able to have the fans run possibly on a timer after the car is turned off to control heat soak.

I also will need to ditch the stock alternator to handle to fans. In the future I plan to run an electric water pump as well.

what do I need to purchase to accomplish this install? What type/brand of thermostat control/timer and alternator?

This is for a 68 mustang.

NasaGT · Oct 4, 2006

http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=661502

67Dylan · Oct 4, 2006

NasaGT said:
http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=661502

Read that, then if you have any questions ask. I believe almost all your questions should be answered tho...

Sicarius428 · Oct 4, 2006

For a controler look at www.dccontrol.com . They offer a dual output to control your e-water pump and e-fan. The dual spal is a really good choice. You will definately want a 3G alt. You can purchase a kit from www.paperformance.com .
Kevin

mikemustang289 · Oct 4, 2006

The DCC controls seem to only have the probe type temp sensors that are wedged in the radiator fins. Is there anyway to control the fan and water pump with an actual thermostat temp sensor mounted in the intake manifold?

Also, I don't see a controller for dual fans? Would I need two separate controllers in this case?

Sicarius428 · Oct 4, 2006

In the case of the DCC, they offer a splitter to use for a dual fan setup in the accessories page so you only need one controller. Unfortunately I don't know of any with a probe setup. Honestly I didn't look farther than the DCC though.
Kevin

67Dylan · Oct 4, 2006

mikemustang289 said:
Is there anyway to control the fan and water pump with an actual thermostat temp sensor mounted in the intake manifold?

Also, I don't see a controller for dual fans? Would I need two separate controllers in this case?

Why would you want to control the fan from the intake manifold?

The dual fans will do you no good. Get a Taurus or Mark VIII fan. What are you worried about 'heat soak' for? That shouldn't be a problem, except for starters too close to exhaust. The rest of the motor will be fine w/a proper cooling system.

mikemustang289 · Oct 5, 2006

Well I guess it would make more sense to take a temp reading from the lower radiator hose but one of the controllers seems to have an electical lead that attaches to the thermostat housing to read the temp.

I don't like the ****ty temp probes that wedge in the radiator, not only that there is no room for the shroud unless I start cutting it up. And those probes screw up part of the radiator fins and personally I just don't like the way they look.

I can't fit a taurus fan in my car, there is not enough room between the rad and w/p pulley. It's also much harder to make a taurus fan look clean because there really is no effective way to mount it. The dual fan setup comes with a shroud to fit my radiator and it thin enough to clear the w/p.

I won't have cooling issues because currently the car has a mechanical fan with no shroud and the only time the temp gets up is idling at a standstill for long periods of time, such as in traffic. The reason I don't want heat soak is becase when I am waiting in line at the track, I don't want to have to keep the car running to keep the fans on and temp down. As soon as I start the car before I do the burnout the car is hot from all the heat absorded when the motor is turned off and left to cool on its own.

67Dylan · Oct 5, 2006

A reading from the lower hose tells the temp of the water leaving the radiator. Once the 'fluid exchange' happens the fluid leaving is much cooler than the fluid coming into the radiator. SO, when will the fan power on? I know it will be temp based, but at what 'range'?

How much room do you have? You can trim the shroud if needed and of course move it around right/left. But if you don't want to, no big deal just trying to help out.

Do you hot lap or let the car cool & tune between passes? One thing I've always done is prop the hood & push the car until you are ready to go to the burnout box. If you race at Firebird, you'll have time to let the car cool off enough. I don't know if that will work for you, but it has worked for me and plenty of other racers. Again, just trying to help out here.

fastback brian · Oct 5, 2006

You would want a fan controller temp sensor to be located at the engine, same place or near the coolant temp sensor.. its the engine you want at 160-180 not the radiator.... But beside all that if you still have a stock radiator, fan, shround and your car only gets hot at idle and heat soaks at the track then try an electric water pump drive and keep your fan setup. I used that setup for years and it worked great, cooled the same but I could run the pump and fan with the engine off.

mikemustang289 · Oct 6, 2006

That is what I would like to be able to do, run the fan and pump in line while waiting at the track, that way the engine will be cool before I make every run.

I an not running the stock radiator anymore, I have a 27x19 aluminum radiator and it cools much better than stock, but I ran an electric fan with my stock radiator and it still got too hot.

A decent electric fan will work for my setup since the unshrouded fan does next to nothing at idle currently.

I would really just like to go with an electric pump for the free power plus I think it looks much better.

67Dylan · Oct 6, 2006

fastback brian said:
You would want a fan controller temp sensor to be located at the engine, same place or near the coolant temp sensor.. its the engine you want at 160-180 not the radiator....

Brian, you'd want the temp controller to be more near the neck/thermostat housing. Stock location tells the current temp in the car so if it's at 180, but the fluid that was just let into the radiator is 200 then how can it get properly cooled?

Mike, when you ran the stock rad and electric fan... what kind of fan was it? Low CFM fans need to be avoided which is why I recmnd the Taurus/Mark VIII fan.

mikemustang289 · Oct 6, 2006

It was a flex-a-lite fan made for 5.0's. the rad was innefficient to begin with, stock radiators are garbage. I had to sell that fan because it wouldn't fit with the new radiator.

I think the spal fans are around 1500cfm each, two should be fine for my setup.

Sicarius428 · Oct 6, 2006

The dual spal is awesome. It covers most of the radiator which a lot of fans just don't do. A lot of larger fans have a huge center part which doesn't pull any air so its really dead space between where the blades connect to the hub. My thinking is you really don't want a temp reading before the thermostat because it will turn on the fan on high or full before it gets to the thermostat to regulate the flow or temp of the engine. This thinking will also negate any cooling ability of whatever radiator unless the controler is calibrated for that model. Temp taken right before the outlet is a good control because it negates the radiator's, thermostat, and water pump's capabilities. Some radiators will cool a lot better than others. I may be wrong but that is how I always imagined it working. The probe is not very nice to look at and it does bend a couple of fins so I do understand why a threaded probe would be nicer.
Kevin

ForceFed70 · Oct 13, 2006

67Dylan said:
Brian, you'd want the temp controller to be more near the neck/thermostat housing. Stock location tells the current temp in the car so if it's at 180, but the fluid that was just let into the radiator is 200 then how can it get properly cooled?

I'm with Brian with this one. Who cares what the radiator temp is... it's the engine I'm worried about. If the engine gets too hot, then the fluid in the radiator is too hot.

While measuring the temp in the radiator/theromostat housing will work, the key objective is to run the fan as little as possible yet still keep the engine cool. The best way to do this is to measure the temp of the engine directly. If you look at newer cars, this is the way they measure temp to controll the fan. The only reason aftermarket fans don't do the same is because of the difficulty of adding another temp sensor to the intake manifold.

67Dylan · Oct 13, 2006

BottleFed70 said:
I'm with Brian with this one. Who cares what the radiator temp is... it's the engine I'm worried about. If the engine gets too hot, then the fluid in the radiator is too hot.

While measuring the temp in the radiator/theromostat housing will work, the key objective is to run the fan as little as possible yet still keep the engine cool. The best way to do this is to measure the temp of the engine directly. If you look at newer cars, this is the way they measure temp to controll the fan. The only reason aftermarket fans don't do the same is because of the difficulty of adding another temp sensor to the intake manifold.

I reread the posts Brian & I made; we are talking about the same thing. Both of us, citing different locations, ARE saying to measure the engine water temp; NOT the radiator temp.
I agree w/you, who cares what the radiator temp is when wanting to control the fans. The temp sensor location is the only difference, which as you pointed out in your last sentance "The only reason aftermarket fans don't do the same is because of the difficulty of adding another temp sensor to the intake manifold", is why I suggested the t-stat neck. My t-stat neck has a boss that will accept a sensor, which is where a lot of car manufacturers put them. Sorry if there was any confusion

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