going back to mechanical fan, stock clutch type or straight mechanical??

Foxfan88 · Aug 20, 2006

i have been having cooling issues lately. I had a little 12 inch fan that cooled my car OK, but if you sat in traffic it would get warm.

I went to oreilys and bought a 60$ 16 inch fan, i figured it would flow more than the littel 12 incher. it was blowing the wrong way, i flipped the blade and reversed the wiring and it still didnt cool at all. Started getting hot and once i got on the highway it cooled down real fast so its the fan for sure. I looked the tob and it flows only 1500 cfm O_O not near enough.

i am tired of electric fans i would rather have a mech fan again, i;d rather have a little parasitic drag than the engine overheating..

so should i just buy a new fan a clutch assembly or go straight fan without a clutch??

88 Fox GT · Aug 20, 2006

So it's overheating because the fan doesn't flow enough?

TheUser · Aug 20, 2006

with all of the threads about electric fans and the overwhelming love for taurus and mark 8 fans, I would assume you'd get one of those. A lot of times, the cheap ($60 is kinda cheap for a new electric fan) auto-store fans are not what you need for a V8.

If you want a mechanical fan, go for it; they still work well on a lot of cars.

If you want an electrical fan, I'd suggest a 3.8L v6 taurus fan from a junk yard; mine was $50 and it was from a 1993. Taurus fans flow about 3000cfm as far as I know, and Mark 8's flow about 4000ish cfm. I'd also suggest a DCC unit (www.dccontrol.com). It'll cost you roughly $175 for the fan and the controller, but you should not have any cooling problems at all.

With my taurus fan, I can feel it blowing from under the car when I step out of the drivers side

GearHd6 · Aug 20, 2006

I'd get a clutch fan, at least then the fan is only running when it needs to be and not all the time. When you're rolling down the highway or any road at a good speed you dont need the fan at all so a regular fan would be just robbing you of power.

795.0pacecar · Aug 20, 2006

A clutch fan still robs power and puts stress on the water pump. I think the taurus fans flow over 3000 cfm, like closer to 4000 because Im pretty sure they use the same motor and fan blades that the mark VIII fan does just in a smaller housing. I got my taurus fan for $35 shipped on ebay.

TENGRAM · Aug 20, 2006

Foxfan88 said:
i have been having cooling issues lately. I had a little 12 inch fan that cooled my car OK, but if you sat in traffic it would get warm.

I went to oreilys and bought a 60$ 16 inch fan, i figured it would flow more than the littel 12 incher. it was blowing the wrong way, i flipped the blade and reversed the wiring and it still didnt cool at all. Started getting hot and once i got on the highway it cooled down real fast so its the fan for sure. I looked the tob and it flows only 1500 cfm O_O not near enough.

i am tired of electric fans i would rather have a mech fan again, i;d rather have a little parasitic drag than the engine overheating..

so should i just buy a new fan a clutch assembly or go straight fan without a clutch??

get the clutch fan. otherwise it will sound like you're driving a big fan down the road.

Foxfan88 · Aug 20, 2006

i got a new clutch and fan from the parts store. both of them cost me 100$, it actually cools now lol

btw how does the clutch know when to let got of the fan??

DMAN302 · Aug 20, 2006

My new taurus cost all of 60 bucks and with the same motor as the Mark fan it was effective in 110 (120 heat index) in the garage and on the street. With the toggle switch I let the temps sneek up over 205 and hit the toggle..within less than a minute I was sitting pretty at 180...pretty impressive. With the DCC unit it holds 185 regarless of whats going on outside temp wise of how hard I drive her and unless it's 100 out the fan does not see full speed at all.

Foxfan88 · Aug 20, 2006

would flushing my radiator help my cooling

i have a stock guage, and it moves around alot i think its going bad, but it reads right 80% of the time.

when doing down the highway it sits nicely on the 2nd white bar from the bottom, maybe a little lower.

and it was idling in my driveway earlier and it was just a little bit up from the 2nd bar, bout halfway from the 2nd bar to the middle bar.

i need to get a temp guage lol

HISSIN50 · Aug 20, 2006

Foxfan88 said:
i need to get a temp guage lol

That'd be my first step. Then re-evaluate all the things you contemplated afterwards (once you have reliable data).

Good luck.

Foxfan88 · Aug 20, 2006

how does an aftermarket guage hook up? does it use the same temp sensor as the stock setup??

i never montitored my temp by actual numbers, i just looked at the bars.

whats a healthy temp for idle? what range is normal? an when should i start worrying?

HISSIN50 · Aug 20, 2006

An aftermarket gauge hooks up much like a stocker. If electrical, it's almost identical. If mech, there's a capillary tube attached to the probe and gauge.

Treat all gauges separately - they cant share senders of mix senders.

You'd really like to see temps stay about 10*F over (or less) of your t-stat rating. But seeing temps of 200 or less is generally well-though-of (overall driving). Once you slow down or stop, temps should get back down to within 10* of your stat rating.

Some run cooler than that - but it's hot out for most folks this time of year.

Good luck.

LtDavis · Aug 20, 2006

I had a flex-a-lite mechanical fan with no clutch and while it cooled great and blew a huge cloud of dust under the car when I reved it, it had the most terrible groaning/whirrling kind of sound, almost like an old army truck. I put a stock fan and clutch back on but would like to go electric someday.

TENGRAM · Aug 23, 2006

Foxfan88 said:
i got a new clutch and fan from the parts store. both of them cost me 100$, it actually cools now lol

btw how does the clutch know when to let got of the fan??

if its a thermal clutch (stock replacement) than it grabs or releases based on temp. when the coil in the middle gets hot it tightens it's grip. non-thermal clutches grip at low rpms but not at high rpms.

tunedin302 · Aug 23, 2006

Foxfan - before you do a temp gauge, first thing to do is flush and change the fluid. Also, replace the thermostat w/ a 180 degree. After that I might consider a temp gauge.

jerry beach · Aug 23, 2006

I will never go back. I have a taurus fan and DC controller. I actually had overheating problems at idle with a good clutch fan. I have a spare taurus fan JIC I ever need it, I have been picking them up at U-pull-it yards for $25. YMMV.

ilow5oh · Aug 23, 2006

When its hot, its hot...

I have a 89 Vert with a FR Aluminum Rad, new fan clutch and new water pump. My car still gets a little warm idling in hot weather for extended periods. (I mean a tad above the 180 mark) This is normal with mechanical fans, I wouldnt worry about it at all unless it hits the 3rd line or stays warm while driving.. a good Taurus fan is definately a consideration though.

Cheers

Foxfan88 · Aug 23, 2006

tunedin302 said:
Foxfan - before you do a temp gauge, first thing to do is flush and change the fluid. Also, replace the thermostat w/ a 180 degree. After that I might consider a temp gauge.

coolant maybe 2500 miles old, put new in with new engine.

i already have a 180 stat.

i have a small water leak sometimes and my mixture i doubt is 50/50 i have a bit more water than antifreeze, but i doubt it makes a difference.

and to update. been driving the car all week and its cooling like a champ.

i do mostly highway driving to tech school and work. But have been in town some and i had it idling for a few mins and it ran cool.

when i did my new engine, i just took the radiator out and put it back it, never took it to a shop for a good cleaning or w/e they do. could a flush from those bottles at the parts store help me clean the radiator out??

srothfuss · Aug 23, 2006

Save up $100.00 and buy a brass 3 core from the parts stores or online. It's a great unit and will replace your old and gunked up stocker...

Anyone confirm that all of the radiators in V8 and I4 Mustangs were the same? Minus the ATF cooler of course? I heard somewhere that the radiators in the 5.0L cars were really 4 cylinder rads?

Mark Viii fan is all I am going to say about this matter...

89white50 · Aug 23, 2006

i got my fan for 15 bucks off a cleanass newer thunderbird. Looks identical to the markviii fan, and i am using the VW thermo switch which i have tapped into my thermostat housing. all i need now is a relay which im going to get tomorrow or friday and ill post pics of the install and final thoughts. you also need a 180 thermo for this setup. if anyone is interested i will sell the tap for 20 bucks. its a hand tap and its very hard to find. M22-1.5

going back to mechanical fan, stock clutch type or straight mechanical??

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