Let's talk electric fans.

Monkeybutt2000

Mustang Master
Aug 11, 2019
1,240
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Lafayette,IN
Eventually,I'm switching to electric fans. The stock setup on my car currently worked well enough, I just don't like dealing with it when removing parts. So,after doing research the Contour setup is very popular,and you can buy the complete kit from LMR. However,on the FB turbo forums alot of guys swear by the Focus fans. There's also talk of a single Mopar setup from a Challenger/Charger. Of course,there's the high dollar Spal and Derale offerings as well. Also, since I'm using MSpnp2 is a fan controller needed?
 
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I use the contour fan. I PWM it through my Holley ecu, never needs more than 50-60% duty cycle to keep my 11:1 347 cool. The battery gauge shows 14.4-14.5 with the fan on, voltage never dips.
 
I really like using the 94-98 sn95 fans. Just need to weld a tab and threaded stand off on an aluminum radiator to mount it like factory. No controller needed, just get a leash 70a relay and you’re set.
 
You can actually swap the focus fans into the contour shroud. Came up in a thread over on corral.net

The focus motors seem to be stronger, especially the 11-blade setup here. No idea how well the focus shroud fits the fox radiator, but it was shown that swapping in two of the 11-blade focus fans did bump the cfm up a bit.

So now I have my eye open for some focus fans to rob the 11-blade motor/fan from

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My contour setup fits so darn well, espexiallywith the LMR brackets, that I don’t want to switch the shroud.

I used an Infiniti pwm controller to control the fans. I have some videos on this out on the YouTube
 
As Mike mentioned I did a few videos and tests of Contour and Focus fans for a thread over on corral.net and will share them here.

First off is a video with some size comparisons and basic test of each fan system.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukCiE4S52Lw&t=12s

CFM testing of both stock Contour Assembly and Contour/Focus Hybrid Assembly

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eI0jTi9Lt8


For what parts you want if picking from a salvage yard and how to install in your Mustang see this thread I did here on StangNet.

I outlined how I installed my current set up and how I would install it today, knowing what I have learned. What is not covered is what I have learned with the Contour/Focus Hybrid set up in the video above.
 
Lol,ok. It's not like this forum moves several pages a day. Also,curious to see what new things people are using,The Mopar fan was a new one to me,as well as the Focus fans. New,fresh content is a good thing.
I have the contours that I got NOS and I have the derale setup in the car now. The derales seem a bit stronger .

I had to trim the box down because of my crank pulley slightly - I also powder coated it
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ECU control of an electric fan is nice but the soft start of the DC Controls unit keeps the inrush current a lot lower than a relay setup. Are there any soft starts that are cheap that you can control with the ECU?
 
ECU control of an electric fan is nice but the soft start of the DC Controls unit keeps the inrush current a lot lower than a relay setup. Are there any soft starts that are cheap that you can control with the ECU?


Not the factory ECU

But a lot of modern vehicles use PWM fan controllers these days. They all feature a soft-start and a fail-safe (max fan speed if signal lost).

But most, if not all of the aftermarket ECU's have the ability to output a PWM signal, so they can control these controllers. I think I paid $15 for my Infiniti fan controller. It's a 3-wire hookup, and can control 2 fans. (main power and a single PWM input wire) and i can ramp it up based on coolant temps with no amperage spike.

The DCC unit is nice if you have the stock ECU because it can stand-alone. With an aftermarket ECU than can controll a controller, there are cheaper options now if you look at OE controllers.

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All up to you really. If you are happy with the fan controller as is, don't touch a thing.

The MS 1.6 firmware is in alpha dev right now, but offers a specific PWM fan control menu that will allow you to control ramp rate vs temp, as well as turn the fan off above a certain speed, and A/C on. If you like that sort of control, it might be worth looking into.


When i run my contour fan on a 90+ degree day, i really only need 70% fan speed to keep it cool.
 
If I remember right, in one of my tests I found that when using the factory thermoresistor it dropped the voltage to 8V to run low speed on the Contour fans. That would be about 75% of full power.

If I was building an electric fan system today I would use a simple single temp sensor to trigger low speed fans (fans on at 200) through the thermoresistor and add a toggle for high speed for if I needed it (so far in 6 years have NEVER needed high speed). It would be basic and standalone and cheaper than any PWM controller out there. I would run it through one of the Infiniti fan controllers (not using PWM wire) to get the soft start to keep amps in check.
 
The bosch Mercedes and Volvo stand-alone controller will take 60 amps I believe. I think the Infiniti one is 50 amps. These are plentiful on eBay for fairly cheap. Fusion/corvette is another popular one.


You can pick up 2-3 of these so you have spares in case one fails.
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