who's running a aluminum rad & electric fan

jbuening · May 18, 2006

Tim65GT said:
Most people here (myself included) usually post the pictures on a free site like photobucket or cardomain or even their own web site.

Once it's up and viewable there, I paste the URL into the post.

I'm interested in the different setups people are using and am compiling info so I can plan my swap. I'm still in the process of relocating the battery to the trunk, so I have as much room as possible for a crossflow aluminum radiator.

I would like to run an elec fan, but I've had people tell me "Don't get rid of the mechanical fan, It'll overheat here in El Paso". I think the selection of the right combination of Radiator, fan(s) and shroud is critical for a good cooling system. Especially in the high temps I drive in here (with the AC on).

I can tell you this from experience, my 28" radiator barely fits between the frame rails. I'm not sure if the earlier cars have the same spacing, but make sure you measure between the rails and not from face to face of the inner fenders because the radiator is too tall to rest on top of the frame rails. You should have no problem running an electric fan with the larger radiator. Mine actually ran hotter with the mechanical fan on my larger radiator because the stock shroud no longer fit the radiator. Installed the electric fan and it runs super cool now, actually too cool at times. It can take 6-10 miles before the car is up the operating temperatures.

Bullitt · May 18, 2006

just a question, you guys with the "universal" style radiators, what are you doing at the bottom to mount it?

i see lots of top pics, but nothing of the bottom...

just wondering since i'm installing my 19x27 summit radiator this weekend.

Jimmys66 · May 18, 2006

I used a couple of L-brackets. I cut hose in half and fit it over the core edges of the radiator to absorb the vibration and to keep a tight fit.

grego37 · May 19, 2006

Bullitt said:
just a question, you guys with the "universal" style radiators, what are you doing at the bottom to mount it?

i see lots of top pics, but nothing of the bottom...

just wondering since i'm installing my 19x27 summit radiator this weekend.

I had a piece custom made. It is 2" wide about 1" thick and 18" long (I believe the piece is hollow , its been a while) with 2 studs welded to the bottom that mount through each of the two diagonal supports with washers and nylock nuts. Then I cut a matching piece of rubber 2"x18"x 1/4" and glued it to it. Allot of time when into it , and ended up with the entire radiator's core is in the square opening of the core support.

ddonaca351 · May 19, 2006

On an all too often overlooked note...

Make sure your radiator cap is good. You pick up about 3-4 degrees of boil protection for every lb of pressure. And its not the temp in the radiator that you should be worried about, its the temp in the heads and block... now I dont reccomend a watter pump leaking 24lb cap, but a boil the motor 6lb is probably not good either. 12-16 is a nice compromise (imho).

Just a thought,
DD

Bullitt · May 19, 2006

grego37 said:
I had a piece custom made. It is 2" wide about 1" thick and 18" long (I believe the piece is hollow , its been a while) with 2 studs welded to the bottom that mount through each of the two diagonal supports with washers and nylock nuts. Then I cut a matching piece of rubber 2"x18"x 1/4" and glued it to it. Allot of time when into it , and ended up with the entire radiator's core is in the square opening of the core support.

awesome, that's just what i was looking for. thanks!

jbuening · May 19, 2006

I reused the stock 24" lower radiator mounts with the stock rubber insulators. The radiator is just a wee bit too thick for the stock mounts. The northern radiators have C channels on the top and bottom for mounting, so i just bent the legs of the channel in a bit and it fits in the mounts just fine now. Eventually i'll make my own custom brackets though, for asthetic purposes.

Tim65GT · May 19, 2006

Posted by jbuening:

I can tell you this from experience, my 28" radiator barely fits between the frame rails. I'm not sure if the earlier cars have the same spacing, but make sure you measure between the rails and not from face to face of the inner fenders because the radiator is too tall to rest on top of the frame rails. You should have no problem running an electric fan with the larger radiator.

I measured 27 1/2" between my frame rails, but I also have to re-route my AC condensor lines which go through the core support just under the battery.

I tried to fit a Taurus electric fan, but with my current 4 core, there just was not enough room. I'm hoping a new aluminum crossflow will fit tight up to the core support after I trim the opening larger and get rid of the "recess area" that looses about an inch. Plus the radiator I plan on getting is about 1/2" thinner. I'll have to wait 'till all the fabrication is done before I decide on a single electric. I like this twin setup, which gives more clearance from the WP pulley. But it's pricey at $350

iskwezm · May 19, 2006

Bullitt said:
just a question, you guys with the "universal" style radiators, what are you doing at the bottom to mount it?

i see lots of top pics, but nothing of the bottom...

just wondering since i'm installing my 19x27 summit radiator this weekend.

I didnt want big brackets hangning off so i had some aluminum brackets welded to to the tanks on the side

red65 · May 29, 2006

red65 said:
Griffin Aluminum 2-row with 1.25" tubes. Derale 16" pusher. Runs so cool the thermostat closes on the highway and I can idle all day. See my sig - lots of engine mods. You should be able to solve this problem!

Reviving this post for an update... I took my '65 to an open track day in Michigan on Sunday - Waterford Hills, which is a 1.5 mile road course with lots of fast straight combined with slow twisties.

The car ran great for the first few laps of each session, but gained about 4-6 degF on each lap. A few laps in, the gauge read about 226F (from its normal operating temp around 200F), at which point the engine started coughing and running at less-than-par. I wired the electric fan to stay on all the time, rather than just turning on at a set point, and turned the heater on (lots of fun when it's 92 or so outside), and that helped a bit, but just prolonged the point at which it started misbehaving rather than fixing the problem.

The course, like most road courses, comprises a series of hard accelerations and hard decelerations, so when I was on the loud pedal, I was just about always in boost (Novi 1000 at about 9psi peak).

So, just an update here - while the Griffin / Derale setup I described does just fine on the street, where I'm only occasionally under boost, on the track it wasn't up to the task. I'll be experimenting with options, but at this point I'm considering taking the blower back off - it's actually no faster than it was without it, despite all the extra horsepower. While I'm sure it would be of benefit on a drag strip, it doesn't show on a road course. Continuing the never-ending experiment...

Cobain03 · May 29, 2006

not to hijack, but whats the differences in between wiring up an electric fan through a relay or not? i have mine wired to the ignition so whenever i turn the key, its on.

TOM B · May 29, 2006

THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP. Here is what I try'ed so far, I put back on the flex fan and shroud like in my car domain pics, the temp is about the same with 170 to 185 down the hi-way and about 210 in traffic or at a red light and outside temp about 85. I think thats still to hot and might be on the border line of overheating. I have my trany cooler in front of the radiator because I cant find a better place for it in my 65 stang. I think I will look for a duel fan setup that fits my rad and try that.

streetgrande69 · May 29, 2006

to be honest i didn't want to read through all the posts but try running a relay if you go with a electric, it may help??
this unit at the bottom i will be running, after i install my a/c . it can run 2 fans,start when the a/c it turned on and speeds the fan proportionaly to the temp.

i also knotice in your car domain site that there is a gap between the shroud and radiator.....you will need to close this up. the fan will do nothing but pull air into this gap. also it looks like the fan is too far into the shroud....if that is a belt driven fan can't tell. the fan should be as close to half in and half out as possible....the sweet spot. if its too far in then it'll recirc air back into the shroud and if its too far out it will suck air into the shroud from the engine conpartment. remember air follows the path of least resistance.

here's the blurb from the site...
Spal Electronic Fan Controller
This new electronic controller will "Pulse Width Modulate" a fan allowing the unit to vary fan speed based on engine temperature. It can also control a second fan, as well as accept A/C input for fan activation. It also works with your existing temperature sending unit - no separate sender/bung required. Makes for a CLEAN installation!

To program, simply let the engine warm up, and at the low & hi temps YOU select, you press and hold a small program button - that's it! When the engine hits "low temp" (i.e. 185*), the fan kicks on at 50%. When it hits "hi-temp" (i.e. 200*), it switches to 100%.There's a couple LED's on the unit that tell you what it's doing. With the A/C input, the fan hits 100% any time the air is switched on. The controller also has a secondary output that will trigger a second fan if desired. Kit comes with detailed instructions displaying 6 different diagrams depending on A/C, # of fans, and existing sender type. PLENTY of extra color-coded wiring included.

TOM B · May 29, 2006

Thanks Steet,,, I will take a closer look at my fan spacing but I know That I dont have much room because of the blower belt setup. I was thinking of making a fan shroud anyway to get rid of that black plastic thing.

streetgrande69 · May 29, 2006

TOM B said:
Thanks Steet,,, I will take a closer look at my fan spacing but I know That I dont have much room because of the blower belt setup. I was thinking of making a fan shroud anyway to get rid of that black plastic thing.

check these out...
this is the set-up i'll be going with....and the above controller
http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?N=0+400304+318980

streetgrande69 · May 29, 2006

here i made you an illustration :SNSign:

jbuening · May 30, 2006

streetgrande69 said:
check these out...
this is the set-up i'll be going with....and the above controller
http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?N=0+400304+318980

Just a few warnings about those two items. One, the controller will not work with our stock CVR on the back of the instrument cluster. You will have to do the radio shack CVR conversion which converts it to constant voltage readings instead of pulsing. I have the controller and it will only kick the fan on high. I still need to do the conversion.

Also, i notice that the shroud setup is 4.5" thick. Not sure if that is just the thickness of the shroud or if it is the combined thickness of the shroud and fan. With my 351w and Northern radiator, i had to offset my fan so the fan motor would not hit the waterpump pulley. If you add the thickness of a shroud, i doubt you'll get it to fit. I have my fan mounted flush to the radiator. I would think the fan would mount to the shroud on that setup, thus increasing the thickness of the setup.

mdjay · May 30, 2006

Cobain03 said:
not to hijack, but whats the differences in between wiring up an electric fan through a relay or not? i have mine wired to the ignition so whenever i turn the key, its on.

You can run the turn on for the relay off the ignition so it will operate the same.

You get more amps running it through the relay and straight to the battery. A 20amp draw through your ignition and wiring will resistorize and not let the fan pull at it's max potential. Plus it's not a great idea to run that many amps through all those little wires! They can get hot, melt, fire yatta, yatta

dodgestang · May 31, 2006

Jerry, when was the last time you had a good tune put on the car?

If the car is not tuned properly it will also contribute to overheating problems and is often overlooked.

I run a 408c with a griffen and a spal 16 inch puller and the hottest it has gotten in stop and go traffic with an auto trans plumbed into the radiator for cooling as well was 220-230ish on a 95 degree day. Normal operating range was always 190-195 ish.

Some additional things you can do is ceramic coating on the headers (which I just had done) and a scoop (which I also just had done). I figured it is so tight in my engine compartment every little bit will go far for me.

who's running a aluminum rad & electric fan

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