Mechanical radiator Fan vs Electrical Fan on the 2F

[boerboel313]

I’ve seen many vids where people are replacing their mechanical belt driven liquid clutch cooling fans with single or double Electric cooling fans.
One of the reasons for this is that the MF Robs the engine of a significant amount of power when turning the MF. Has anyone else done this swap? It seems pretty straight forward. If yes, what fan did you use?
And have you noticed any improvement at all in power?

Anything to gain a little more power from the 2F.

 

[OSS]

Don't do it and don't let anyone talk you into doing it. It's inferior.

 

[shelfboy1]

it doesnt matter how much fan you have the grill only has so many square inches of opening to suck air through.a fan can only move what it can bring in through the grill .electric fans draw a lot of amps so the alternator will be working harder and using up hp to power the fan .this is just my 02 .other than shutting them off for deep water i see no reason for electric fans again just my o2

 

[FJ40Jim]

The clutch fan draws zero HP when declutched. When the radiator is hot, then the mechanical fan can use many HP to move a bunch of air, but that is a fair tradeoff; some HP loss in exchange for a bunch of heat removal.

 

[SteveH]

I recall a number of real-world examples where people simply could not get an electric fan to cool properly under ALL conditions. And of course, ALL conditions is what a Land Cruiser is all about. I would not do it. And anyone living at sea level has no right to comment on a 2F power output

 

[Willard]

I put a new mechanical fan clutch in mine and it cools just fine. Does it rob HP? Doubt it, and if it did, I doubt enough for the short time to really notice, these are not race cars here. I have yet to see power robbed. My 2F is no rocket engine, but I also do not feel it lacking power.
Tune it up and tune your carb (or have it rebuilt by a pro), you would be amazed.

If you are worried about cooling, the key is making sure your system is optimal and no air locks.
I redid my cooling system as the PO had a ton of work done based on an over heating engine.

I did the thermostat (stock Toyota), water pump, fan clutch (my fan was in good shape) new hoses, new OEM rad cap, and the PO put in a new rad. I have a mechanical gauge and in 90-95* weather and 90-100% humidity with the AC blasting driving down the highway, I stay right around 180-185*. Traffic I creep up to 190* but that is it.
I burped all of the air bubbles out of that system for the better part of an hour.

Oh and while I do not drive in high mountains, I do drive in WV and up some of those passes, 3rd gear is my friend.

 

[60Works]

Don't do it and don't let anyone talk you into doing it. It's inferior.

x2 This ^

 

[boerboel313]

And this is why I pose my questions on mud. Thank you.
How do you go about burping the cooling system?

Thanks in advance.

Chris.

 

[cruisermatt]

Welcome to Ih8mud, where you get crucified if you mention an electric fan

 

[Feistl]

Well just to play devils advocate...

An electric thermofan setup can be better than a mechanical fan IF done correctly. I have done a couple of conversions on 40 and 60 series cruisers using a twin thermofan setup (From an Australian AU Falcon). The absolute critical part is making sure the thermofan shroud covers 100% of the radiator core and is sealed (foam tape, rubber lining etc) for maximum efficiency. The big advantage to electric thermofans is they can run a maximum volume regardless of engine speed and don't take anywhere near as much power from the engine as a mechanical fan. The AU thermofans are rated at ~18amp IIRC which at 14.4v is about 250w (or .3hp). As tested on roadkill a mechanical fan can draw anywhere between 4 to 30hp. (Unfortunately they've removed the video from youtube to their own paid channel so i can't link it).

However.... I wouldn't go through the effort of changing from mechanical to electric for an increase in HP. There are much better ways of increasing horsepower for less cost. To do a electric conversion you need to be able to weld/fabricate and its a pretty time consuming/costly exercise.

I just don't like the way everyone gives electric thermofans a bad review based on either hearsay or trialing a basic bolt on thermofan with no/incorrect shroud.

After all, there is a reason why every manufacture in the world has swapped to electric.

Cheers,

Edit - I should also point out i really like the ability to keep the thermofan running for a peroid after the engine has been shut down and continue to circulate coolant through the engine (with the inline electric booster pump). It means i don't have to worry about heat soak after shutting down the engine and if the car does start to overheat (In Australia we see temps above 115 degrees F) i can turn off the engine but still have maximum cooling. Its also much much quieter during normal use.

I use a 40amp PWM controller to set the normal running speed of the thermofans to just below audible levels and use a temperature controller to switch to full speed above a certain temperature. It does increase wear on the thermofans (running them constantly) however if it reduces life span from 20 years to 10 years I'm too fussed. I can pickup spare brushes for nothing at the wreckers and even an entire setup is less than $40.

 

[RredFJ40]

Crucify me, I put a dual fan setup with shroud from an LS Camaro on my 60. One came on with an adjustable thermostat the other was cab switched both run through relays. I apppreciated not having the giant mechanical fan and it’s noise or the giant shroud. Did I gain HP? Meh. Did it still cool? Yes, maybe better. Did it draw a lot of power? Only when the fan first kicked on. Worth the $100, to me it was.

 

[boerboel313]

Glad to hear from both sides of the coin. There are always pros/cons to every set up.
Thanks all.
Chris

 

[HemiAlex]

I live in a really hot climate and I've got a stock cooling system.

It works fine, the fan clutch does exactly what it should. I've never had a temperature excursion even sitting in 100* ambient with the truck idling and the ac going full blast. If it can make it stay under control in that circumstance, it can handle most anything.

Don't try and improve on something that already had people spend millions getting right.

 

[boerboel313]

Recently on our trip to WA we were stuck in a traffic jam idoling due to some roadwork at about 2000' elev and 95 degrees temp. The thermostat had reached the red and the AC wasn't even on. Once we started moving the temp returned to normal.
New hoses, full radiator, no leaks at the time of incident.
Any sujestions?

 

[RockDoc]

Test your fan clutch. It's always my first suspect. (one more vote for mechanical over electric with a stock motor)

 

[zprovo]

Burping the system help mine out, I was having similar high temp situations.
Basically, I got a funnel that fit down into the filler neck. Made sure the front of the truck was significantly higher than the back (parked on a steep driveway). Then I ran the motor while keeping the funnel full of fluid. It burped quite a bit.

 

[boerboel313]

Test your fan clutch. It's always my first suspect. (one more vote for mechanical over electric with a stock motor)

2f is desmogged, 32/36 carb, HEI coil. Is that still considered stock or referring to an engine swap as not stock?

 

[boerboel313]

Burping the system help mine out, I was having similar high temp situations.
Basically, I got a funnel that fit down into the filler neck. Made sure the front of the truck was significantly higher than the back (parked on a steep driveway). Then I ran the motor while keeping the funnel full of fluid. It burped quite a bit.

I'll try that out. Thank you

 

[boerboel313]

Test your fan clutch. It's always my first suspect. (one more vote for mechanical over electric with a stock motor)

What's procedure for check clutch?

 

[RredFJ40]

Get motor good and hot, shut it off and see if you can spin the fan, if the clutch is working it should be coupled to the water pump.