I spent hours one day looking all over the web for something like these...what I call a "flapper valve".... never could find anything. It may be just a home brew solution. I think they are using a stiff kind of heavy duty rubber....just stiff enough that the air flow will bend in, and siftt engough to close with no air flow.
Radiator Fans Wars: Electric vs. Mechanical or Both!
- Thread starter TemboTusk
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I spent hours one day looking all over the web for something like these...what I call a "flapper valve".... never could find anything. It may be just a home brew solution. I think they are using a stiff kind of heavy duty rubber....just stiff enough that the air flow will bend in, and siftt engough to close with no air flow.
They're anchored at the top only. The white plastic bits limit how far open the air can blow them.
http://www.rondavisradiators.com/staggerd-dual-f&s.jpg
nice picture of the flapper setup on ron davis' stuff. Interesting.
nice picture of the flapper setup on ron davis' stuff. Interesting.
yea...that must be a new pic...last time I was looking around there did not see it. on my aftermarket brass radiator my friend crafted up a mount kind of thing...like a backing plate made out of aluminium sheet....where on I have a large 16 inch spal fan mounted to the radiator...and this back plate acts as both a mount and kind of a shroud...that funnels air into the fan area.
It sure looks lke a good place to install something like in the pics to allow better air flow across the radiator at speed.
shroud it but just around the fan, fan blades and right on the rad. That way full pull through the fan, full exposure through the rest of the rad at highway speeds, when your electrics kick off.
Those full blocking shrouds are ridiculous I never have used thoughs, I don't understand them??? Just a simple electric fan with a shroud right around the blades and against the rad, same with the cent/engine blades.
Full pull at low and wheeling speeds yet full exposure for airflow to the rad at high.
Like this style (not this one though)
http://www.heatercraft.com/images/products/Medium/16SBlade_fan_med.jpg
Those full blocking shrouds are ridiculous I never have used thoughs, I don't understand them??? Just a simple electric fan with a shroud right around the blades and against the rad, same with the cent/engine blades.
Full pull at low and wheeling speeds yet full exposure for airflow to the rad at high.
Like this style (not this one though)
http://www.heatercraft.com/images/products/Medium/16SBlade_fan_med.jpg
If you only have one fan.....you need some way in which to see if you can get the fan to pull air across teh entire width of the radiator...not jsut the small section it covers. The "blocking plate" does not sit right against the core....it allows air to pass through... If I did nto have that....the electric fan on that radiatior would only pull air roughly through 1/2 of hte radiator.
Of course the intent is to have electric fans the cover teh full width and height of the core of hte radiator... given the fan I used at that time...it was impossible to cover the entire core with fans.
True, I ran two fans, and you are right, you still miss most of the rad. I believe one was on all the time the other on and off, I don't think there is a need to have a electric fan cover/and provide flow to the entire rad but that's just my opinion. The cons def out way the pros. plus if you have a malfunction you are screwed.
I also make sure I have one of the fans covering the outlet section of the rad real good, and that my rad is good and clean, this is where most overheating issues occur.
I also make sure I have one of the fans covering the outlet section of the rad real good, and that my rad is good and clean, this is where most overheating issues occur.
in part why I went with the dual fan setup from a v-6 ford contour....with independent relays / harness. I still have some cooling if one fan burns up or something happens, plus the ford setup covers the entire rear of the radiator core. Something I have not tried is the dual FAN setup from SPAL.... one of the other useers here said he was going with that setup...of which I expect it will cool well. The single spal fan I had really moves some air...but it alos is fairly loud and ones gets tired of hearing it...at least I did. But "cool" is the way to go and if so...then I'll get over the noise. I wanted to put the large spal fan in teh center of my other brass radiator but clearance issues with the water pump would not allow that. ONce I get my A/C working we'll see what the temp do then.
The 11"/2480cfm SPAL fans that I'm going to use to replace my Contour fan will be here on Monday. I had to pull the radiator because I had two cracked tubes that I suspect I broke from spending a day laying on top of it fixing the fuel hardline that runs between the head and the firewall (don't ask). But since the radiator is out I was able to make a good template for the custom shroud. I'm going to make the frame from 16ga 1" angle steel and tack it together this weekend. Once the fans are here I'll test the depth to see how much I have to cut down. It looks like I'll probably have to cut it down to 1/2" (fans are 3.7" deep). I'll probably use 20ga for the main body of the shroud with some beads rolled into it (gotta use the bead roller for something
)
The street car (lowered '67 Ranchero that I used to tow the dune buggy) that I used purely electric fan on had the fan mounted over the hottest portion of the radiator. Since cooling is most effective at the highest temperature difference I reasoned that I wanted fan to pull air over that part of the radiator. So I pushed it as close the inlet as I could get it and left the rest of the radiator open with no shroud. My fan bracket attached to the car's core support and I could have turned it into a shroud had it been necessary but is was not.
- Thread starter
- #73
Update: I fabbed up my fan shroud this past week.
I used 16 gage angle and sheet metal to build the shroud. Not too hard a job. But, it helps to know a friend that has a sheet metal roller and a plasma cutter!! Getting the hoop perfectly round is almost impossible without the rollers.
(Thanks Kirk for the help in bending the hoop and the fitting details.)
I used 16 gage angle and sheet metal to build the shroud. Not too hard a job. But, it helps to know a friend that has a sheet metal roller and a plasma cutter!! Getting the hoop perfectly round is almost impossible without the rollers.
(Thanks Kirk for the help in bending the hoop and the fitting details.)
- Thread starter
- #74
Update: Picture of the shroud fitted onto the radiator.
We are currently going through a heat wave in SoCal; a great time to start my engine temp road test. I will report as soon as I get some data this week.
So far, no engine temp increase with extended idle with the A/C on and 92 plus ambient temps. (Without the shroud, the temps would quickly rise to 220 degrees.)
We are currently going through a heat wave in SoCal; a great time to start my engine temp road test. I will report as soon as I get some data this week.
So far, no engine temp increase with extended idle with the A/C on and 92 plus ambient temps. (Without the shroud, the temps would quickly rise to 220 degrees.)
Nice work..
I have been "testing" my 60 in the vegas heat..
Stock fan (for and on a 5.0 mustang motor) with a shroud and a big ass aluminum radiator. NEver gets over 200* in the 113* heat..
I have been "testing" my 60 in the vegas heat..
Stock fan (for and on a 5.0 mustang motor) with a shroud and a big ass aluminum radiator. NEver gets over 200* in the 113* heat..
Looks really slick man, I like it!!!! So maybe problems are solved?
I looked in previous posts but didn't see it (or maybe I missed it) what radiator are you running?
Mace, what radiator are you running with the 5.0?
I looked in previous posts but didn't see it (or maybe I missed it) what radiator are you running?
Mace, what radiator are you running with the 5.0?
- Thread starter
- #78
The radiator is stock dimensions , but it is a triple pass design.
Today I will be driving in 100 plus temps. I have a bench mark with the electric fans.
Today I will be driving in 100 plus temps. I have a bench mark with the electric fans.
Yeah...I like...good work on the shroud business. Are you running the stock TBI radiator fan? Or an aftermarket... I think flix-a-lite makes a good 6 blade fan for the TBI egines...( I had one on my 92K1500). The stock (as I recall 4 blade fan)...I did not like that well.
Let us know what it does...what temp thermostat you running?
Let us know what it does...what temp thermostat you running?
- Thread starter
- #80
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Thanks on all the shroud comments!!
The new radiator shroud preformed great!
I took the wagon out in temps between 100 and 108 degrees. Freeways, moderate grades and a 6 degree grade in 4th and 5th gear over Cajon Pass into the high desert.
At freeway speeds, the coolant temps stayed at 180 degrees; at a slight grade, with 108 outside temps the coolant went up to 190 degrees.
In stop and go traffic in 104 to 105 degree temps the gage hovered around 200 degrees, but quickly dropped back down once I started shifting through the gears.
A/C on the whole time.
Road speeds between 70 and 75 mph.
180 thermostat.
Elbert: The original fan was an offset five blade. I bought a steel 6 blade designed for a big block.
I’m very pleased with my test run. Other than in the stop and go traffic, the radiator temps did much better than with the electric fans, but just jumping up the rpms would drop the temps when stopped.
I think I have solved my high heat issues. The next big test will be fully loaded with the roof tent.
.
Thanks on all the shroud comments!!
The new radiator shroud preformed great!
I took the wagon out in temps between 100 and 108 degrees. Freeways, moderate grades and a 6 degree grade in 4th and 5th gear over Cajon Pass into the high desert.
At freeway speeds, the coolant temps stayed at 180 degrees; at a slight grade, with 108 outside temps the coolant went up to 190 degrees.
In stop and go traffic in 104 to 105 degree temps the gage hovered around 200 degrees, but quickly dropped back down once I started shifting through the gears.
A/C on the whole time.
Road speeds between 70 and 75 mph.
180 thermostat.
Elbert: The original fan was an offset five blade. I bought a steel 6 blade designed for a big block.
I’m very pleased with my test run. Other than in the stop and go traffic, the radiator temps did much better than with the electric fans, but just jumping up the rpms would drop the temps when stopped.
I think I have solved my high heat issues. The next big test will be fully loaded with the roof tent.
.