Went Electric...ditched the fan clutch (2 Viewers)

[Riad]

You might be right.

however, If the radiator is completely covered, then the fan needs to run most of the time otherwise at highway speed the air would hit the wall instead of going thru the fins. That's why the controller on dual fan setup is such that it makes one of the fan runs 60% (or so) of the time, also put less stress on charging from what I gathered.

Mine, on the other hand, runs only when the temperature reaches to a certain point, other times it stays off. As I mentioned before, at highway speed the fan has been staying off. At 97 ambient temp, in the highway the coolant temp stayed between 188 and 194 without the fan running but the fan might be spinning free to an extent at that high speed due to high flow of air but I haven't checked. So this is why the manufacturer made the shroud that way so air can flow thru the fins at highway speed and not hit the wall. Had a long conversation with the guy the other day and at first it didn't make sense to me either about the way the shroud is made but I thought I'd try out.

If this new fan can move more air with AC on and keep it below 200, I think I'd be happy. If not, then I'm going ask him to make me a shroud with louvers or vents that covers the whole radiator.

Thanks!

 

[george_tlc]

My understanding is that at speed there's generally enough airflow through the radiator and DUCTING past the fan to require very little fan 'input' for cooling. It's at slow speed/stop-go and AC on that the big problems occur due to needing all the radiator capacity and airflow that is possible.

I personally would want to optimise the airflow/cooling for the slow speed stop/go at load (offroad stuff) and then test to see what happens at speed under load. I've never seen my temps go up on normal high speed stuff climbing hills etc with lots of airflow, temps climb only when slowing down (10 - 20mph stuff) and loading the engine up and A/C on.

The shroud/duct seems to be as important as the fan's ability to draw air. By ducting I mean a shroud that actually ducts the radiator into the fan (like the OEM unit). The super low profile fan shroud you have now would appear to block a lot of airflow if the fan isn't shifting air.

Anyhow, I'm glad you are performing the experiments and are still motivated to do so!

cheers,
george.

 

[Florida 80]

My understanding is that at speed there's generally enough airflow through the radiator and DUCTING past the fan to require very little fan 'input' for cooling. It's at slow speed/stop-go and AC on that the big problems occur due to needing all the radiator capacity and airflow that is possible.

I personally would want to optimise the airflow/cooling for the slow speed stop/go at load (offroad stuff) and then test to see what happens at speed under load. I've never seen my temps go up on normal high speed stuff climbing hills etc with lots of airflow, temps climb only when slowing down (10 - 20mph stuff) and loading the engine up and A/C on.

The shroud/duct seems to be as important as the fan's ability to draw air. By ducting I mean a shroud that actually ducts the radiator into the fan (like the OEM unit). The super low profile fan shroud you have now would appear to block a lot of airflow if the fan isn't shifting air.

Anyhow, I'm glad you are performing the experiments and are still motivated to do so!

cheers,
george.

What he said!

 

[Photoman]

I don't know if this would be of any interest but here is a fan test I did several years ago.

Bill

 

[Riad]

I don't know if this would be of any interest but here is a fan test I did several years ago.

Bill

Thanks Bill. I remember reading that thread years ago...some really good stuff.

 

[jcardona1]

Hope that new fan works out better. Yesterday we had one of the hottest days here, about 110. I had 4 other people in the truck and the brand new clutch could not keep up and the AC would blow warm in traffic and on the freeway. Either it's the fan or time for a new radiator. My intake air temps were about 160, just to give you an idea of how hot it was outside.

 

[Blue Bomber]

As a reminder. Check the temperature adjustment valve in the engine bay. Mine was loose, so going to cold still allowed quite a bit of hot coolant through. Best thing you can do for colder AC and its free!!!

 

[Riad]

Just finished the replacement fan installation. Seems to blow more air than the other one and a bit more noisy. Will see how it holds up. My plan is to explore better shroud and ducting as others have suggested, if it doesn't work out.

160 intake means u probably had pass 210 coolant temp. 110 is super hot fore.

 

[jcardona1]

Just finished the replacement fan installation. Seems to blow more air than the other one and a bit more noisy. Will see how it holds up. My plan is to explore better shroud and ducting as others have suggested, if it doesn't work out.

160 intake means u probably had pass 210 coolant temp. 110 is super hot fore.

Hottest it got was 214 in traffic before I decided to shut the AC off and make the passengers suffer

Looking forward to your feedback! Will this company stand behind their product if the fan can't keep up? I wonder at what point they'll say something else might be wrong with the truck and refuse to work with you..

 

[Riad]

Hottest it got was 214 in traffic before I decided to shut the AC off and make the passengers suffer

Looking forward to your feedback! Will this company stand behind their product if the fan can't keep up? I wonder at what point they'll say something else might be wrong with the truck and refuse to work with you..

Initially the sales rep was doing that with me but the response to any question was pretty fast (through ebay). Their website doesn't have a phone number. They sell through ebay. They asked for pictures of the installation and etc. After that the support was pretty good. They were pretty fast with sending the replacement fan for me to try out. As I said before, they run a skeleton crew and it can be pain to get through sometimes.

 

[rockrod]

you are going down the same road i did with my engine swap. it tried to run this e-fan set up up a 1996 lincoln continental:

ultimately - they were not enough in situations where traffic was heavy and moving slowly with high ambient temps and the a/c running.

with the vortec motor, the fan set points were 204 for the low speed and 210 for the high speed. once the motor dropped below 198 the low speed kicked off and relied on passive air flow. at highway speeds the motor would run around 197-198.

a/c performance was terrible. it was always cutting out because the freon pressure would max out because there was not enough air flow.

i ditched the whole arrangement and went to a stock vortec mechanical fan.

now the motor runs a max of 200 sitting in traffic with the a/c on and will drop down to 193ish at highway speed. that's right on the t-stat opening point.

there's more to running e-fans than just swapping over. you have to consider the air flow dynamics of the vehicle and how much vacuum is created under the vehicle at highway speed to pull the air through the radiator. these trucks sit too high to do this.

i am staying with the clutch fan and will add an aux condenser fan to give me more 'room' for freon line pressure when there's a high heat load on the a/c.

 

[Tapage]

you are going down the same road i did with my engine swap. it tried to run this e-fan set up up a 1996 lincoln continental:

you did this with the stock 80 series rad .?

this setup ( shroud ) covers the complete rad surface .?

 

[rockrod]

Yes it fits the 80 series radiator perfectly.

 

[jcardona1]

Just finished the replacement fan installation. Seems to blow more air than the other one and a bit more noisy. Will see how it holds up. My plan is to explore better shroud and ducting as others have suggested, if it doesn't work out.

160 intake means u probably had pass 210 coolant temp. 110 is super hot fore.

Any update on the new fan setup?

 

[matt 105]

I don't know if this would be of any interest but here is a fan test I did several years ago.

Bill

Great stuff!
Well done.

 

[Corbet]

the brand new clutch could not keep up and the AC would blow warm in traffic and on the freeway. Either it's the fan or time for a new radiator. My intake air temps were about 160

Was this a new OEM fan clutch? or aftermarket? Unless you have something terribly wrong with the rest of your cooling system you should not have been overheating IMO.

For reference, I just replaced the oil in my blue hub fan clutch yesterday as it had 90K on it and I too was getting hot with AC cut off daily. Today I towed a 4000lb trailer in stop and go and HWY. My intake temps were 170ºF stop and go and 155º on the HWY. Ambient air 90º+. AC running non-stop, OBDII never reported anything over 213º engine temp even pulling grades. About 205º average. I'm still not satisfied with that, but that's another thread. My radiator is original with 177K on it. I have not flushed it since 82K. That's my next PM item.

 

[FJC80]

I thought I read somewhere that the best set up was with the fan in front of the radiator? I thought this pulls air across the radiator in traffic/ offroad speeds?

And having that aluminum mounting plate slotted or drill holes in it for airflow at speed forthe front .

Isnt this what an aux fan does also? Mounts to the front correct? Cools the radiator from the front?

 

[scottryana]

The stock aux fan is more for the AC in my opinion than the overall cooling. Puller fans are more efficient than pushers and a good working mechanical fan will always pull more air than an electric or reasonable size.

 

[FJC80]

Yes that is my same view of replacing the clutch fan with electric also. I'm saying aux in front of rad, stock fan still pulling would be the most desireable setup correct? For sittng still the aux fan keeps it cooler (?).

Think we are saying the same thing. You guys are talking more about intake temps only I guess.

We tried to accomplish that on Hemi's, And the closest tying I saw for real cooling was fords lightning truck would collect a cold dense air charge via a/c lines and dump it into the intake. Somewhat good results, but only for 5-10 secs. Mostly for race launching.

I sketched up a couple ideas for constant cooling like the lightning idea, with an extra a/c line coiled up or something similar, and then that's in the intake tube area to cool the intake charge.

It's really a fruitless endeavor without a constant cooling system for the intake itself. The oem setup with aux fans is the best ideA for a/c. Maybe a hood scoop for cooler air is a better line to follow.

Replacing the oem clutch fan with an electric will NEVER work Imho. It would have to be atleast 2x the size I think. My neighbor did this swap on SC Nissan truck - has a clutch fan. Never got it to run great from what I saw. I feel it stayed cooler with a clutch fan and he needed to move the electric in front for idling speeds for best results.

 

[scottryana]

No we aren't talking about intake temps we are talking about coolant temps due to moving air over the radiator. In traffic an aux fan might help, on the highway an aux fan will likely block more air than it can move. Really it just depends on your needs and the health of your coolant and AC systems. If both are in good shape nothing more is really needed but if you start adding forced induction or your fan clutch or radiator are old or your AC system is low adding an aux fan will help all of those things, while stopped or going slow but is kind of a band aid.

For cooler intake air temps some people have seen a decent change with a snorkel by getting a charged air inlet and getting it away from inside the fender. On my fairly light colored truck on a 105 degree day I can see 160-165 degree air intake temp when stopped.