Electric fans... Who has them?

[A.Wilson013]

I did a forum search, and found ONE thread with someone looking for advice on them, with no responses. Are these not a good idea for our engines for some reason...? Seems like in the 1st gen world we all had them!

Anyway, I would like to pursue this... Any tips? A wirte up perhaps? Recommendations for parts?

Anything will help! Thanks!

Jmt2404, I may need to buy you lunch and check out your setup a bit better...

 

[Jon]

Summit Racing has a huge selection of e-fans.

Why do you want to go e-fan? It's not a noticeable power increase. They use a ton of amps. And your pretty much SOL if your fan motor, relay, therostat or fuse burns up, by that time your temps are sky high.

I had one for a while in my 66 Galaxie. It was a fun little project, built my own little custom aluminum shroud but it never kept the temps as low as the old fan. It was a big fan too but not worth the risk or results. Leave the e-fans for the front wheel drives!

Now don't get me wrong, they can work but you're gonna spend a ton on a good fan. Mine was $250 but my friend went all out on his 750hp Harley truck and dropped over $700 on a set of Be Cool fans, his works.

 

[Stick Figure]

There are actually quite a few threads on it probably tough to find in a search since most people will call it an E-Fan or something similar.

You can see my full set up in my build thread (sig) around page one or two. I've had zero issues with minep since I completed it. I have heard a lot of people having problems but these seem to be the same people that try to run under powered fans from the junk yard, or ones that try to tie wrap cheap auto parts store crap to the radiator with out a proper shroud.

My advice to people is if they are looking for a cheap upgrade this probably isn't it. If they are willing to spend some money on some decent fans (Spal would be my first choice) and build a proper shroud, then its a great upgrade.

 

[Jon]

If they are willing to spend some money on some decent fans (Spal would be my first choice) and build a proper shroud, then its a great upgrade.

True that homes! My fan was probably under powered but my shroud was tits man!

I didn't read wilson's sig the first time. I'm geussing if you've got that much in the truck then a good e-fan setup won't be outa reach.

 

[Stick Figure]

Coming from a performance car background I've seen it so often. We used to change a lot of cars over to Spal Fans for the added room for turbo set ups, or just for additional cooling. People try to imitate the set up with generic electric fans from an auto parts store and don't understand why it won't keep their car cool.

Another issue is those cheap aftermarket fan switches. Most put the probe in the radiator fins and have too small of wiring/fuses to keep up with the current draw. Which is an even bigger problem on a fan that has to run constantly to try and keep the temps down.

 

[jmt2404]

Yeah I agree with stick on this. There are alot of pros and cons to it to be honest and I have seen no change in power, you might with the S/C but who knows?

My advice is try it but, keep your stock fan just in case. Build your own shroud, find the fans you want either online or at a pick n pull and spend the money on a good controller/ switch. If you don't like it or aren't happy with the results change it out.. But monitor the crap out of that thing and don't let it get to hot or youll end up where I am at with a blown HG.

But for the record, I think the most important part is the controller. You can't go cheap on it. It needs to be the one that reads the coolant. Not the push in probe type, those things are crap. They read airflow and reading off the fins isn't very accurate. The temp sensor has to be touching the liquid coolant to get an accurate read.

I could talk for days on this subject and what I went through to get mine right. Any specific questions just ask bro. And I am ACAPing for the next 6 months so You can check my set up out any time bro.

For others here is mine.
2 fans out of a 98 taurus and a derale sensor with inline adapter.

 

[twitchee2]

ive tried it. let me save you the trouble. stick with stock. I installed a lincoln mark VIII fan, its back to stock