I want to get rid of the belt driven fan and put electric fans on would like everyones thoughts on the subject!

 

Shott did it. He posted some pics. PM him or he'll probably chime in on the thread. His looked good. He knows what he's doing.

 

I'm glad someone asked this, because I wanted to do the same thing. That boy Shott better speak up quickly.

 

thanks for the kind words Hanson!


running the fan conversion really depends on 2 questions.... how much you wanna spend? what size is your stock alt?

i got 2 16" 2500 CFM fans off ebay for 30 bux a peice. 2 seperate t-stat controllers 15 bux a peice, and 2 100 amp solenoids 20 bux a peice and a few switches for manual control

you have to take into consideration of relocating the washer fluid bottle and the coolant bottle... for this i used 2 Large universal coolant bottles from autozone ... one i drilled out for the washer pump

you can build a shroud .. lots of ways to tackle this ... OR you can just use regular fan fastners that punch through the core of the rad to hold them in place.... either way works well..i chose to build a shroud b/c i really have a fetish for welding stuff LOL

my shroud consists of 1X1 angle welded into a rectangular frame, and sheet metal cut and welded to fill in the open spots that the fans left.. sprayed it down with bedline-in-a-can ... mounted it using the four mounting bolts that the OEM shroud used and most of the weight sets on the lower rad support,,, while the mounting tabs are just really there to hold the fans against he rad......... ryans590 hooked a brother up with some good stick faom product to seal the shroud to rad gap to ensure all the air is getting sucked through the cores of the rad...mose effecient his way

at MOST of the time i really only need 1 fan... i have them on seperate circuits, the second fan actually kicked on once (first time since i put them in lol) when i was parked and idling for an hour chatting with my dad (he's a cop and was on duty at the time) stop and go traffic at 78deg (hottest its been here yet) only one fan has kicked on... 5000 CFM (combined from the two 2500 fans) cools that rad down really fast... ther are loud... i got the 136 amp alt and at idle and both fans one the alt is getting a work out... im gonna upgrade to dual red tops and a 200 amp alt soon... so i can still run a shload of other electrical acesories and not worry about the demand on the stock alter....

you gotta take into consideration on the amperage load your adding to your alt/battery combination.. combined these fans at full speed draw 40 amps... the 136 amp alt only puts out 50 to 55 at idle and 136 at or above 1400 RPM...

if you wanna spend alot you can go with the low draw flexalite setup.. RM_indy did this on his drag ram, but it isnt a DD so he's only running 2600 CFM (IIRC) for cooldown between runs...but his only draw a modest 19 amps .. im gonna do a rewire sometime too to clean up the wiring... kinda messy right now...

you got any questions lemme know..i can run out and take more detailed pics if ya'd like...just lemme know!!! i am contimplating on doing a writeup... maybe when i have hte fans out next time ill snap some pics and do so..

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Save some money and search the junkyards for a Ford Mustang or Taurus SHO and pull the electric fans out of those. If those fans can cool a 302 V8, they shouldn't have a problem with the 318.

 

yea and they also draw a BUTTLOAD of amps... i was gonna do the same thing...

the only nice thing about the taurus fans or mark VIII fans is that they are dual speed... would be cool to wire up a nice system for that



i just bought brand new 16" ers off ebay,,, i had to outway amperage draw to rated CFM.... tried to get the best of both worlds

 

I don't know, but when I had my S10 Blazer (1989), the electric fan conversion those guys used was for dual-fans from old Fords. I will see if I can find a thread from one of the Blazer forums that has the specifics. Those dual fans will keep the 4.3L engines nice and cool.

 

If anyone decides to sell there stock fan,I am looking for one for a 360ci.
My truck has an electric fan that does not work like it should.

 

no doubt,,, the old ford fans would keep a 502 cool... as long as the rad isnt 4 core... i dont know of any elec fans powerfull enough to cool a 4 core rad.

i know the circuitry for them old ford fans was pretty intricut, meaning that the fans would never reach full pull. and were stepped so the initial 100+amp startup pull wouldnt shock the system. my uncle ran a MarkVIII fan on his offroad buggy for years.. alt after alt after alt he said screw it and bought a flex setup.. the taurus fan control was intergrated directly with the temp sensor so it would only allow the fan to spin fast enough to cool JUST enough..

if i already had a 205 amp alt and dual redtops i woulda gon that route... no doubt i bet a single taurus or mark fan would cool these motors even in hot weather... my dual 16"s are barley used and the hottests its got here as 78degs

 

remember that the fans are probably higher rated then they will actually draw. there was a guy i found online that did a cooling fan for a building and the rated cfm was not nearly what it actually was. if i can find the site again i'll post a link but basically he wrote multiple letters and got his money back. oh and the company has since gone out of business. this took place in 2001.

they also changed the rating on their fans to colors. if that doesn't tell you something i don't know what will. you have to remember 2500 cfm is a **** load of air going through. there is going to be a HUGE amount of thrust coming back at the block because of it.

if anyone knows the air speed or has a air speed gauge and would find out the speed at the edge of the stock fan i can put together a demonstration of the stock fan and how the electric ones compare to it. pretty much what has stopped me from doing it already.

so if anyone has an air speed gauge measure it and i'll tell you if the electric fan is going to save you or hurt you in the long run. they draw a lot of amps, which puts stress on the alt, where the stock mech fan just uses about 8 hp and has a clutch to slow it down at higher rpms.

yeah it's been fun doing the research. still working on it.