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Re: Size of electric cooling fan(s). Amp draw? airflow?
[Re: DaytonaTurbo]
#1395072
03/01/13 06:00 PM
03/01/13 06:00 PM
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,526
North Carolina
cjskotni
pro stock
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pro stock
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,526
North Carolina
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Quote:
I've grabbed clutch fans from the junkyard for 15 bucks. Of course you can also grab electric fans there for the same price. Even if the price is a wash between the two, I don't see a real benefit to the electric fan. You still have to hook it up to a temperature switch or mickey mouse it with a toggle switch. Then you get to watch your temp needle swing up and down as you hear the fan cycle on and off. That in itself annoys me when I hear the fan on my fwd daily driver kick on/off at idle when the a/c or defrost is on.
The benefit of going to an electric fan is you don't have the HP loss inherant with the mechanical units. If electric fans serve no benefit, then modern cars would still be running mechanical fans.
If you buy a quality setup, you will have the relays that will cycle the fans on or off when the temp is high or A/C is engaged. I put a trinary A/C switch so the fans will come on when they are really needed, not just when the A/C is on....
Also if you engine is worth a damn, you won't hear the fans when running. My fans are pretty loud and the only way I can tell they are running inside the car is looking at the ammeter and that's still a guess.
I agree with your point that if you have a working mechanical setup already, it may not be worth it to jump to elecric "just beacause you can" but for those of us who don't have the parts already or want to get rid of the of parasitic loss, it is a valid option.
Your temp needle will only swing up/down if you have a too-hi temp sender unit for the fans in. My fans kick on when the needle gets about 1/3rd up from the bottom and hold the temp about steady there...
A properly researched and planned electic setup will work just as good as a mechanical fan and save some HP. I also know there are PLENTY of people here and all over who would spend waaaay more than the $200-$300 it costs for the fans setup to get an effective increase of 15-20HP without otherwise adversely affecting the motor!
EDIT** The article above shows a peak 22 rwhp loss on a SBF. I could imagine this would be more significant on a higher power BB. I'd say for picking up 20+ rear wheel HP, yeah that's probably worth it for a lot of people....
Last edited by cjskotni; 03/01/13 06:43 PM.
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Re: Size of electric cooling fan(s). Amp draw? airflow?
[Re: cjskotni]
#1395074
03/02/13 02:37 AM
03/02/13 02:37 AM
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 21,318
Manitoba, Canada
DaytonaTurbo
Too Many Posts
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Too Many Posts
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 21,318
Manitoba, Canada
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Quote:
The benefit of going to an electric fan is you don't have the HP loss inherant with the mechanical units. If electric fans serve no benefit, then modern cars would still be running mechanical fans.
I think modern cars come with the electric because they are transverse fwd, a little hard to do a mechanical fan there. If modern v8's are running them, I bet it's only for the .1mpg increase they may see on a dyno when they're trying to hit their CAFE standards.
To me, the added expense and effort to get that extra 7hp and .1 mpg isn't worth it. Not to mention the hacked, cobbled look I have seen some electric fan conversions have.
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Re: Size of electric cooling fan(s). Amp draw? airflow?
[Re: feets]
#1395075
03/02/13 02:39 AM
03/02/13 02:39 AM
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 21,318
Manitoba, Canada
DaytonaTurbo
Too Many Posts
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Too Many Posts
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 21,318
Manitoba, Canada
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Quote:
Quote:
That in itself annoys me when I hear the fan on my fwd daily driver kick on/off at idle when the a/c or defrost is on.
You realize how silly that sounds?
I could not care less how it sounds to you. To me, I hear the electric fan kick on, the engine rpm dips for a second and the motor slightly stumbles. I can feel, see and hear it. Probably not an issue on a v8 but it does put a load on the motor when it kicks on.
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Re: Size of electric cooling fan(s). Amp draw? airflow?
[Re: DaytonaTurbo]
#1395076
03/02/13 03:22 AM
03/02/13 03:22 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,766
Central Valley, CA.
Quicksilver440
I Live Here
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I Live Here
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,766
Central Valley, CA.
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
That in itself annoys me when I hear the fan on my fwd daily driver kick on/off at idle when the a/c or defrost is on.
You realize how silly that sounds?
I could not care less how it sounds to you. To me, I hear the electric fan kick on, the engine rpm dips for a second and the motor slightly stumbles. I can feel, see and hear it. Probably not an issue on a v8 but it does put a load on the motor when it kicks on.
I've never seen my motor rpm's dip and stumple because the fan kicks on. I've never seen that with all the factory V8 cars with electric fans either....maybe if something had a puny 38 amp alternator or something. 7-15 hp is a lot to me.
Does it bug you when the fan roars when the fan clutch engages at WOT when the engines hot?
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Re: Size of electric cooling fan(s). Amp draw? airflow?
[Re: Quicksilver440]
#1395077
03/02/13 11:58 AM
03/02/13 11:58 AM
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 21,345
Marysville, O-H-I-O
70Cuda383
Too Many Posts
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Too Many Posts
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 21,345
Marysville, O-H-I-O
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Daytona, Different strokes for different folks. You don't like electric fans, that's cool. it's your car, do as you want.
but when a guy comes on here asking about electric fans because that's what he wants to run...arguing that mechanical fans work fine and that's all he needs to do is run a mechanical...seems kind of silly.
Some of us LIKE the efficiency of electric fans. Again...mechanical runs ALL THE TIME. even when you're running down the highway at 70 mph. do you need the mechanical fan to cool down your headers and your carb when you're driving down the road? at that point, the mechanical fan becomes an unnecessary load on the engine. it's not needed, but you can't shut it off.
Electric fans, again only run when you need them to. I've not ever had an issue while idling or driving in stop and go traffic in town, where my carb got too hot to cause me problems, and if that was seriously an issue, I doubt so many people would be running electric fans on their carburated engines.
You don't like electric fans due to a list of reasons. got it. noted. thanks! did you provide any answer to the guys question though?
**Photobucket sucks**
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Re: Size of electric cooling fan(s). Amp draw? airflow?
[Re: 360view]
#1395081
03/02/13 04:46 PM
03/02/13 04:46 PM
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 1,520
West Palm Beach, Florida
Copper Dart
pro stock
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pro stock
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 1,520
West Palm Beach, Florida
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I too am leaning electric fans to cool my 500hp +/- '70 swinger 440 auto on the street. Champion has a very pretty 26" 3 row with dual fans. if the fans are inadequate i will upgrade them to a oem fan set-up. the shroud covers the entire rad core. 
Common sense, the least common of all the senses.
Mom.
For fear of ridicule, society stifles creativity.
Ricky Valdes
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