JPR

The electric fans in our cars are getting pretty long in the tooth. all new design have curved blades and more of them. Has anyone upgraded to these? SPAL has a very wide range of these fans and there are others that have the same cosmetics and maybe performance. Looking for more cooling for the V8 but fear a thicker radiator may not have enough clearance.

Input much appreciated.

Jpr

V2Rocket

yup
this thing moves so much air there's a breeze at the back of the car.
off a volvo S60, this would be just about a perfect fit (with some modification) to the 951 rad.

Techno Duck

Ive done alot of fan research having just upgraded the one on my LS swapped 951 late last year. The curved blade fans are quieter but not as efficient as a straight blade.. they are also not as good at pulling air efficiently through a thick radiator core. Ideally you want a paddle design to move the most air through a thick core. Thankfully i was able to address my idle temps with a straight blade, slim profile fan. It is much louder than the same sized curved blade slim profile but can pull more air through the core. My radiator is quite thick, probably over an inch more than stock. So this makes finding a fan that will fit difficult.

If you look at the spec sheets SPAL has for all of the fans, you can get an idea of what will work. You want to look at how many CFM the fan will pull at a given vacuum. The vacuum comes into play when its pulling air through a radiator core. Many of the slim profile curved fans put out almost equal CFM when not sucking through a core, but drop off very sharply compared to a paddle fan when pulling through an actual radiator core.

Take these specs for similar diameter fans for example..

Spal 30102049 Slim Curved Blade (16" diameter, what i had)
CFM @ 0 in-H2O = 2024 @ 19.5A
CFM @ .5 in-H2O = 1280 @ 20.3A
CFM @ .7 in-H2O = 608 @ 18A

Spal 30102120 Slim Straight Blade (16" diameter, what i use right now)
CFM @ 0 in-H2O = 1918 @ 18.5A
CFM @ .5 in-H2O = 1280 @ 20.8A
CFM @ .7 in-H2O = 926 @ 20.2A

Spal 30102082 Curved Blade (Different dimensions than the slim models, about 1" thicker also!)
CFM @ 0 in-H2O = 1918 @ 23.7A
CFM @ .5 in-H2O = 1499 @ 25A
CFM @ .7 in-H2O = 1245 @ 24.7A

What type of radiator are you using on your swap?

V2Rocket

Lord Duck, how thin is that fan?
I'd like to find something 3" from rad face to tip of motor if possible, or less.

gruhsy

I have Derale fans for my wizard radiator. They are great. Much better than stock.

Techno Duck

I am using Spal 30102120 which is the largest 16" i could fit. Total thickness is 3.4". They make even slimmer ones that are as thin as 2" but are very limited in CFM. At .5" of h20 they move less than 300cfm.

If you are trying to work around a waterpump or crank pulley fitting two smaller fans side by side is the way to go. In my application atleast the depth of a single fan is limited by the waterpump pulley. I found that two 11" paddle fans should move up to 30% more CFM through the core. This is because the paddle blades are so much more efficient at pulling air through a thick core.

JPR

is part of the fan package that wizard offers? source?

Thanks

jpr

JPR

Thanks for the reply Tech,
trying to fit a wizard. I'm concerned about the clearance on the water pump pulley. how did you make yours fit?

Thanks

Jpr

Techno Duck

Not sure what the dimensions are of the Wizard rad so you may have more room to work with. The radiator i have is from Renegade Hybrids which as i understand it is made by Ron Davis. The core is quite thick and i thankfully had just enough space between the fan and water pump pulley. I measured from the surface of the radiator core to the waterpump at 1.8". The spot where the fan would contact the pulley measured 1.3" from the core, so it fit with just 1/2" to spare.



As of right now the car will maintain temperature fine even in very hot summer traffic. Temps very slowly drop on my digital gauge. I think with extended idling in traffic (ambient 90+ *F) the fan would probably just never shut off. I can see it drop a tenth of a degree every few seconds so it would take a really long time. At speed the car cools no problem, 90 degree ambient temps it will maintain 160-170*F under all conditions. I have yet to see higher than 200*F even running on the track.

SPAL makes an even more powerful version of the fan i am using right now. Its rated at 3k CFM under no vacuum and has the same dimensions. Not sure what its rated for under real world conditions but i imagine better than what i have now as the motor is rated at 26 amps rather than 23 amps. I did not use this though as the fan motor is not sealed and is labeled as 'race only' and not for use with 1-hour continuous run time. Alot of older Ferrari guys use this fan though as its actually the same as the OEM.

Just remember to seal the fan shroud against the radiator core if you stick with a single fan. The best bet would be to make a shroud that covers the entire core.

Jay Wellwood

Great info and research - thanks for sharing!

alxdgr8

90's Ford Taurus fans are a very popular high-flow two-speed single fan if you want something cheap and plentiful.

gruhsy

Edit: I should also add that I just installed M-tune and ran for the first time yesterday. Temps may change with a different tune....I highly doubt I will see higher temps than this with a better tune

Nope. I ordered them from JEGS.

I actually have 3 fans.....long story

However, the wizard came from Chris White. Same one Lindsey Sells too. It's the combo rad.

I first purchased a fan from Broadfoot racing. It's the one on their site. It's a different fan not Derale.

The broadfoot one is ok but does not flow as much as the Derale fans

The Derale fans are available in lots of sizes and the really push a ton of air.

1 is a 8 inch and the other a 10 I believe.

Anyhow they all came with a mounting kit which is as easy to install as putting a cap on a valve stem...stupid easy.

I have the 3 because i was having some cooling issues to start with. Turned out there was a ton air in the system...I'm running Evans Coolant.

Everything is all good now. I would recommend the largest Derale fan than you can fit to your rad or 2 smaller doubles that will fit.

With all 3 fans on mine I can site in heavy traffic with my 3.0L and only ever get to about 215F

On the highway I sit about 160F.

hope that helps

Jason

AlphaOmegaPower

Such an underrated topic. More pics of the clearance you guys have.
Good for n/a and turbo cars.

Tom M'Guinn

I have always wondered if the fans would run faster (and the car cooler) if we ran a new dedicated harness to them triggered by relays driven by the original wiring -- like the iceshark/rennbay headlight harness. If it can make headlights that much brighter, wouldn't it make the fans spin that much faster?

George D

Ron Davis used to make fans with their radiators for our cars years back. They stopped as the stock units seem to work well, and they don't sell many radiators for our cars. I've only used stock fans, but with the intercooler, AC condenser, then the thick Ron Davis radiator, at stop lights in the heat, temps rise and my AC doesn't cool nearly as well. Once moving, everything is normal.

I'd love to see an upgraded fan system for our cars. More CFM is always welcome!