Hey all!


I am going to remove stock fan and shroud.
Bought a 16 inch Spal fan to replace it.
Will that fan be enough for my 468cui, 500+hp build?
I am a bit worried it wont...
Maybe sell it and go for dual fans?
What is your thoughts.

 

spal is pretty decent which model #


If I had a C3 id put a direct drive mech fan and mount the spal hooked to a temp switch as a fail safe for those "in case" days.

Out before the arguements start

 

I like dual fans for the duplicity/backup feature it offers.
Dual wiring, dual relays, and a manual "on" switch (ground),that way if one fan or relay fails, or the temp switch fails it continues to get cooling air when you are stopped.

 

Ecklers part #: 25-171965-1
Bit worried i need dual fans.

 

stock radiator?

There are some neat ones out nowadays that ramp up slowly (brushless) waiting for them to become affordable
Spals good stuff though. I believe they rate theri cfm against a radiator..most dont little deceptive

That would make a great backup to your mech fan
Use their wiriing kit, put the switch in your Tstat, intake head wherever

Those are kinda slimline so gives you mounting options

Have one on my Camino same fan
Roughly 500hp(probably more but who knows or cares)
Does the job with alum radiator but honestly dont care for the fluctuating temps meaning its off til it hits 185 then go back down used to steady temps

They have two switches, one is on 185 off 165 the other which Id recommend is on 195?off 185 otherwise it will run all the time.

What kind of temps are you running now?

With a mech fan it takes worry out of itt if you see the needle creeping up no need for a toggle switch..PLUS if say a relay or something stupid went out youre not stranded. Maybe Ive had too many pos over the yrs to this day still gauge watch

Know its not a direct comparison as the C3 has kind of a convoluted air path but if it were me id go that route. Just one point of view thats all.

I dont like hot running motors alll that "if it runs cool it will wear out" stuff is bs far as Im concerned.
Not being a cheerleader or justifying purchase but a good aluminum radiator DOES make a difference
Got avg 8 deg running temps and cools down quicker which tells me they are more efficient (had a BB GM radiator in it before)

 

And here we go again,

Lots of opinions wrapped up in facts and vice versa,
if I looked at the right fan it moves 2360 cfm is that rated against a radiator or in the open?

That is marginal cfm to cool a stock small block with stock radiator, in fact any top radiator company I have called has said 3-3500 is a must.

Many people get away with inadequate fans when the radiator is all overkill and over sized,

I was OCD I bought a big custom made dewitts big money, yes, I could have given up some of the artist looks and got the same cooling from a large import champion for a lot less toad pelts.

I went with a big cfm close to 4K dual fan set up after many many hours researching this subject, yes at 300.00 pretty expensive to me,
I wire my dual fans to run both on low then both on high, ramping the speed it isn't really any big advantage in my case and costs a heck of a lot more for the controller than my 3 common relays.

while I likely will be less than 500 hp I will have ac and get stuck in super hot fl traffic so I wanted overkill, and what I got would likely cool any car that can touch the street.

 

I doubt it'll work. You'll need more airflow then that single fan will move. That fan wouldn't cool a run of the mill maybe 300hp 350 for me but it now cools a LT1 fine both using the same radiator. I suppose the LT1 is a more efficient engine and the fuel injection works well to keep heat down too.

Make sure you have a fully upgraded electrical system. I wouldn't expect anything less than a CS series alternator to properly keep-up with dual fans at idle.

A neat trick with dual fans is to use 3 relays and 2 temperature switches to get a low and high fan speeds. The fans will run slower and quieter unless full speed is needed.

I do love the "something fails and you're stranded" comments related to electric fans. I'm sure I could find roads open enough to keep the speed up until I got home. But then most cars on the road today use electric fans and you don't see many of them stranded on the side of the road.

 

That is what I came up with does the same as the expensive comp ones and for me almost free to make,
My switch is that bmw one but that could change during testing.

My 383 would creep up with the Taurus fan but the 454 was okay with it, my 66 ran cool with a 327 300-350 hp and fiero fan.

I almost got stranded years ago in then 86, I had been playing with an adjustable temp switch to kick the fan on sooner and the switch burnt up, I just hot wired the fan to get home...but yeah, most all new cars have electric fans and when these cars leave people stranded it's seldom a fan issue.

 

I was going to run series/parallel for my high low operation on my fans. I decided to just run one/two fans instead. I liked that idea because it only took a total of two relays to run the fans and the LED indicators. The full load of two fans kicking in never passes through the relays. Most of all, if one relay does fail, the other will still get me home.
So far I have been very happy with the setup. The second fan has only had to kick in a couple of times, but it is there if I need it. I ran a ground wire back under the dash in case I want to add a switch to manually kick in the first fan, but have never wired that yet.

 

Just shared what I did as food for though...
We all have our ways of doing it that we are happy with and they are right for us yet the next cat might not care for it...and that is or should be okay.

I researched and pondered the one on then two on and the cons (for my set up) I didn't care for,
In a case like mine where the fans share a shroud, what I decided was the best type dual fan set up for my OCD self so no radiator is wasted. okay, not wasted as much as just not used to full efficiency.
( I paid too much for this thing not to get as much of my monies worth as possible )
when one fan is on ( and one off ) it will try to pull from the least resistance which is the hole where the other fan isn't on, so not very efficient.

If the fans are the style where they just hang in back of the radiator no shared shroud then radiator that isn't under a fan circle is being wasted ( to a degree, not used to full efficiency)
in that set up doesn't really make any difference if it's ran both low/high or one on both on...but with just one fan doing all the work on high all the time of course it will ware faster.

I'm all wary of the comp controllers but that's just me people have great luck with them,
In my case I get parts like those relays for free and the amp is plenty high for the fans to run on them, truth is I have never had one fail in 30 years plus of messing with them on a heck of a lot of cars customs and cycles, but we all know the world isn't perfect, shi...stuff happens, and I can over ride stuff if need be,

all set ups have pros and cons,
I will be the first to say no one way is perfect or a "fit all" for every build and each person so I would never be one of those cats who try to push what I did on others.

I see many people cool their cars, meaner engines than mine with all kinds of fan and wiring set ups, so lots of ways to make this happen.

What's cool, small pun intended, When people jump to aluminum radiators that are bigger and better than stock then things like less efficient fans and wiring set ups are not so critical...

 

FWIW, I have been using a 16" Spal puller fan with a Be Cool rad on my 500+HP 406cui for about 12yrs now with absolutely no problems.

 

maybe youre in a more rural area?
In LA youll be on the side of the road quick without a fan

 

The reason I believe this is the becool is a big nice high performance radiator and would likely still cool with even less fan....

This is the same idea how the dewitts cool some big hp with the dual 11 spals that leave some radiator out and do not move all that much air.

stock radiators are not that forgiving.

 

What? Are you running for "office?"

Hey Bruce- OP is in Sweden- Don't you guys have about the same climate???


Same here in Atlanta!

 

office? no, not my thing, I'll leave that dog and pony show to the trump$ and the Clintons,

 

I have no idea about the climate in Sweden, but the summertime temps where I live in southern Ontario are usually between 80-90 F, sometimes hotter!!

 

Tongue in cheek...

Sweden-

 

I have had failed components twice now on my fans. Due to the duplicity in it's installation I was able to continue without a problem.
These are aftermarket parts, not OEM, things fail and particularly with aftermarket variance in quality.
Sure if you can keep it going forward fast enough and do not have to stop for any length of time you can continue with no fan. I don't think I'd put money on being able to continue to a destination without having to stop though. Convenience alone is worth the duplicity in an installation for me. If a problem arises with one fan system I don't have to stop what I'm doing and get somewhere to make a repair or affect the remainder/route of my trip

 

I'm not a big fan of that wiring because it leaves the left relay as a single point of failure. The more common way, which is the stock way GM it, will leave a single fan running when any one relay fails, or wiring for one relay or even one of the temperature switches.

An example is in the first post in this thread.

http://944hybrids.forumotion.com/t12...iring-question

To make it even more unlikely to have complete failure, AND to further copy how GM does it, you run a separate fused power wire from the battery to relay #1 and #2 and different fused ignition power to relay #1 and relays #2/#3. That way, a single fuse failure doesn't kill both fans.

Keeping both fans on all the time have cooling advantages and the two speed wiring soft-starts the fans which presents less electrical draw when they first kick on which is easier on everything in the system.

Ya, if you make sure the wiring and relays are suitable for their use then you won't have any issues. The one place I have seen relay issues is with the cheap pre-made relay plugs. The connectors are such crap they can't handle the current. Socketing your own with good Packard 56 connectors works MUCH better. Or grab some high power relays and harnesses off junk cars. You can find a matched sealed relays and pigtail harness on different models.

 

I am betting since you do not like my way you do not run it...that's wise

in that wiring on low the path runs both fans through two relays, interesting.

please post some pictures of the set up on your car....