Vaipulu

Making the switch to electric fan! I am going the ford fan setup.

I was looking on opinions on whether cleaning up a used unit or purchasing a new dorman would provide the best performance.

Unfortunately, the OEM fans are hard to come by, and places who have them ask a steep price for a factory fan.

Dorman however has has a very reasonable price for a knockoff.

So, what's the best route? Used OEM fan or a new knockoff? Any direction is appreciated.

71VetteLover

I bought my 17" Derale #16217 from Jegs for $135 then mounted it inside the opening of my fan shroud. Then I mounted my 30-amp circuit breaker and relays next to my left hood latch.

ajrothm

You can find Lincoln MKVIII fans on eBay all the time for <$150. I’d go that route.. (I own two myself). Just make sure to get good 50 amp relays and 10 ga wire to run it all. You’ll want a good alternator as well.

The Lincoln fan fits the C3 radiator perfect and will keep the car as cool as you want it.

Tons of recent threads about Lincoln fans here.

Vaipulu

The MK VIII is exactly the fan I'm going for. Just not sure if I pick it up from a junkyard or grab a new dorman fan replica. I plan on wiring it to the Sniper efi unit and let it run the hi/lo on it.

Vaipulu

Whoa! Nice install, I hadn't thought of reusing the shroud. My shroud looks like the previous owner punched it into place. Your install looks factory.

ajrothm

You can just pick up a used one. They virtually last forever. The fan on my 71’ is from 1993....it has no telling how many hundreds of thousands of miles on it. It’s been on my car for 6-7 years and 20k miles I know.

The key is to seal the shroud to the radiator well, and use good wiring and relays.

I’ve posted a ton of pics and info on installing a lincoln fan in a c3 here on the forum, even recently. Search my posts for the info.

It really is the way to go, but you will need a serious alternator to run it all. My car will idle in traffic at 185-188* all day long with the fan cycling on and off, this is with AC on and a 650hp, iron headed big block.

ajrothm

You are WAY better off mounting an electric fan up against the radiator in a proper shroud..it will cool much better. Plus you’ll free up a bunch of room in front of the engine that makes everything easier to get to.

ajrothm

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...n-install.html

71VetteLover

As this was just an experiment I didn't want to alter things very much in case I wanted to go back to my 7-blade belt driven clutch fan. I discovered the opening in my shroud was about 19-1/8" diameter so that's why I chose to stuff my 17" Derale into it and see how well it worked. I wired it so it'll remain OFF most of the time and then when the temperature reaches 200 degrees the low speed comes on followed by the high speed at 210 degrees. The real test will be next August when it hits 100+ degrees and with my A/C on.

ajrothm

Well the oem shroud is obviously fine for a factory 7 blade clutch fan with blades that are sized, shaped and fitted to the shroud (half a blade depth on the edge of the shroud)... however electric fans with much smaller blades are designed to pull against the restriction of the core, hence why they mount within a 1/2” from the core. ALSO, the oem shroud does not seal well to the core if the seals are gone.

But hey, whatever works is how I look at it, if you setup is working and staying cool for ya, that’s all that matters.


I recently finished the Hot Rod Power Tour 2017, Long Haul gang, I did 3500 miles in 10 days, getting in and out of the venues would sometimes take an hour or longer of idling, AC on, 95-97* ambient.....my car never went over 190* on the entire trip, and that’s with the fan cycling on/off. I can manually override the fan, keep it running and pull temps into the mid 170*s. Needless to say, it cools very well, and has for 20k miles/7 years.

71VetteLover

I'm still in the process of experimenting with mine. Right now I have it set to turn on to it's low 1800 cfm speed at 200 degrees and on to its high 2400 cfm speed at 210 degrees. I am running an extra large 3-3/8" alternator pulley to increase belt life but at the expense of a very low output at idle in DRIVE. With the fan running on its high speed I need 1400 rpm to break even and 1500 rpm to exceed the amperage draw of the fan, blower on high speed, A/C clutch, HEI, and electric fuel pump. I'm going to test it in city traffic with my A/C on this afternoon and see how well it does.

And my fan shroud is completely sealed to ensure every bit of the air is drawn thru the radiator core. Note I have an idler belt that puts drive power to the water pump's pulley to drive the A/C compressor so my alternator belt doesn't have much of a load on it. I used a 4" diameter 4-Seasons pulley and I made the mount bracket with a grease zerk so I can lube the 203-F bearing every now and then.

PainfullySlow

One of the great things that I have found about this forum is that there are so many great ideas and different ways to do things.

For me, I would choose to eliminate the stock shroud as one of the main advantages of converting to an electric fan (to me) is freeing up that little bit of space at the front of the engine.

I have been trying to decide between the Mk 8 or the Taurus conversion...

71VetteLover

Regardless of which style of fan you choose you'll quickly discover your alternator won't keep up with it at an idle. My alternator needs 1400 engine rpm just to break even and 1500 rpm to exceed the 24 amp additional load of the fan. After I installed mine I realized my Derale blows air directly at my engine which is one of the functions of a fan.

cv67

you may need to change your pulley...most the fans doing its work at low rpms or idle. Had to have my alt upgraded to an 80/120 and ditch the underdrive pulley....even then it doesnt always excite early enough (as the rest of my pulleys are borderline). Little by little even a wimpy Spal runs the battery down some. Irritating as hell.

At some point a plastic mechanicals going back on and the spal as a secondary unless I can figure this one out. Should be fine even with a 1200rpm idle but isnt.

always wondered about pirating a fan off a newer truck, camaro SS or?
They move lots of air and are "smart" just dont know my way around wiring. I suspect they move way more air and run less time than aftermarket

71VetteLover

I started out with a 2-5/8" pulley but quickly discovered it would eat my belts up within 15,000 miles. First they shed their covers and then they broke; leaving me stranded on the side of the road until a tow truck could haul us home. After the second broken belt in about 15 months I threw that little pulley away and installed a 3" pulley that drastically increased my belt life but now I'm running the largest pulley I could find in E-Bay; a 3-3/8" solid steel pulley. I have been considering going to a Prestolite/Leece Neville like the early 1960's Chrysler 300's used but boosted to 94 amps because they have a lot of low end grunt.

ajrothm

Anyone that chooses to run any of the Ford fans, you’re gonna need a bigger alternator, there is no way around it.

I’m running a CS144-HO alternator from www.alternatorparts.com. It’s a 140 amp alternator that develops like 80% of its voltage at at 800 rpm engine idle speed. My car idles at 850 rpms in gear and I NEVER see under 13.5v at the battery at idle, with full electric load on it. (AC on high/max, lights on, fan on, stereo system with a big 4 channel amp etc). Even my oem dash lights are so bright at idle, it seems like a modern car inside.

There is no way around it. You’ll need the big alternator, additional 8ga (or bigger) charge wire, HD relays and circuit breakers. None of this stuff is cheap, but it’s the reliable way to do it.

truckerlary

For what it's worth I installed a dual fan set-up from a c4 or c5. Can't remember which. Thinking c4 but not sure. Used the shroud that came with the fan but had to rework to make fit between the a-arms. Seems to work good what little I have used it. Running 2 relays. One for around 180 and the other set at 210 to come on plus wired to the AC compressor. Larry

PainfullySlow

Noted, and thank you. I had planned on upping the amperage anyway as I will have some additional electrical requirements.

71VetteLover

Huh? That sounds like something you just made up. In looking at the Delco Remy performance charts I discovered the 94 amp 12-SI is the exact same size as the OEM 63 amp 10-SI but they are brushless, self exciting (one wire hookup) and crank out an astonishing 50 amps at 1000 engine rpm when using a 3" pulley. I found one on E-Bay for only $62 with FREE SHIPPING so I ordered one on Friday and it should arrive by Tuesday. That should cure my charging problem at idle in DRIVE. As I'm running a TH700R4 I was finding my amp gauge was still showing a 10 amp discharge even at 55 mph when driving at night with my A/C on high and my headlights on (but I am burning all four on low beam).

71VetteLover

Right off the bat you'll have horrible low speed charging problems because the electric fans consume around 24 amps and a stock 10-SI alternator can't keep up with one. Here's a link to the Delco Remy alternator performance specs: http://www.dieselusa.com/productinfo...on%20Guide.pdf

Note the 94 amp 12-SI cranks out a VERY impressive 50 amps at 1000 engine rpm which is almost twice as much as a 10-SI and it's exactly the same dimensions as the 10-SI which means it's a direct retrofit. They are brushless and a single wire hookup.