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does anybody know what ones will work well in our cars? and is it possible to get some that would alLow the removal of the mechanical fan? i know i am really cheap :smash: :smash:
Electric motor size and fan blade/air volume size are fairly closely related...
I have an '87 vette main fan as my ONLY fan, it's about 16 inches dia....now down here in Florida, I think about twice the volume of air would be nice...but then again....tough job....
Tell you one thing about electric fans though.,...when they get old...my original '87 vette fan JUST went out on my over the last few months...at well over unknown mileage....well the failure mode was incidious as hell....
don't forget when flying on the freeway, engine was cool, and when pulling off, and standing at the first light....car heats up really quick.....the problem is there is a dead spot on the armateur...and if it's say an a/c blower...well it would NEVER turn on in that case.....
BUT the fan is forced to turn with freeway air passing over the blades....
fan is spinning, but motor has NO power...speed really LO....so engine heats up super quickly, and the failure mode can be a learning curve...was for me...
anyway....SO just be aware of the symptoms, and you have to feel the air flow to know....and be sensitive over it....a new fan motor will generate a hurricaine....a tired/defective motor will generate AIR, just not enough of it....
I was just wondering that myself since I was at the junkyards today. Saw a 3rd gen Camaro with no motr and just the electric fan on there. I was tempted to pull it, but then I thought about how inexpensive the kits really are and decided it wouldn't be worth it to mess with the thermostatic controls and getting it all wired up correctly, at least for someone not as experienced as myself. It certainly can be a cost effective route.
I run a elec fan from a 86 Buick GN. It fits inside the factory vette shroud. sometimes I run both engine and elec fan. For drag racing and during the cooler months I run elec alone? the GN fan is pretty strong at 2600cfm.
Mid 80s Celebrity fan on my 66. Actually the fan and motor are the same as the late 80s Corvette units. The shroud is different, but fits the 66 SB rdiator perfectly.
The shop I use has found this a very popular upgrade to C3's. We use a 90-96 Corvette dual fan and shroud we find at swap meets and car shows, replace the motors with new GM units and install it behind the radiator. You can control the fans with a thermostat, different for each, or even have overrideds in the cockpit for each. Along with this change, losing the mechanical fan makes way for improvement #2: a serpentine belt system. Both work great together.
Spike
Yes, I appreciate ther are probably more suitable fan setups out there, but a 300+ bux price tag with shroud runs up the costs pretty good there....NOW, I have NO complaints, that used '87 vette fan lasted me 7 freaking years....
so the question is....when the failures occurr, we gotta be smart enough to diagnose the problems....all I"m saying is, it's an inscidious problem, and is not necessarily that easy to diagnose, as the fan is running and making noise...so the ASSUMPTION is it's fine>>>> NOT!!!