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Posted By: CazAttack Electric Fan Conversion! - February 06th 2018 7:00 am
A couple of weeks ago I decided to rid of the clutch fan after having an incident this summer that blew out my radiator drain plug and draining all my coolant dry! (It was Texas weather with my A/C on and I left it idling for too long, my fault) With much research done I finally went with a fan kit with FFDynamics fans and boy am I happy! It hasn't gotten as hot as I want it to be to really set them at the desired thermostat temp but so far they are doing their job very well. You can tell that they are making the alternator work slightly harder but they aren't even that loud. It might just be the placebo effect but I'm almost positive I can feel my throttle having more response since I don't have the draw from the clutch fan anymore. I DID NOT remove the radiator for this job which made it a pain in the butt but it still went fine! I got it from a seller on eBay and he communicated with any questions I had about the install and what not. I haven't gotten the chance to take it on a highway trip yet so I can't mention any MPG gains (not that the 454 will sip any less gas than it does). I'm considering doing an electric fan swap for my 2.2L Chevrolet S10. This guy has a kit for everything! If you're interested here's the eBay seller: spikedcollardogs
One thing is for sure, though. I'm glad I got rid of the big plastic housing.

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Posted By: tuner4life Re: Electric Fan Conversion! - February 06th 2018 1:17 pm
Good stuff! Electric fans are life. And no placebo effect. You probably do have slightly better throttle response, especially if your original fan clutch was engaging prematurely.
Posted By: Hasan Ben Sobar Re: Electric Fan Conversion! - February 06th 2018 1:58 pm
Those shrouds don't allow for airflow thru the entire radiator. The idea is sound. I'll be doing that with my van except I'll be using a fan set up off a 90's Taurus/Sable. They move enough air to pull the van down the road.
You should step up to a big amp alternator as when you have the fans going , the A/C going and the lights plus a possible sound system , your current (pun intended) amp will have a stroke. No stock alternator can handle all of it.
Posted By: oldskool73 Re: Electric Fan Conversion! - February 06th 2018 7:40 pm
Nice. One more thing to add to my "want" list.
Posted By: CatFish Re: Electric Fan Conversion! - February 06th 2018 9:26 pm
Good job on the fans. Electric is the way to go in the southern summers or if you tow.

I have dual Taurus fans on our old Ford. They move a ton of air. Turning one up and the other down allows them to fit together and cover the 460 radiator at 32" wide x 29" high. One is controlled via a Flex-a-lite variable speed control and the other is via t-stat/relay. I have overrides to run them manually if needed and the t-stat controlled fan has a high pressure switch in the A/C piping for an additional override when idling in the Georgia heat.
We have a 160 amp 4G alternator to help with power.

We don't have a big sound system but the flex-a-lite speed controller acts as a "soft start" and really helps the alternator/electric system deal with the fans much much better.
Posted By: RichardB Re: Electric Fan Conversion! - February 07th 2018 2:28 am
I love electric fan conversions, nicely done! This is on my long list of stuff to do to my new van. I've done multiple electric fan conversions on other vehicles though. You can usually sense a slight pickup in power/throttle response, and depending on size of fan a cooler running engine. I have an adjustable switch on the fan in my corolla that controls when the fan does and does not turn on. I little extra wiring but very nice to really dial it in. Even with a healthy water pump and aluminum radiator that car would always go up in temp just a little if I was sitting in heavy traffic. Now needle never budges even when in traffic on our warmest days.

And as mentioned above step up the alternator when you can. There is not a heavy duty alternator available for my Corolla, so I cook a alternator every 1-2 years since I put that fan in. No big deal though, lifetime warranty from O'Reily's, they just give me a new one every time. Haha!

Cheers!

- Rich
Posted By: CazAttack Re: Electric Fan Conversion! - February 07th 2018 8:36 am
I think with the small lip they have it helps guide more airflow to more than just the center of the fans. It seems to be doing a good job so far! I do have the biggest alternator that I could find (140amp; steady at 14v) since I have a winch, many lights in the future, sound system with an amp, etc.
Posted By: tuner4life Re: Electric Fan Conversion! - February 07th 2018 1:20 pm
Taurus fan x100! I have a dual speed Taurus fan on my drift car wired to a 3 way switch through relays. Definitely need some heavy gauge wire to run it! I always try to start it on low first. If you go right from off to high speed, it damn near stalls the car. They move a crazy amount of air!
Posted By: CatFish Re: Electric Fan Conversion! - February 07th 2018 2:28 pm
Yeah, the Taurus fans starting on high will hit the volt meter like a ton of bricks. Try having two..... eek

Originally Posted by CazAttack
I think with the small lip they have it helps guide more airflow to more than just the center of the fans. It seems to be doing a good job so far! I do have the biggest alternator that I could find (140amp; steady at 14v) since I have a winch, many lights in the future, sound system with an amp, etc.


140 Amps oughta do the job. I've found that working a high amp alternator hard will (over time) do a number on the drive belt so it's always a good idea to carry a spare.
Thanks for the links too. I have a '95 Chevy that we use to tow nowadays and it will be getting a fan conversion soon. I'm tempted to go to a Taurus (since I have some in the junk room) but that system you have makes a very neat looking install indeed.

Posted By: Dyno_Dave Re: Electric Fan Conversion! - February 08th 2018 2:08 am
Nice work!

No doubt you can feel the horsepower that is freed up.



Posted By: Greenstreak Re: Electric Fan Conversion! - February 10th 2018 3:53 am
An electric conversion has been on my to do list for a bit now too.
Posted By: Keep_On_Truckin_WNY Re: Electric Fan Conversion! - February 14th 2018 3:08 pm
I pulled the fan off of my '90 sometime last year and felt a dramatic improvement, and I don't let it sit in traffic so I haven't had an issue yet with needing a fan, but I do have a pair of caravan electric fans from when my wife hit a deer, and I planned to fix it and drive it myself, but that plan went out the window...

So I have the fans, wiring, and relays from a junkyard caravan, and I cut the middle 'shrouds' out to put them closer together and to fit the radiator... the rest of the original shroud fit very well on the GM radiator, and I have a piece of clear anodized aluminum along the top to make it look decent...

I'll end up putting the fans on this spring when I do my cam swap...
Posted By: CazAttack Re: Electric Fan Conversion! - February 18th 2018 8:37 am
I did a lot of research and went back and forth with what possible fans I could use and I ended up with these since they seemed to be pretty slim-lined and push a massive amount of air and actually are fairly quiet!
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