What type of Electric Fan?

[67JET]

I am going to change my electric fan out this winter and i was wondering about the Taurus SHO fans. I was told that they were high CFM and just plain Bad A$$. What year model? Is their any other out there that you can recommend? Do the front mounted double fans work or they just for looks? I like the way they look and want to add them but right now i want something that works.

[imfastrnu2]

This is just my opinion but puller fans always work better than pushers. As for the the model, get one that's shrouded and fits your radiator core as much as possible. I had an unshrouded for a long time and had nothing but problems. This summer I switched to a Flex-a-lite Black Magic Xtreme and couldn't be happier. That thing really moves the air and the Cobra never gets above 190 degrees even in the hot Alabama sun. (460 Big Block). The other key was to switch to an all aluminum radiator instead of the brass. When I first built the car I didn't think it'd make that big a difference but it really does.

[xlr8or]

Go to the link below and see my post. It's the best fan upgrade you can do as far as I'm concerned.
Cooling Fan

If you browse around the site (holister road) referenced in my post you will find various part numbers for the fans. Then check out www.rockauto.com with those number and you can compare the different size shrouds and find one that fits your radiator best. There were several models out there for different cars that used the same fan assy.

[undy]

Don't get the SHO fan, only the one the 3.8 engine 90 to 95. The SHO fan is smaller and pumps much less air.

[MFE III]

I did this fan conversion and am very pleased with it.
I bought mine on ebay, here's an example: http://http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lincoln-Mark-VIII-Electric-Fan-/270667541337?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories &hash=item3f050aeb59
I also second the recommendation of using the Hollister Road relay setup.
http://www.thehollisterroadcompany.com/default.html
I am running twin pusher fans as well, but only for looks/authenticity purposes. The Taurus/Mark VIII unit moves plenty of air. No more overheating problems since I installed the unit.
FYI: I have the low speed triggered by my thermo switch, then installed a 3 position Lucas toggle operating the twin pushers (position 2) and the high speed puller (position 3). If you go this route, be sure you don't use an off/on 1/on 1&2 type toggle. You need the off/on 1/on 2 type 3-position toggle. Don't ask how I know!
Matt

[67JET]

I am thinking about switching to an all aluminum radiator.
Excellent information about the Mark VIII fans and the switches . Thanks

[RICK LAKE]

67JET Running an all aluminum motor was a pain in the beginning with running hot and overheating at the track. Every trick I know has helped in getting the temp lower and steadier when racing. Here is the list
The small twin fans are cool but do little to help air flow into the radiator
These things are dead spots and upset flow. The radiator in an era is on a 20 degree recline. The splitter in the nose works better.
Radiator, brass is nice for looks and is correct in styling but is like a heat sink under the hood and maintains heat longer than an aluminum one. The top of the line ones are what you want like a Griffen or Howell.
Largest fan with a shroud that will mount to the radiator. Seal the outside edges with foam tape to force all the air through the fan setup. Make sure your charging system is up to the load the coolant fan will draw. Make sure the wiring is also up to the load. #10 or #12 gauge, would not go any higher,IMO.
Small thing list, If the intake is off the car make sure that the coolant ports are cleaned out and gasket match the heads. My intake had alot of flashing from the pour when made was was not cleaned out on final machining.
Thermostats. For my style of driving and high speed driving this is also an important thing with having enough flow to and from the motor. I have modified an dodge 180 thermostats to fit my FE intake manifold. The outlet is 3/8" larger diameter for flow of coolant. I have tryed all the high flow, top of the line thermostats on the market. This works the best.
Last wisdom thought, I started out using junkyard or recycling parts, they failed at the wrost times. Buy new and read the specs for that parts and follow how to install and used. Make sure you have a heavyduty relay for your fan. You want a 30/40A one with heavy wires coming in and going out. It said this on the cover of the relay. 20/30A are for headlights and other smaller draw parts. The spike load is what kills relays, fan may only need 15-20 amps but to turn it on it needs 35-45 amps. Find a Fan with a min of 2,500 cfm. Rick L.

[Zoom This]

I have never seen a set of fans do a better job on any car than the ones on my SPF. They create quite the wind storm when on. I've trudged around So. Calif. streets in 100 degree heat with temp never going above the thermostat setting of 90 degree centigrade. Good test for keeping 550 hp cool. Check 'em out.

Bill

[67JET]

Thanks for the input Rick.
When i bought my new wiring harness from Haywire i asked to have a adjustable time delay wired into the electric fan and electric water pump so i can let them run after i shut the car off - up to 0-1 minute for extra cooling. The relays and wiring are new and up to the task of about anything i throw at it. As for a fan - I was debating on buying a new radiator\fan combo but that cost a chunk of cash because everything for my car has too be custom made. My car is not one of the name brand cars that i can just call someone and order up-graded parts. Wish it was. So right now I'm going with a fan and we will see what happens. It don't get very hot here in Wisconsin. Now if i still lived in Louisiana it would be a different story. Thanks for the knowledge and any other fan and\or radiator recommendations are welcome.

[boris_thespider]

I used the fan/shroud assembly from a 1995 3.8L Taurus and it blows like a hurricane. No overheating issues at all. I had to do a little bit of trimming on the shroud and it fit perfectly. I have a few photos in my gallery and I also had a post with reference to it.

3.8L Taurus Fan

I picked the fan up cheap at a salvage yard and so far so good. But if you'd rather you can order a brand new, after market replacement on Amazon.com for $92.59 with free shipping. It's comes from Dorman (part# 620-101). I also got a variable speed controller from Flex-a-lite (part#31165) It cost me 4 times what I paid for the fan Good luck!

Mike

[RICK LAKE]

67JET Jet 2 thoughts about where you are living and cheap ways to stop overheating the car. If the car is going 40 mph or higher, there is no need for the fans running. There is enough air flow to match the fans running high speed. The big thing will be what angle the radiator is set at and maybe having a splitter to help bend the air into the radiator better. This is a test you can do at home with a $10 piece of aluminum. The new cars only turn on fans when speed is slower than 10 mph or the pressure readings get high. The other thing if you are in stop and go traffic crack the back of the hood to help move the air out from under the engine compartment. I have seen a small block of wood rapped in soft cloth to protect the paint. I am testing small bilge fans that blow air out the fender vents. They come in 3" & 4" sizes. The amps for both is 15a. I have them on a relay and switch for racing. seem to bring temps down under the hood by about 10-15 degrees. I have not used a temp gun for this test but is funny to see people jump from the hot air coming out the sides. I cooler or more fresh air I can get in and out from the hood area has to be worth something for cooling the motor.
Watch your charging system at idle with a high amp fan. I don't know if you have a volt meter or amp gauge. Would not push a amp gauge with a steady amp load of 50-60 for hours. It will melt the insulators over time. I have gone to an 95 amp system from PAperformance that is a bolt on and a 1 wire change. It leaves all the other wires in place if you want to switch back.
I would add the volt meter either way and just connect the 2 main wires off the amp meter togeather. You can add a small wire for the volt metter at this time for the signal wire. All you need is a ground to get the correct readings. Rick L. P.s. watch the amp loads on these fans, they have a FUDGE factor of about 10% high or low. Summit sells a shroud kit for about $100.00 and needs to be trimed to fit. Its aluminum and can be polished or painted black to hide if you want. I like aluminum for spraying WD-40 is the only cleaning I have to do. I hate maintainance work like this.

[undy]

To add on to what Rick said...

The one wire alternators will run about one to one and a half volts lower than the factory multi-wire units. That might not sound like a bunch but it will limit the peak speed that your fan(s) runs at. If you're cooling challenged with your ride it could be the straw that broke the camel's back...

I run #8 wire on all my "line voltage", non-control fan wiring. My relays from Hollister Road are rated at 60/70 amps. The Taurus fan on hi-speed will draw near 40 amps. You typical "100 amp" alternator will generate a paltry 25 -30 amps at idle, not enough to run a amp intensive large CFM fan for prolonged idling periods.

[bulletbrown]

I looked at a number of fan systems to resolve the air flow problem , in the end I used a 2002 Viper fan . It came with a shroud with four small rubber flaps along the side to allow air to pass at cruising speed, removing the hot air and smells from the engine and reducing the turbulence , they close at low speed to channel the air into the radiator . It is a two speed system . I Installed an over ride switch so if it is a very hot day or I,m in traffic I can switch to high but that is not very often. This system works great and it is on a relay located close to the fan and feed direct.

[67JET]

Thanks for the info everyone.
Rick Lake and Undy-I have a volt gauge, i didn't like the amp gauge so i replaced it. I have a mini alt that has been boosted up to 150 amp by Bill Howard in Tulsa and it seems to do great now but with a new fan with higher amp draw we will have to see. I also had to make my alt bracket because i couldn't buy one to fit with the elect water pump that wouldn't hit the frame down low. I'll think i need to strengthen it up a bit because sometimes after i crank it the belt squeals a little. I think it's flexing.

Bulletbrown- We talked at the Racine Zoo car show this passed summer and i had forgot about the Viper fan. It seemed like you said that it was expensive but worked great. Thanks for the reminder. I am terrible with names but i remember a nice guy named Buddy that has what sounded like an impressive shop he invited me to. I would still like to take him up on that one day. So let me get this straight. You hooked up the temp sensor to the low speed side of the fan and a on/off switch to the high side. Did you have to do anything creative like MFEIII stated in his post with the switch or is it as simple as flipping the manual switch on with the temp switch already on? That would give the fan 2 power supplies at once - correct?

[PANAVIA]

If you can manage and fit them the SPF fans are the best i have seen.

second would be the newer CTSV caddi-lack fan array.

if you have overheating issues, there is a reason somewhere , you have to find it. -- but , however, --

Cooling is like racing 10ths and hundreds of seconds build up to seconds.

translating that to cooling, every little bit counts. sure there are things that are bigger improvements -- but the small stuff adds up. fins, splitters, shrouds, etc.

Steve

[xlr8or]

Originally Posted by 67JET

Thanks for the info everyone.
Rick Lake and Undy-I have a volt gauge, i didn't like the amp gauge so i replaced it. I have a mini alt that has been boosted up to 150 amp by Bill Howard in Tulsa and it seems to do great now but with a new fan with higher amp draw we will have to see. I also had to make my alt bracket because i couldn't buy one to fit with the elect water pump that wouldn't hit the frame down low. I'll think i need to strengthen it up a bit because sometimes after i crank it the belt squeals a little. I think it's flexing.

Bulletbrown- We talked at the Racine Zoo car show this passed summer and i had forgot about the Viper fan. It seemed like you said that it was expensive but worked great. Thanks for the reminder. I am terrible with names but i remember a nice guy named Buddy that has what sounded like an impressive shop he invited me to. I would still like to take him up on that one day. So let me get this straight. You hooked up the temp sensor to the low speed side of the fan and a on/off switch to the high side. Did you have to do anything creative like MFEIII stated in his post with the switch or is it as simple as flipping the manual switch on with the temp switch already on? That would give the fan 2 power supplies at once - correct?

That is why the Hollister Road harness is so nice. The relays are configured for multiple inputs to control the high and low speeds. Mine is setup for low on the temp sensor in the intake manifold, high is triggered either by a manual switch on the dash or if I turn on the A/C.

[undy]

Originally Posted by xlr8or

That is why the Hollister Road harness is so nice. The relays are configured for multiple inputs to control the high and low speeds. Mine is setup for low on the temp sensor in the intake manifold, high is triggered either by a manual switch on the dash or if I turn on the A/C.

My Hollister Road setup....

I silver soldered a new temp sending unit bung into the bottom of my expansion tank. I have a 180 deg sensor in my intake manifold for the low speed and the 190 deg sensor in the expansion tank to bring on the second, hi speed. I also have the high speed wired into a toggle on the dash just in case. Outside the toggle switch, all materials came from the Hollister Road kit I ordered.

[stallion112]

Can anyone tell me the dimensions of the Taurus fan / shroud assembly?

[FWB]

Originally Posted by stallion112

Can anyone tell me the dimensions of the Taurus fan / shroud assembly?

while i can't comment on the dimensions you want, i do know on our stallions there is a large open area above the radiator and below the body that air by-passes the radiator through. the air takes the path of least resistance. i increased my cooling greatly by blocking off that area. just food for thought..
i swapped out my radiator and twin fans for a black magic fan and made a custom shroud

[67JET]

Excellent job FBW.
I just bought a 14" fan form ZIRGO.
I guess we will see if it works. 2785 CFM.

Item ID Description Qty Price
ZFCT Radiator Cooling Fan Ties 1 $9.99
ZFU14S 14" 2785 Cfm Zirgo Ultra High Performance Radiator Cooling Fan 1 $150.00
Subtotal: $159.99
Shipping: $21.50
Total: $181.49