I have a 98 xlt with a 5.0. I was wondering if anyone one has ever done a clutch fan to electric fan conversion and if so, what does it entail.

 

Hey, I own a 97 Mountaineer with a 5.0. It was somewhat hard to get the clutch fan off. Down right dirty. Then after I got the clutch fan removed, I found out that the space between the radiator and the engine was extreamly small. under 4". So I had to send back the flex-a-lite fan I ordered and bought another lesser known fan that was around 3.5" deep. That did the job. The wiring wasn't all that bad if you know a little about working with wires and such. Most companies give extreamly vauge directions, and it's up to you to use common sense to figure out what to do.
I don't know if i'm happy with the overall fan conversion. I did not notice any extra power. Saw no gain im MPG. I can only say that it does make more sense to me to have an electric fan that turns on only when needed. In the winter where I am, you shouldn't really need a fan at all, unless your at a stop light for a long time.
I guess I'm happy, but I was hopping for more.

 

thanks for the info, one of the reasons why I wanted to do the conversion was for the horsepower increase. I knew it wasnt going to be substantial increase but anything to help. In regards to wiring, did you have to purchase any other items or make any mods to the truck to make the fan work?

 

I've never really thought about the fans...ive covered almost every other thing in this explorer that i could possibly look in to. $100+ is pathetic and im not going to spend that much. But yeah, having a clutch fan on when its 0 degrees out here is pretty stupid

 

Depending on what fan or company you choose the wiring will be different. Most of the time you will buy a fan and then buy a wiring kit to control the fan. The fan I bought cost me $90 and the kit I bought at a local auto store for $20. I didn't bother hooking it into the A/C condensor because I don't use the A/C or defrost int he winter, but I should re-wire that in the spring.
Also don't buy two fans. You may think that two fans would be better than one right? Not really. Look at how much air flow each fan moves. Also I'm not sure if dual fans would fit on the radiator.

Again, I want to say that I noticed almost no power gain. However I'm sure that it does increase the life of the waterpump, wich the clutch fan hangs off of.

 

Bah, i wont even bother. Got to pay my gym fees and other loads of crap before i go spending any more money.