Yeah, it's a cool project if you like to "fiddle with your truck" or try things to see if they work. Once you dial it in, they seem to work really well.
The Crown Vic\ Grand Marquis\Town Car fans are plentiful and seem to work well on stock vehicles. The Mark VIII fans can be elusive, but I hear they will almost propel the car down the road by themselves.
I've also heard a lot of good things about Ford Taurus fans and Ford Windstar dual fan setups from the hot rodders. That's some other plentiful options from the junk yard for you consider.
I spoke to my buddy for an update on his Crown Vic fan setup. He said that his setup is working "good enough" for now, and he's not had time to dial it in better. I'll pass on what he told me:
He found a 195*-On, 180*-Off sender that works well in the T-stat housing from Jegs, and will send me the part number. His fan is relay controlled, On or Off, no controller. He's had no battery or charging system issues.
With that temp range though, he feels the fan runs too much and may be trying to keep the motor too cool at idle. The factory gauge stays about centered, but those gauges give no actual Temp reference and are not accurate. (I agree). He has not connected an actual temp gauge yet. That's where he left his system, pending further tweaking.
Note:
Most OEM fans come On at about 215-220* on Ford products IIRC, but they're computer controlled. There'so actual fan sender. I'm thinking a sender with 220-on and 210*-off would be ideal if you can scour the catalogs and find one.
The AC in his Bronco (factory R134a) works great at idle/low speed with the CV fan set up to run with the AC on. Vent temps in the high 30s. with 85* ambient.
Hope this helps.
