Would a dual e-fan be bad for me?

FX4 5.4 · #1 (**permalink**) 07-04-2009, 02:26 PM

Still thinking about doing the Troyer Dual E-Fans on my 05 5.4. Would it be bad to use on my SD? I know lowering the gears is my best bet, but I won't have that type of money to spend because I am first going to buy some 285 70 17 Nitto Terras, Bilstein 5100s, and upgrade to 6000 lb. front coils. Doing the gears is out of the question. I have heard that if I work with my truck, e-fans would be bad. Here's what I do with my truck: 5 to 6 days of the week it sits _ I rarely tow, but if I do it will be a light ATV trailer with 2 4-wheelers and a dirt bike or I will tow an 18" fisha nd ski boat which won't even sag the truck a 1/4"_ the most I will haul in the bed is a load of wood or a load of scrap brake rotors from my dad's shop. So would the e-fan be a good investment?

ReAX · #2 (**permalink**) 07-04-2009, 02:34 PM

I don't think they will help you, but they probably will not hurt either. There is no free energy, the power required to spin the fans has to come from the battery and alternator. The alternator gets harder to spin as more power is demanded for it. So now your converting fuel into spinning energy, now the mechanical fan takes this energy alone. E fans, the spinning energy must be converted into electrical energy, then back into spinning energy, each of those reduces efficiency. The up side is your alternator will only produce about 130a of energy which is it will steal from the engine.

I keep trying to sell myself on the idea too, but I keep coming back to that argument.

senix · #3 (**permalink**) 07-04-2009, 02:49 PM

not the best place to put your money. those e-fans won't pull as much air as you need for the motor.

FX4 5.4 · #4 (**permalink**) 07-04-2009, 08:32 PM

how would they not pull in enough air?

78bigbronco · #5 (**permalink**) 07-04-2009, 10:16 PM

If your tight on money I dont see how E-fans would do you anything worth while... they are nice if you have a trail rig and you do water crossing you can shut em off so you dont blast water everywhere but for a daily driver I thought the only real advantage was for long periods idling the fans are still capable of spinning at full speed or after the motor is turned off. If that isnt much a concern then I dont really know why you would want it. I might be missing another advantage I forget its been a while since I seen a big e-fan discussion. I guess another thing is that they put less wear on the water pump. But as far as efficiency I dont think its ever been really proven they save you anything... like reAX said they can actually loose you energy since instead of just using straight mechanical energy your going mechanical->electrical->mechanical and those two conversions arent 100% efficient. I dont know about the model you are looking at but I have heard the CFM ratings on most of the e-fans are way overrated.

Pinky Demon · #6 (**permalink**) 07-05-2009, 02:28 AM

Instead of E-Fans, why don't you look at doing something with the intake, as you already have an exhaust and tuner, since it seems like you are looking for a bit more power.

senix · #7 (**permalink**) 07-05-2009, 06:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FX4 5.4

how would they not pull in enough air?

Generally speaking unless you go in and custom fab the shroud to go with the fans and ensure the cfm rating is the same as oem you will most likey result in overheating.

FX4 5.4 · #8 (**permalink**) 07-05-2009, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinky Demon

Instead of E-Fans, why don't you look at doing something with the intake, as you already have an exhaust and tuner, since it seems like you are looking for a bit more power.

only k&n makes an intake for my truck and the gains are said to be minimal. i was looking at the e-fans because they are something different than what is normally used

Krewat · #9 (**permalink**) 07-05-2009, 11:58 AM

The only thing you will gain is the circular inertia from the heavier fan on the end of the water pump pulley.

Many say "look at my dyno graphs before and after I put an electric fan in it" to point out that they indeed improve HP and torque.

The problem with that is, it's just acceleration what will gain anything. Overall, There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch (TANSTAAFL)

To move the amount of air that the stock fan needs, you still need the same amount of power to move that much air. Whether it's direct mechanical energy, or converted from mechanical-to-electrical-back-to-mechanical-again, doesn't matter.

It can, however, improve your 0-60 or 1/4-mile times, a little bit. It won't help overall mileage unless you are constantly doing stop-and-go.

78bigbronco · #10 (**permalink**) 07-05-2009, 06:31 PM

On my F150 I actually removed the stock clutch fan entirely... for about a month (it was cool out) and my mpg remained the same, perhaps it gave me a couple tenths but thats within standard deviation so no way to tell for sure. The change wasnt noticable, and if it helped my acceleration any it wasnt enough to be able to notice without having a times slip before an after. If you want to do it just for something to do, well I guess thats just up to you, as long as it will suffice for cooling capabilities. I'd be saving my money for something more beneficial but thats just IMHO

.

Pinky Demon · #11 (**permalink**) 07-05-2009, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FX4 5.4

only k&n makes an intake for my truck and the gains are said to be minimal. i was looking at the e-fans because they are something different than what is normally used

Only K&N? I find that hard to believe, no offense. There has to be more out there. Additionally, most manufactures only test their intake's power gain on stock trucks. Seeing as you got aftermarket on your exhaust, it will make more of a difference.