I have a friend who's telling me to get a thermal clutch-fan for my 302, and that my current set-up
is robbing me of lots of power. I do have a pretty big-ol' fan mind you...just wondering how much of a
difference they make....
Thanks in advance...Jason

 

Yes it will free up a bit of horse power, but you can install an electric fan, and do much better! I put a pusher fan on the front of my radiator, after recoring the radiator, and noticed a difference right off the bat! I used an adjustable thermostat fan, it kicks on at 160 deg. and keeps things nice and cool! I run between 160 and 185 deg. regardless of how hot the weather is. The fan and adjustable thermostat was about $125 at the local auto parts, but get one with a high CFM rating, 2800 CFM or so. I also removed the fan shroud, which allows better air flow too! I have a ford 4 core radiator, which is copper and brass. I also ran a direct power switch to the fan so I can turn it on remotely in heavy traffic, but I have yet to need it! It really cleaned up the front of the engine to not have a fan hanging on it, and you can hardly see the fan behind the grill. It has worked for me, but it is your choice,

I had a fan clutch on a a previous truck that was out of balance and kept eating water pumps, it was just enough out of balance to ruin the pumps but not enough to where you could really feel it. Another issue is clearance with the clutch do you have the room to fit it? Good luck with it!

 

There's a pretty decent article in True Blue Fords this issue about installing a Ford Contour fan assembly in a truck. I'd got electric vs a clutch fan any day.

 

Cleveland Pix!: Car Craft Cooling Fan Dyno Test

Electric uses the least power but poses more to go wrong...relays, more wiring, thermal switch, fan motor, etc...

As shown in the comparo above; a thermal clutch fan uses the least amount of H.P. behind the electric.

There are many factors that effect these results and the chart is just a guide. I prefer to keep it simple with a factory stlye steel blade, shroud and aluminum core radiator.

P.S. These are trucks afterall and the H.P. lost won't effect my 10 mile round trip ET's.

 

i put a clutch fan in my Galaxie. i don't know that i can tell a difference in power, but its definitely quieter at highway speeds.

 

I put an electric fan on mine, ran cool and pretty quiet for One hundred feet. Guess I need a longer extension cord.

 

LMAO!!!

 

Gangs ticker, your comments are beginning to sound as dumb as mine! I love it!

dsrtjeeper, I wonder how are you possibly able to cut and paste a quote and somehow manage to misspell the word 'extension' when it was spelled correctly the first time!?

Hmm, or was it cleverly changed just to cause such a problem?

 

Extention, Extension, xtenchan, echstenshun

 

Gangstakr edited his post thus making it look like I misquoted it. LOL!

 

Lol..........

 

Dang,

You homies hijacked this one real bad...just for that, I'm installing a Pratt & Whitney turbo prop in place of my fan!

 

Alright, back on track with apologies.

Here goes...I understand the principle behind a clutch fan, I just don't completely subscribe to the idea that it takes less HP to run one.

I just use simple logic to compare with a similar situation. In my considered opinion, it would be like if I told you it took less effort to swim in thick syrup than in water since you would be going slower.

Back to the clutch fan, though, you see, either that energy is used to spin a fan or it is used in trying to spin the clutch mechanism. When it goes to trying to spin a clutch mechanism (against the clutch fan resistance) then, that generates heat. The clutch even has fins to dissipate that heat!

Since it takes energy to generate heat, I firmly believe you are expending the same energy one way or the other. Therefore, you are not really increasing the engine power available by running a clutch fan.

Tell your friend to go suck an egg!

 

this just got interesting!
i'm trying to think of a suitable example.

if you were to take a big box fan apart and pull the fan out, which would be easier on your arms?
1. running into the wind holding the fan blades so that it can't spin
2. running into the wind holding onto the spool mechanism so that the blades can spin freely with the wind speed

i think the freewheeling (thereby not forcing the blades to cut the air, but rather letting the air move the blades) would be easier.

at highway speed, you've already got enough airflow through the radiator, so there's no need in forcing the fan to cut the air. i imagine there's not much difference in slow driving.

 

Another side....
A clutch fan only spins at a percentage of the shaft speed. The clutch mechanism is often slipping.

Now if you were sitting in a car slipping the clutch in gear while stationary; would it take more HP to slip the clutch or to engage the clutch and move a 4000lb vehicle? This is purposely exaggerated to help illustrate the idea.