Hi all,
I know this has been discussed before, but what is the common consensus with installing electric fans and which ones fit?

My front facing power steering bracket bolt has snapped somehow, so I am needing to pull the radiator and timing cover so I can get some vice grips on the bolt (fortunately, it snapped off at the end of the cover, and not at the block).

I figured while I have it all out, I would look into doing an electric fan upgrade, which I have been thinking about for a while. My Sniper EFI setup has power wires for 2 fans, which I can have it turn on and off at different temps, so most of the wiring work is done. It's just a matter of finding some that fit.

Ideas?

 

I would not go cheap and put the shroudless slim fans on like I have seen others do, personally. Depending on your radiator size, I highly recommend the Contour or Mark VIII fans. The Contour fan setup is dual, single-speed fans, the Mark VIII is a single, dual-speed fan. You can't go wrong with either one.

Those two are very common in the Mustang world. My 1995 Mustang has zero issue cooling with a Griffin 31x19 radiator, factory-style water pump, and Contour fan setup from AutoZone (Dorman 620-104). And that's a 635hp 427w...running full throttle for 15-20 minutes...in Oklahoma...in June....and never going over 211* on the track (that was at the end of two 15 minute sessions with about 20 minutes in between them...oil temp likely played a role (no oil cooler). When given enough time to cool the oil down, the car typically doesn't go over 200-205* on the track). On the street, in traffic, I have never had it go over 195*. When the fans come on, it drops instantly back to 185*.

The Sniper on the Mustang controls them through some big relays I got off Amazon. You could use the Sniper to control each fan separately, but I didn't bother. My theory was that one fan running and the other turned off may just suck air through the non-running fan when the car is stopped anyway. Easier to have them both just come on full tilt. I only drive this car hard anyway. When I need it to cool down, I need it to cool down.

If I had a good 3G alternator on my truck, I'd be putting it onto mine. My 83 F-100 came with the Heavy Duty Cooling (because it was equipped with AC). The replacement Murray I got is Core Width (in): 27-3/8 Inch, Core Height (in): 19-3/4 Inch. Based on those dimensions, the Contour fan, measuring 24-1/4" wide, 16-3/4" tall, and is 3.5" deep should fit fine once the factory fan is out of the way. It may have some space below the fan that is unshrouded, but doesn't seem to hurt my car's cooling capability.

For informational porpoises, the Contour fan flows around 3500CFM and measures 24-1/4" Wide x 16-3/4" Tall x 3.5" Deep.

The Mark VIII fan flows around 4500 CFM and measures around 22" Wide x 18" Tall x 6" Deep.

The Mark VIII is also a two speed fan, which the Sniper can't control. You could just run it on high all the time with the Sniper and not have an issue.

 

Thank you for the writeup on that. That's great info!
I appreciate it.

My '81 came with the non-heavy duty cooling, but I later put the heavy duty radiator in it when it came time to replace. No idea why they didn't just put that in all of them, as all it takes is a longer hose and moving the mounting bracket over 3 inches (for which the hole is already provided). Seems more like a sales gimmick than anything to just not always have the bigger radiator.

In '85, they completely changed the radiator support and radiator. I believe they all get the same one. I have an '85 now, so when I replaced the radiator, I just got a thicker one. It's a beast and cools great.
I also installed a 3G alternator a year or two ago, so there's plenty of juice for the fans.

Old radiator:



New radiator:



It's 27 1/2" wide x 20" tall on the face, and there is 4" between the face of the radiator and the pulley. Although, probably a little less due to not being able to remove the threaded snout on the water pump.

The Lincoln Mark VIII seems like a good fit and setup. I saw this thread and really liked how the guy installed it into the original shroud.
I wonder if if there's a way to use the two fan settings on the Sniper to control the high and low speed on it. That'd be pretty nice. Fans that go from off to loud to off can be a bit annoying after a while. It'd be nice to use the different speeds.

 

I can't say I tried very hard. You couldn't hear a fan over my exhaust anyway. I'm not sure exactly how that would work. You can't send power to the low-speed side at the same time as high. If the low-speed isn't doing the trick and the temp kept going up, Fan 2 would kick on and it would be powering both at the same time.

I do have an idea for resolving the issue using an extra relay, but it would be overly complex I would think...

Four inches doesn't seem like enough room between the two for the Mark VIII, though. I think it's pretty deep.

I wonder if the 85+ rads are easier to come by...the 83 heavy duty cooling one was unobtanium except for ONE I found through O'Reilly's.

 

Yeah, I think wiring up something like that with two relays would be pretty straightforward.

I imagine there's some info online for how deep the Mark VIII fan is. But yeah, if it's thicker than that, it's not going in. The 300 is a bit longer than the V8s.

The 85+ radiators are much easier to come by since I believe they were used throughout the rest of the body styles, so up through 96. The issue is that the way they mount is completely different and the radiator support up front is different.
You can't just drop an 85+ radiator into an 84 and prior body without some fabrication and work.
On the 84 and prior, the radiator is held in with clamps that come down from the top.
On the 85+, they're 4 bolts that bolt it to the radiator support from the engine side.

 

Ok, I had an iteration of this drawn up in paint that used 3 relays, one Low, one High, and one "Switching" relay.

Then I realized I am an idiot and yeah, two relays can do it. "Fan 1" is turned on any time "Fan 2" is on, a principle about the Sniper that I had forgotten. So all it takes is using the first relay to provide any power to the second relay, and letting the second relay switch between low and high speeds with the NO and NC contacts.

Duh!

Check my diagram here, should do what you want.

 

That diagram makes perfect sense and should do the trick.
I'm going to go out to the yards this weekend and see if I can't find something.

 

The Ford Contour/Mystique dual fan and shroud is the only efan that fits my truck with a 2.25" thick rad core. Forget the Mk8 fan unless you put the fan motor between your belts. The Contour fans are single speed, but Ford made them two speed by running one lead through a resistor to syphon off power. Turn on the a/c and the high speed gets full power, by-passing the resistor. Each fan draws 15-20 amps, and I found that a delay relay was needed on one fan to avoid initial power surge that would cause my MSD to stumble. All in all, at 3.25" thick (the mark8 is more than 5", as is the Taurus fan), the contour fans are the best I could find, and cool my engine from 210* to 195* in about 1 minute on a mild day.

Contour/Mystique fans below:
Attachment 278373

Contour resistor:
Attachment 278982

It is quite easy to control the Contour fans with the BMW thermo switch in the radiator or upper rad hose.
Attachment 278727

What I have found through experimentation is that it is possible to swap out the Contour motors for two speed motors out of a Windstar, and then use a Volvo relay pack to run the fans, turning them on low, turning off low and turning on high speed automatically when triggered by the bmw switch. But, with the high speed comes a minimum of 65amp fuse.
Volvo relay pack below:
Attachment 278983
Attachment 278116

Be aware, the diagram shows a 30 amp fuse. I would use 45 amps. I have mine fans wired individually with 30 amp fuses each and 40 amp relays.

The other small fan with high power is the Volvo fan. Below.

Attachment 278984

It is a 14" two speed fan that will cool a big block. The nice thing is that the fan can unbolt from the shroud, and that makes it popular with hotrodders who want to build their own shroud. Another cool thing is that the fan/shroud can be made narrower by removing the fan and bolting it to the front of the shroud instead of to the rear as it comes oe. photos below:
Fan and shroud separated:
Attachment 277820

Now, pick up the shroud and place it atop the fan. Some trimming is needed, but it bolts right into place and reduces the thickness of the fan/shroud 1", and that can be crucial around belts and water pump.
The fan in the background has been modified. The one in the foreground has not.

Attachment 278985

Note: I recently pulled one of the Volvo fans from the yard. It came oe with a 35amp fuse on the low speed, and 65amp on the high speed. Use top quality wire. Soldier all connections. Clean and double clean all your grounds. Bueller relays are good.

 

Awesome, informative post! Thanks for sharing. I didn't do any experimentation with mine on the Mustang. If I went with this one on the truck, I probably would look into doing some of what you posted. I'm more sensitive to road noise as I get older. Back in my younger days, around 16, I took the muffler off my truck and put a glass pack on. Now that I have reached my elderly years (I'm almost 25!), things have changed. My only instruction to my muffler guy was to make the exhaust as quiet as possible, and I often find myself browsing on Amazon, looking through pages of soundproofing material...

 

Heya Kevin,
Good to hear from you! Great info as always, thanks for sharing. I remember you posting off and on about e-fans and wasn't sure if you'd ever fully reached a happy consensus, but it seems you have. It also seems like good info to follow.
The 300 is definitely a lot closer to the radiator than the V8s, so a slimmer fan setup is important.

I'll be looking into those, and shout out any issues I run into. Not sure when I'll get to it as I ended up not needing to pull my radiator, but it's still a project I'd like to do.

 

Funny how that is.

Yeah, I want to be able to have a conversation with my passengers, and hear the radio. I have a full dynamat project for the Bronco in the works as well!

 

I'm planning to do it in the near future. Thankfully, I have a single-cab and MUCH less area to cover than you. That will be a project in a Bronco!

I think I'm going to try to save some bucks and use 100mil Kilmat and some thick closed-cell foam on top of that. Everywhere I can. I can't even hear out of the speaker of my phone to listen to music the way it is now. I need new carpet anyway, mine is a little torn up on the passenger side.

 

You guys will really enjoy driving a new electric E-Stang. So quiet you can hear your pulse.

 

For comparison sake, does anyone know what the stock CFM is of the mechanical fan?

Granted, I think the comparison is a little skewed, since you have to increase engine RPMs to increase mechanical fan CFM, whereas electric can be full CFM at any time and RPM. But, it would make for an informative comparison when researching other fan options.

 

Nobody really publishes any kind of numbers for Mechanical Fans, but I see 5000+ CFM bandied about quite a bit for a properly shrouded Mechanical.

I know I wouldn't do the swap from Mechanical to Electric, but that's me.