May plan all along has been to update to the S3 alternator. Doesn’t seem like a big deal to do so. Am I missing something?

 

Found a Volvo fan and controller at the salvage yard for $53. Not a bad price for reliable, OEM designed e-fan setup. Here's a detailed writeup I found on using the Volvo setup that includes part numbers for the supporting hardware like the temperature switch and adapter.

https://www.therangerstation.com/tec...tric_fan.shtml

Now I just gotta source an alternator.

 

I may be kicking the hornets nest by replying to this, Because from past experience I learned that people who don't like or don't understand why someone would switch to an electric fan just pure and simple don't want to listen to reason about the fans. But having said that, I just wanted to mention a few things that I've learned during the 10+ years I've been running and electric fan on my truck. I don't know whether they allow the engine to produce more power by not having to spend the OEM fan. Maybe they do, I don't know. For me, I switched over to an electric fan because I had changed from a V-8 to an in-line six, and I didn't have the radiator nor shroud to run the OEM fan.

What I did find out,What is that for very little money I was able to cobble together a very nice working automatic system from junkyard parts. After these 10 years running electric fan, I think there are only two things that I know for certain: the first one is that when my truck is flying down the freeway, my fans are not spinning. They are not under power during that time. There is so much air coming through the radiator that they are not needed. That is not the case with an OEM fan. I'm not saying that is good or bad. I'm merely saying that that is fact. The other thing that I know for certain is an aspect of running an electric fan that makes it attractive to many people: that is that an electric fan can be wired up with a switch inside the cab, so that if one happens to be making a water crossing you can switch off the fan so that the blade's art throwing water or don't get clogged up with whatever.

I guess the other aspect that I really enjoy about having an electric fan is just simply that I get to tinker with it. I actually enjoy doing all the wiring and installing the hundred and 30 amp Taurus alternator the bolts right up To dent side trucks. I enjoy running the wires and setting up the relays, and I also enjoy figuring out how to mount the beef and to whatever radiator I happen to be using. I like reading about them and gathering information, and seeing what other members have done with their systems. It intrigues me and I enjoy it. I also know that when I'm stuck in LA traffic for long periods of time, my electric fans are turning on and off without me having to blink an eye, and keeping my truck running right at the temperature is supposed to be running, even though the engine itself is just idling along. So that was my two cents worth about electric fans.

I guess I wanted to add a little tidbit here at the end. I run Ford contour mystique dual fans. With the OEM wiring Ford turned single speed fans into two speed fans. Low-speed part of the current is siphoned off through a resistor, so the fans aren't getting all the current and therefore running slower. When the air conditioner is switched on, the fans get a straight shot a full 12 V power and spin faster. With that system, the same amount of juice is being supplied to the fans whether part of it is being siphoned off and a resistor or not. But me, because I'm always messing around with my fan system, because I have like three fan/shroud systems hanging on my garage wall, I found that the old Ford Windstar vans had a dual fan system, and that one of those fan motors was two speed fan. In glory be, that fan motor fits the contour shroud, thereby making my fan/shroud system a true two speed fan system. And when I say that it fits the contour shroud, I also mean that the contour fan blades install perfectly onto the Windstar fan shaft. That's a biggie with these fans. Very few of them will use the same fan blades. Each one usually has its own system of attaching the blades to the shaft, and that makes it impossible to swap one to the other. Now this may sound like a insignificant detail, that one is able to install it two speed fan onto the contour shroud, but what it means is that because now there are two speed fan motors installed, the owner is able to use the Volvo relay pack to control the contour system. That relay pack will turn your fans on low speed, and when and if the temperature of your coolant climbs above a certain temperature, that Volvo relay pack turns off the low-speed, and turns on the high-speed, all automatically with the signal from a Thermo switch. It is a nice feeling to have the high-speed available. It's kind of failsafe for those times when you're towing a monster load, or you just happen to be crossing the desert in 120° heat.

 

Agree with the others about the lower amp alternators, but are you just saying you like the old style with external regulator? In that case it's an easy swap to a large-case 1G alternator that needs very little re-wire to make it work. They were optional on some of our trucks, so maybe that's what you were thinking?

I did it to both my F350 and my Bronco and loved it. Used the lower powered 70a model on the Bronco to keep the ammeter (direct reading through an inductive loop) and the 100a version on my pickup. Even though probably not necessary on the pickup due to the short run of the charge wire, I upsized it to 8ga anyway.
They can be had right from the parts store in 105a ratings (maybe even more nowadays?) or from the rebuilders up to 200amp fairly regularly. Even MeanGreen makes a 250a model I think.
And man, I'm pretty sure you really need some MeanGreen products on your truck!

Paul