I recently bought a 92 F150 5.0 5spd for towing a car on a flatbed.

I know its not the best tow vehicle, but its an upgrade from my little 90 cherokee.

anyway I am looking into perf mods to get a little more highway power as it is a little wimpy on the highway and I can imagine it will be a real dog with a trailer.

I already installed a performance intake.

I am looking into an electric fan. I have a dual fan setup from an 89 Cadillac 4.9 V8. You guys think this would have enough cooling power? How should I wire it up? Just put it on a switch and leave it on all the time?

How much HP am I looking to gain?

 

As to whether it would cool your engine I cannot say. The key is to make sure the fan shroud fits over the radiator and the fans are placed in such a way that it draws air efficently.

You can wire the fans a few ways, all of them fairly easy.

ONe mount the fans, run a power wire to an automatic thermal sensor (which mounts on your radiator hose) then to the + side of your fans, run the - side of your fans to a ground. When the sensor reaches 170 degrees your fans kick on. I have used this method for the past 4 years on a 4.9 motor and so far so good. You can get a kit from jegs part number 771-19001 and its $17.99 plus shipping. If you do this method I would suggest a A/C relay if you use your air conditioning, it kicks the fans on regardless of engine temp if you turn the a/c on. part number 771-19002 $7.99

Another option would be an adjustable switch which would kick the fans on at any temp you select from 180-240 degrees. part number 400-31147 $24.99 you should install an a/c relay as previously mentioned if you use this method as well.

The cheapest option of all, hook your positive wires to a 12v switched wire and the fans will run when you turn the key on, all the time. Might wanna use an inline fuse.

Second cheapest would be buy a toggle switch and run a wire off the battery + side to your toggle switch then to the + side of the fans then run the - side of your fans to a ground. Might wanna use an inline fuse this way as well.

I would guess you would gain/free up 10 hp. I do know my engine felt smoother when I did this.

Good luck

 

Thanks for your input. I like the automatic thermal sensor idea. I'll probably try out the fans with it hooked straight up to 12V just to make sure they cool efficiently.

I would figure that since the cad V8 is about the same size as the 5.0 it would do a good job as long as I have the shroud fixed right. Sounds like a fun project to me

 

I don't know about that particular fan but I just put a Flex-a-Lite 270 on my 4.6 and it was money very well spent. I can run it as cool or hot as I want and noticed a big gain in performance.

 

I just put on a set of fans. As schmitty said it was well worth the money. About 12 hp gain at the rear wheels and gained about 1.5 mpg.

Shawn

 

You could probably use a Flex-A-Lite Variable Speed Controller (VSD) with a temp sensor to control those fans, if they're rated at 30 amps or less. It's a little more $$ but alot easier to install/wire. It has an A/C ON which turns the fans on when the A/C is in use. It also has an adjustable temp setting, and Manual On function too. It has a mild ramp rate so it's very easy on the electrical system when the fans spool up. I've been using it to run my FAL 295's and haven't had a problem.