i have a 78 f150 with a 400m. i was wanting to put an electric cooling fan on. does any one know what brand will fit, what cfm i will need. i have read some posts on this site but cannot get a brand name fan? are there any reasons i should not do this? truck is a 4x4, auto, a few mods for horsepower. just want truck to run a little cooler so it will last a bit longer before rebuild. thanks to all you ford guys who input information!

 

If you are going to run just one electric fan and no mech. you need a 16" puller. I run one with good results on my hot rod Ford. I think your best bet would be to make sure the stock clutch fan is working well with a shroud and add a pusher fan in the front if you have room
If you have just a big electric puller fan you "MUST" build a shroud for it. I know from experience it makes all the difference.

 

It's expensive and hard to make it cool as well as a stock mechanical fan. I switched to an electric fan and was using a Zirgo fan as a puller. I quickly found out this wasn't doing the trick (3000 CFM) and had to add a pusher fan to it. With the push fan and the Zirgo puller I could keep it down but no cooler than the stock fan. The only reason I went electric was I use my truck in a lot of deep mud/water and got tired of the fan spraying mud around my engine compartment and feared it cutting into the radiator. With the electric fans I just shut them off before going into a pit. If you don't use your truck in several feet of much then stick with the stock fan and make sure you have a shroud on the radiator, in good condition. Also, these trucks came stock with a rubber skirt that went from the radiator support down to the grill surround. This kept all the air coming into the grill in the radiator instead of letting it flow over the support. If this rubber is gone (which it usually is) try replacing it with sheet metal or anything simple to keep the air forced through the radiator.

 

I picked up a new electric fan from FORD out of a Lincoln Mark VIII, the fan is complete with shroud (F8LZ-8C607-AA) and measures 19" x 22" by 6 1/4" deep. The fan is about 18 1/2". I also got the plug and pigtail for the fan (OEM-60036) which makes unplugging for work or removal easier. This fan will cool without problem but does draw some serious current. You can wire it to run on/off with a temperature controller and 75amp relay or use one of several electronic controllers. I have mine wired so it thinks it has A/C so when you start up it starts the fan slowly and then speeds up to control temperature, it never wavers past 185 degrees. It runs for a few minutes after shutting down at low speed. The stand alone controller is a lot nicer way of running these plus you can wire a bypass to stop the fan or start it at high speed.
I'm running a stout 472 (punched 460) and it has no problem with temperature control. Mounting worked out fine since it almost totally covered the rad. I have a March pulley setup so I had clearance problems with the water pump pulley and fan so I moved the rad forward a little. The mounting bolts you use to attach to the rad saddle can be used by putting the rad through the opening and using a spacer and bolting to the same mounts. I also have a 3" body lift that may have contributed to problem. Measure 6 1/2" out from your rad and see if you have clearance to your pulley.
Hope that helps, any questions or pic's let me know.

John.

 

A good clutch fan with shroud will cool as good as anything. They don't use much power at all when the release around 2000rpm. A high amp fan will use what little hp you save to run by loading the alternator heavily so it draws more on the engine. Nothing really gained there.

 

thanks everyone for your input, i will look at my options.

 

Is there an eazy way of telling if your clutch is working right?

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by LxMan1
"A good clutch fan with shroud will cool as good as anything. They don't use much power at all when the release around 2000rpm. A high amp fan will use what little hp you save to run by loading the alternator heavily so it draws more on the engine. Nothing really gained there."


I agree with you on the operation of a clutch fan. In addition though, with the electronic controller the electric fan will only draw what current is needed for keeping the temperature set. One other small benifit is the reduction of load on the water pump bearing (though it's designed for it). The down side is the added complexity, greater cost than a clutch type fan and requirement of an adequate electrical supply. I would add that if you ever make the change to an e-fan that there are many from OEM vehicle fans that will easily outperform the aftermarket.

 

Agreed. My current setup with the rear mount radiator is a fan and shround from a 2002 Volvo. It moves a sick amount of air, the old fans I had couldn't touch it. Plus you can find this stuff for cheap if you scour the junk yards long enough.