I have a question about my dad's 1931 Model A that I thought you guys may have an answer for (I know it doesn't belong here, but since you guys know all ). We have been on the hunt for an electric fan for it. It has a 289 and a very dinky 13" flex fan that the tips are missing (Previous owner built the car and the tips are missing because of the tranny cooler lines ) and it doesn't cool when in traffic. My mom and I got him an electric fan and shroud combo from Cooling Components for Christmas. The engine compartment is very cramped and the new fan and shroud combo doesn't fit (The fan blades hit the water pump pulley). Does anyone know of a website that has knowledge of Model A's and electric fans (Basically what works and what doesn't or even some pictures of other's set-ups? Thanks you and I really appreciate you guys.

hotrod48

 

Try the Ford Barn, http://www.fordbarn.com/. They have a couple of different forums dealing with Ford flatheads and street rods. Just like this board, there are a lot of knowledgeable people over there. A few of the guys here post over there too.

 

Check with Walker Radiator. I used one of their Maxair shrouds and electric fan on my '29 and it worked very well.

Vern

 

Thanks bob for the site. I didn't find much help for me though, there is a lot a valuable info over there though, I wll add it to my favorites.

Vern, the radiator is a very early Walker Cobra. In most of the Walker ads, they list Cooling Components shrouds to work. I looked at the Maxair shrouds on their website and they look to be designed with a mechanical fan. The is just not enough room in this car to run a mechaincal fan that will even think about cooling the car in traffic. I think my dad and I are going to run around today and see what we can find.

Thanks for help guys.

hotrod48

 

mount your fan up as high as possible in the radiator and you may have to put a restrictor in the lower hose. The Cobra radiators flow water very quickly and slowing the flow gives the radiator time to do it's job. Mounting the fan up high starts cooling when the coolant is at it's hottest point. My Model A has a big port 358'' Cleveland with Webers A/C and a lot of compession (see my avatar)and it runs 185-190 all the time, has a full hood and no shroud

 

Yes, DON'T remove the thermostat! It's needed to keep the coolant from flowing thru the radiator too fast. Also changing the temp of the thermostat does not affect how hot the engine runs.

AXracer the old wive's tale killer!

 

Thanks for the wealth of info. I'm am thinking (Not sure if my dad is too) of getting an electric and building our own mounting brackets and moving it as high up as possible (Like you said). What kind and size of fan is on your Model A? Do you have any pics of your e-fan set-up? Thanks again.

AX, thanks he always runs a thermostat.

Thanks again guys.

hotrod48

 

you're welcome Rob, I probably have some pics of this set-up but Lord only knows where. It is a real simple bracket made from 1/2'' flat stock bolted to the radiator sides and 2 basic side to side brackets the fan bolts to. The fan itself is a 12'' thermostatically controled unit with 8 blades. It will suck a dollar bill right to the radiator when it kicks on. I have a 1 quart puke tank made from stainless tubing mounted to the fan bracket. Everything on the car should work as well as the cooling system. PS I run a 180 degree thermostat

 

If the electric fan is hitting the water pump you can try a ford short water pump from a 94 -95 ford explore with a 5.0 motor. There about 1 1/2 inch shorter then the stock 289 motor.

 

Thanks fatfenders. We are going to get a 16" Spal tomorrow (It is the thinest and biggest that will fit). Hopefully we can get this puppy going again this weekend.

PRO49, thanks but we would have to change all of the brackets and pullies out. I will remember it just in case.

Thanks again guys.

hotrod48

 

I have to respectivly disagree with AXRacer and fatfenders regarding waterflow and cooling.

The faster you can flow coolant through a radiator, the more cooling and heat dissapation you'll have.

Without trying to dig up Physic facts, think about highflow waterpumps and high flow radiators, and what they are designed to do...cool better and faster than conventional units.

 

on the flipside, the faster you move coolant through the radiator, the less time it has to cool through the cores. Taken with a grain of salt of course.

 

This has been argued infinitum, and cooling engineers a whole lot more knowlegable than me agree that a given radiator has a finite cooling capacity/unit of time given any fixed ambient air temp and air flow. If the coolant moves thru the radiator too quickly (faster than the cooling capacity) it will not be in the radiator long enough to give off all the engine heat and it will continue to increase in temp until overheating occurs. High reving racing engines such as in NASCAR cars have significant flow restrictors placed in the coolant lines. High flow water pumps will only aid cooling if there is more cooling capacity available in the radiator than what is already being utilized otherwise if the engine is already overheating it will overheat even quicker. Here's an easy way to understand: coil up a 10' Length of 3/8" copper tubing to fit in an ice chest with the ends sticking out= radiator. Fill the chest with ice=cooling by ambient temp/airflow. Hook a waterhose to one end of the copper tube=coolant. Now turn the water pressure on just enough to get a minimal soft steady stream flowing out the other end, and stick a thermometer in the stream to measure how cold the water is getting going thru the ice in the chest. Now turn the pressure up as high as possible and remeasure the temp of the water coming out. I'll guarantee the temp will be considerably higher! So which cools more, low volume or high volume?

 

Sure...but remember the system you're working with...i/e, we're not working with an open loop system, like one used to cool expended liduid to an outside source.

We have closed loop systems, so if you look at what causes the coolant to increase in temperture (engine block and IC process) and what is used to expend that tempertaure (radiator), it should be seen that the longer you keep the coolant in the radiator...the longer you keep the coolant in the engine. If you keep the coolant in the engine longer, then more heat is asborbed in the coolant and block and temps will rise. The faster you can move the coolant through the block, the less time it has to absorb heat from the block and the less work it will take to cool, once it leaves the block.

 

radiators are much more efficient (hopefully) at giving off heat than water jackets are at increasing the coolant temp.

Everyone is free to believe what they'd like, but to me there are 3 types of "experts", the school trained engineers such as those who wrote "Race Car Design" published by the Society of Automotiver engineers; those who were taught by experience and/or testing of the theories of the first group such as Smokey Yunick, Carroll Smith, and the crew chiefs of all the major racing teams; and those that formulate conclusions by "it seems to me that...". I tend to believe the first two, especially when they are in agreement with each other.
YMMV