Followup on Electric Fans

[stevegintn]

Guys,

I have read most of the threads here about adding an electric fan, including switching, wiring, relays, etc. My car is a '62 a/c car with shroud and 7-blade mechanical fan. The a/c is non-working (condenser removed).

Now that I have resolved my non-working temp gauge issue, I want to get ahead of the cooling game (it's hot here in Memphis). I have found a double fan very reasonable and need to know some basics. It's supposedly a PUSH type fan, so it would go IN FRONT OF THE RADIATOR, correct?

I want to install the simplest way of powering and activating (not sure if the one I found is thermostatic or not?).

Does anyone have any photos of an in-front-of-radiator installed?

[tbird]

Steve

You are more likely to find the modification info on the modified forum further down the forum.

[stevegintn]

Steve

You are more likely to find the modification info on the modified forum further down the forum.

Yea, I figured that (but there are many posts on the subject HERE).

[RedBird64]

So you're going to keep your 7 blade fan right?
If so then a medium range pusher on the front can help some in stop and go traffic but your eng really should stay cool with just the mechanical one.
I ran a helper-pusher for many years and it does help. Now I only run (no mech fan) a two speed puller (pullers are far more efficient).
Get a decent brand (Derale, Spal) and avoid cheap off-brands that make ridiculous claims of moving mass quantities of air with very little current. It takes horse power to move air and that means current - there is no way around this.
One caveat is your charging system. A decent fan is going to pull somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 amps (or more) @14VDC. Under some circumstances, your stock alt. may struggle with this and drop the voltage or even begin to discharge the battery. That in-turn lowers the speed and power of the fan.

One thing leads to another!

My Derale Pusher fan draws 24 amps on high speed. I installed an upgraded alt to keep up.
You're also going to want to power this fan via a relay. The simplest way of powering the fan will be a switch in the cab. Or you could use a thermostat for that purpose. With my old pusher fan, I had a switch hidden and I could turn it on before the eng got hot at a stop.

BTW, If you (or anyone else) are anywhere near me in W. Washington state you're welcome to my old pusher fan - which still works great!

Scott

[stevegintn]

Thanks, Scott!

Yes, I do NOT intend to replace the mechanical fan. I want an electric as a backup, added protection.

A couple of basic, novice questions:

I assume a pusher fan would go IN FRONT OF the radiator? (took a look yesterday, and there's plenty of room, in front of the radiator.)
If not, then under the shroud (and run into clearance issues?)

For a behind-the-radiator installation, would a fan be blowing into the radiator (in addition to the mechanical fan)?

What are the powering options? (I would likely go with a toggle switch on the dash for operation - don't trust thermostats)

[RedBird64]

Yes, pusher fan goes in front of rad and pushes air through rad and into eng compartment. Puller fan goes behind radiator and pulls air through the raidiator and into the eng compartment.
Note that your mechanical fan doesn't blow into the rad, it pulls air through it.

In your case I would use a relay that connects directly to the battery via a fuse. Trigger the relay via a wire from the cab. You could trigger the relay with either pos or neg voltage from your switch. Pos for switch could come from a lighter socket or ground could just come from a screw in the body someplace.

Scott

[stevegintn]

Thanks, again, Scott (I didn't know ANY of that). I will def go with a pusher.

[stevegintn]

One last post on this topic - I bought an infrared temp sensor gun, so after idling my car to max warm (about halfway on the needle gauge) I checked the engine temp at the front of the block and it's at 204 F. I imagine in stop & go traffic it would be higher? Temps at the expansion tank and upper rad hose were about 150.

What should the operating temp be?

Is 200+ a danger zone?

[tbird]

Operating temperature should be in the 180-190* F.

[RedBird64]

Stock, these cars had a 195 degree stat - and that's the temp that they start to open.
In stop and go traffic it's going to get in the 20X range and there's nothing wrong with that. 390's were designed to run warm for efficiency. Anything above 220~225 is cause for worry but no harm will come to a healthy engine below that.
I run a 180 degree stat and see temps around 190 on a hot day on the highway. Idling will get it up to 206 before it starts working back down.
I know alot of guys will be aghast at those temps but that's what Ford designed them to run at and they run happily up there.
I would not run a stat cooler than 180. It's not healthy for the eng. and fuel efficiency will suffer.

Scott