electric fans?

[Chris Demartini]

<font color=blue>I have the original fan on my K5, and I am thinking of upgrading to an electric setup to keep the fan from spraying my underhood area with mud when I go off road. Will they flow better? I remember my dad had one on his K10 and it used to get hot in traffic. Is it worth it to get an electric fan?</font color=blue>

http://www.chrisd71k5.coloradok5.com <font color=blue></font color=blue>

 

[Depdog]

Most mechanical fans move more air if you have the proper shroud. The elec ones will sling mud and crap to if they are running. They are expensive as hell for the amount of air that you will need to move. I myself have been looking at the FlexALite ones, they have a new duel one that is made for the new Chevy trucks, it comes with its own shroud and I think it can be made to work, its big $$$ though.

You would free up a little horsepower, and probably reduce stress on the water pump pully. I am still debating on this. Cant make up my mind either. My mechanical one is doing fine and even if it were to straighten completly out in water, it would not hit the radiator, there is plenty of room there.

Depdog

<font color=blue>"Lead, Follow, or BECOME the Trail"</font color=blue>

http://depdogsk5.coloradok5.com

 

[MTPockets]

i put electric fans on my rig and think it is one of the best mods ive done. im running a 350 with a tranny cooler, oil cooler, and power steering pump cooler on the radiator, and i live in florida. not only does it cool better, but it removed the parasitic drag the metal blades had on the motor. more power, less stress on the water pump, and with a cut off switch no more slinging water onto the motor.
i went to the local bone yard and pulled a 16" puller off a late model front wheel drive pontiac bonneville. $15. most bone yards will offer some kinda replacement on electric items. i got lucky the first time. i went to auto zone for the relay, $15. i set the temp at 185, the same as my thermostat, and the only time it has gone above that is on the highway doing 80. i guess the water is flowing so fast that it doesnt have time to cool.
i installed a 12" pusher next to my tranny cooler, since no air was flowing across my oil and pump coolers at stand still. but it wasnt neccesary for the coolant temp.
good luck on your decision,
MTPockets.

 

[realsquash]

I've been "experimenting" with this concept lately. I have a stock plastic 1-piece shroud, a 1983 fan, and a new HD hayden clutch. The only time it sprays water all over the engine is when the water level is just barely touching the lower 1-2" of the fan blades. If I commit to going through the water, and the water hits the clutch, there is never any spray. I've gone through valve-cover deep water about 5 times this year, all very slowly with little engine speed, but i've never drowned.

On a side note, for high-speed mud running, you'd be better to have a K&N foam pre-filter wrap for your air-cleaner. Otherwise accept the fact that your engine will become dirty/wet!

Someone on this forum actually has a snorkel, which I think fits a toyota truck.

Squash
http://www.trailrunners4x4.org/users/realsquash

 

[getsome]

I did the same thing that MTPockets did last week and went to a bone yard and picked up a 12" electric fan off a early 90's eclipse and installed it on the lower left side of my radiator. I have the upper shroud installed but the lower part won't fit do to front end tweeking. I'm only using mine as insurance because it gets hot sitting in traffic. My electrical skills are very limited so I just wired it to a switch thats next to the e-brake handle and flip in on whenever I need it. I'll try to get pictures up later.

Getsome

 

[Grim-Reaper]

Forget the Flexalites.They are not very good quality. Lots of Jeep owners and Supra owners have had problems with them failing and metling! The best junkyard set up to look for is on the newer Fords (see they are good for something) The Newer mustangs and T birds have BIG factory electrics. These came on the 4cyl rustangs and the modular V8 T-Birds and lincolns. They have a shoud on them and nice long metal mounting legs that should be able to let you mount off the core suport and avoid that zip tie through the radiator mounting buisness. These should be pretty reliable (even though it's Ford). The best a biggest air movers I have seen so far.

Diging it in the dirt with my K5's
Grim-Reaper
http://grimsk5s.coloradok5.com/

 

[MTPockets]

i actually do have a snorkel, arb safari snorkel. fits an 80 series fj40. i dont have any pics yet, but will be trying it out this weekend. i will get some up soon.
i got this thing for a couple of reasons; the first is deep water and mud of course, but the second is for the cold air intake. cold air mixes with fuel better than hot air, which improves fuel economy and adds a little horse power.
the australians developed the snorkel for desert crossings, the higher intake is less likely to take in polluted air.
i just like the way it looks on my truck.
MTPockets.

 

[Thumper]

I have a snorkel as well, but this question is about fans isnt it? I installed 2 13" fans from a Firefly behind my rad. Although they dont cool as well as an engine driven fan, the benefits outweigh this. I can turn them off during water crossings, and it freed up some HP and got rid of some drag on the motor. My ideal set up is from a later model Chev vehicle. My 92 Lumina Euro has dual fans, about 14" I think, but they are sequential. When the motor is cool, none are working, as it heats up one starts, then if it gets warm, the second one runs. I am keeping my eyes open for one of these setups and I will slip it in place of these little tiny fans. (The firefly fans are 13" but only 4 blade) The junkyards around here still want 100-200 for the dual fans I mentioned.

Mike


<font color=blue>Thumper
85 Fullsize Jimmy

<font color=red>Lets Go Wheelin! </font color=red>

 

[Emmettology 101]

Thump- My Probe has a similar fan set-up as you are talking about. A lot of the guys have wired the to work together on a switch all the time. So I dont see why you wouldn't be able to do this on those.

Mike

See <font color=green>EMMETT</font color=green> -&gt; http://emmett.coloradok5.com

 

[Thumper]

Yep, either way would be great. The biggest thing I have found with mine is the 4 blade thing. The ones on my Lumina have 7 I think.

Mike


<font color=blue>Thumper
85 Fullsize Jimmy

<font color=red>Lets Go Wheelin! </font color=red>

 

[jarheadk5]

If you get junkyard fans for cheap, why not get 2 thermostats (thermoswitches, controllers, whatever they're called), 1 for each fan, and set them about 10-20 deg. apart? This will give you the sequential cooling, and will add some redundancy in case one controller goes dead on you. Wire it with good waterproof connectors, and you could probably set it up to put both fans on 1 controller if the other dies.

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