Another electric fan thread

[Nocturnall]

But it's not the usual content inside.

I got bored and went to the junk yard and wondered around today measuring fans. I found a double fan setup in a Taurus SHO that is damn close to the right size to fit on the rad. They are about 24 inches wide by 19 inches tall. the rad in the explorer is 21 inchs wide 23 inchs tall. My thought is, and what I'm going to try once the yard gives me the damn fan, put it in crooked. 1 fan is also bigger then the other so I'll put the small one near the top and the big one near the bottom. I think it'll fit measurement wise. There was a windstar with a nice looking double fan setup but it was 29 and change inches long, way too long to fit any which way on the radiator. I also think it was too thick to fit.

I have a spal fan controller in my car waiting for these fans, it controls up to 2 fans.

Now of course I have no idea the cooling ability of these fans and I'm going out on a limb trying this but someone has to and I've already wasted $80 on another electric fan I ended up destroying. Plus I think they have to move a decent amount of air together, the sho has a pretty big looking 24v I think DOHC not sure engine in it without much of a grill and a small radiator....We shall see.


Also whatever space there is left after I do my final mount of the fan, space on the sides, I'm going to cover with alum or sheet metal or something so that the only air flow is through the fans. I hope these will work out. Thoughts, suggestions?

 

[aldive]

Unless you really like fabrication, why bother with; why not go with a proven ( in an Explorer ) aftermarket fan like the Black Magic Extreme 180 fan?

Good luck ....

 

[zhanx]

or you can be like me and fan power your explorer. i found the stock 91-94 explorer transcooler fans fit perfectly in the opening behind the grill where the 2 metal boxes are.. so 2 of those and an 18: fan with a shroud keep me cool even when offroading.

 

[CDW6212R]

Say, have you been around a Mark VIII yet, to measure it's motor thickness? I haven't received an answer to that question yet from eBay sellers. Regards,

 

[Nocturnall]

everything I've read about it from ebay sales are it's almost 5 inches thick, way too thick. On an OhV 4 1/4 is PUSHING it coming to the water pump pully.

Aldive I'm paying $35 for this fan setup. So even with the one I bought and broke I'm still at $105 spent on the fan which is far less then the cost of a black magic. Plus it would be nice to find a solution for those that cannot afford the $200+ for a black magic which is myself included. I know if it fails then the cost can be so much more but people have installed a 91 - 94 taurus fan with success(with cutting of the stock nub for the belt driven fan.) This is out of the same vehicle but with, I beleive, a larger engine. Therefore more cooling needed, I would assume. Also it will allow more room for a custom intake because there won't be a large shroud in front of the TB. Also reading on Flex a lites website the black magic 180 is 1/16 too big, and the 150 would be right against the nub.

I just checked out on Ebay and the mark 8 fan comes in at about 6" thick. Looking at pictures of it on there I would beleive it too. Granted it's just a pic with nothing to go by really to scale the thickness but it looks damn thick. The junkyard I went to was limited in what was there.

 

[Nocturnall]

This is a link to the fan I purchased today, if they ever get off their butts and go take it out I'll be in business.

FAN

I'm going to try and find out what they flow when I get home from work.

 

[CDW6212R]

If those will work for you, mount the large one on top, most of the incoming air hits the top half.

 

[Nocturnall]

So I picked up the fan from the junkyard. Finally got to put some power to them. The large one flows close to what the stock taurus one did I think. The small one definatly closes whatever gap there is. The thickest point is 3 1/2 inch. I'm going to do some mock up later today. I bought a 24" x 24" peice of 18 gauge sheet metal and some peices of flat steel to make up a shroud and mount. Wish I could weld, would make it easier.

 

[Nocturnall]

fans are in, I was unable to get any pictures of building them though. I just have it setup so they both click on as of right now. I only had them running for 10mins last night, was up till midnight wiring it all together. Will try and get pictures when I can.

 

[CDW6212R]

Good to hear, show us some pictures soon.

 

[biggs92EB]

This is something i want to do, as my fan kills my explorer all summer long (subscribed)

 

[Nocturnall]

This isn't something I would do if I didn't already have metal working tools. Cost was a little higher for me because all I had was a busted hack saw for working on metal. I bought snips, a new hack saw, blades. I tried to stay away from power tools because my apartment complex already wouldn't like me cutting metal in the apartment nevermind running a grinder all day.

As of right now I need to figure out a good place to get the temp of the coolant. The fan controller didn't need to be programmed to just run the fans but to run then efficiantly I will need to program the controller. Also I plan on setting the controller to turn on low at 200 and high at like 220, what is the absolute MAX temp that is safe for the car to get to?

 

[CDW6212R]

195 degrees is the best temperature for power and efficiency. My truck gets to 190 quickly, and stays close to the 190-195 range. I usually see a high for 3.5 hours of running per day, at about 200-205 degrees. I think my setting of 194 is working well so far, I'll see how the Summer heat affects it.

 

[trucku]

I like the spal controllers. You can tap your current sender or use one of theirs and get the most accurate temp reading behind the thermostat, not when it finally opens and flows coolant into the radiator.

Looking forward for pics

 

[Nocturnall]

Which way does coolant flow? From water pump to rad through rad to thermostat housing? I put a temp probe from a Fluke Pyrometer under the rad hose into the coolant flow but was afraid to let the car get too hot so I just set the low on the controller to 198.

 

[CDW6212R]

The water pump pulls water in from the radiator, lower hose. I have my temperature sensor located about 8-10" below the radiator cap.

 

[Nocturnall]

through the fins? I tried that and was only getting a reading of 70, I also tried going in through the front. I had it in the thermostat housing, where the coolant comes out and I was only hitting 197ish after letting it run for 5 - 10mins. Could have been 30 seconds, very stressful and scary for me running the engine with no cooling fan. What should the high be set at on the controller? I figured 220 but I dunno if that's too high or not.

 

[trucku]

Definitely put it in the thermostat housing. I will be doing my install soon and am going to tap my spal into the temp sender in the thermostat housing. my 02 runs at about 197F - 200F(scanguage) Highest I have ever seen was 202F i think. let me read the spal manual for setting
http://www.jaycorptech.com/tech/fan-pwm.pdf

 

[Nocturnall]

manual says set the low for 200 I beleive. I latched onto the stock temp sender fo the controller. I've been trying to find out where to stick the pyrometer I have to get an accurate reading for setting the spal unit.

 

[trucku]

Man if you could get your hands on a scanguage you would be golden. Put the meter as close to the thermostat like you did before. Just figure a few degrees loss to be on the safe side and look for like 194 on meter. Rather have it turn on early than late and you can tweak it as you go.