Electric or mech fan?

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Velocity111

Velocity111

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Is there a preferred way for cooling? - electric fan or mechanical? I see pros and cons for both.

I like the idea that with an electric fan I get the full cfm flow even while at idle. However electric is one more this that can break or malfunction.

motor in question is a 572” Hemi with alum block and heads, lots of heat, Very little room between rad and water pump. looking for most robust system possible.

ordered a flex a lite fan a month ago, was supposed to ship yesterday, pushed out another month. Can’t wait for it to show up. What Other mechanical fan mfg are there that people would recommend? Mech or electric?
 
I'm a big fan of electric fans. LOL.. I am no fan of what I call the whirling blade of death... I almost exclusively order parts from Summit. They have very good descriptions of how thick a fan can be if you have limited room. You definitely want the most CFM you can get. You can usually ask them from which Warehouse it's coming from and I would assume the Ohio one would be closest to you... Also you can alter your search for one that is in stock and ready to ship...
 
Hate to break it to you, those flex-a-lite fans can be dangerous.. many stories of them coming apart and the blades or blade pieces causing serious damage when they fly! If there is a way you can, a mechanical type as your primary and an auxiliary electric mounted between the grill and the radiator to run after you've shut off the car or to assist at stop lights would work.
 
I use the whirling blade of death... with a good shroud . I don't have much Electric fan experience other than I run a T-stat controlled pusher fan that comes on at 220' if I get stuck in traffic on a hot day. j par maybe can elaborate if he uses a shoud with his or not.
 
Due to my lack of space between the rad and water pump, I previously ran a pusher as the main fan - with little success. If I ran that same pusher as a back up, would it hurt my cooling capacity with a mech or electric puller fan by blocking the front side? Guess I'm asking is it worth running and blocking the front?
 
I never had any trouble with that set up, but I was also running a warmed up small block and not a just barely fits Hemi...
 
Has anyone tried these? Looks good to me.
Hustler Fans by Jones Racing Products - Dirt Track Digest 2020
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For electric you'll need a good alternator and a waY to control the fan on/off at temps.

They both have their pluses and minuses. Room, power, control (thermostatic mechanical or electric or fixed), complexity, capacity (CFM), size, and accessory clearance are all considerations for both.

With a little room starts to leave you with few options.
 
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In talking with some guys I trust, they've said that for any cons, the mech fan will out-pull an electric fan all day long, not even close. If I want the best cooling options I should go mech.
 
First and foremost grab yourself a homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookie and let me tell you you need to look at the whole cooling system. And it doesn't have to be overly expensive....
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Okay this is solely what I do for my car and how it works for me... First the thermostat I have a gutted thermostat. for those that drive in the winter and use their heat and wanted to get hot quick this is probably not the way to go. Then my coolant, I use distilled water and one bottle of redline water wetter. Hands down water is the best coolant... I only drive my car on nice days and it's kept in a climate-controlled garage again this is what works for me. I measured for the biggest radiator I could possibly stuff in the car between the frame rails knowing I don't have a battery up front... I took those measurements and punch them in Summit under two core radiators and came up with the $159 radiator that I have... I bought a $30 Chevy style shroud for the top of it.. as you can see I only had about 3 in for a fan so I kept my criteria in the 3-inch range and still had to offset it so that didn't butt against the water pump pulley. I have that hook to a thermostat that's hooked to a relay... The car can get easily below 180 well on the freeway and the fan keeps it generally about 190 or less on a mildly hot day but on a 99 or a hundred degree day I have seen up to 200 and 205... I generally don't travel on those days anyways as there's nowhere I want to go and get out of the car anyways... I know added yet another radiator which is actually a condenser for the AC and that came with a 12 inch Pusher fan. Pusher fans are 20% less efficient but I have it there none the less as it came in the package and it is all very tight fitting...
This is on a 410 Stroker....
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yellow rose said:
Oh dang he is close enough. Or, you could drive over there and give him one. That would be right neighborly of you.
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I wish he would get his car on the road! Every couple of weeks or so on Tuesday night I do go down to the Abby's Pizza over on Stark Street. In the evening from 5 to 8 they have a little car gathering.
 
j par said:
I wish he would get his car on the road! Every couple of weeks or so on Tuesday night I do go down to the Abby's Pizza over on Stark Street. In the evening from 5 to 8 they have a little car gathering.
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That sounds like fun. Didn’t know there is an Abby’s on Stark street. Used to go to Stark Street Pizza for NWDRA meetings. That was a LONG time ago.
 
yellow rose said:
That sounds like fun. Didn’t know there is an Abby’s on Stark street. Used to go to Stark Street Pizza for NWDRA meetings. That was a LONG time ago.
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Stark Street does a noon to 3 the last Sunday of the month a body only...
 
Putting a puller onto the rad is like turning a 28" radiator into a 18" circle core. you want some stand off and a full shroud so it will pull across the entire rad, not just a pizza sized circle. The popular Ford 'Contour' fan assembly has 2 12" fans mounted in a diagonal and a full shroud so the fans pull across 100% of the radiator (or whatever is inside the shroud). Put a 50A fuse inline as these draw a buttload when they kick in. you can use a Hayden temp control available where you find Hayden products, ie. Pep Boys. I think #1 is primary and #2 is secondary. Fox body guys been using these for years.
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pishta said:
Putting a puller onto the rad is like turning a 28" radiator into a 18" circle core. you want some stand off and a full shroud so it will pull across the entire rad, not just a pizza sized circle. The popular Ford 'Contour' fan assembly has 2 12" fans mounted in a diagonal and a full shroud so the fans pull across 100% of the radiator (or whatever is inside the shroud). Put a 50A fuse inline as these draw a buttload when they kick in. you can use a Hayden temp control available where you find Hayden products, ie. Pep Boys. I think #1 is primary and #2 is secondary. Fox body guys been using these for years.
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I've got one of those and many other people installed it the way I did - the Ford Contour runs both fans simultaneously, but has a resistor/diode in the lower right to slow the speed down. The dakota digital controller can control this no problem in two speed fan mode. I doubt you'll even use the high speed. I measured mine with my amp clamp meter and its about 15A low speed and 20A high. Most 26" radiators you'll have about 1.5" of the bottom of the radiator not covered by the shroud. It's an excellent fit. I'm not aware of a mechanical fan that moves as much air as this does at idle.
 
Turning your radiator into a 18 inch circle LOL is pushing the envelope just a little bit. Now that maybe the cooling surface but if that's all that's needed with a good powerful fan that's all that's needed. I know mine has a 16 inch circle on it and when I put my hand on the opposite side the radiator in that area is literally cold...
And with the temperature sensor set at 175 it circulates on and off every few minutes at idle... It's all that's needed with a good combo... I can't say that I'm against a good junkyard fine though...
 
Velocity111 said:
Is there a preferred way for cooling? - electric fan or mechanical? I see pros and cons for both.

I like the idea that with an electric fan I get the full cfm flow even while at idle. However electric is one more this that can break or malfunction.

motor in question is a 572” Hemi with alum block and heads, lots of heat, Very little room between rad and water pump. looking for most robust system possible.

ordered a flex a lite fan a month ago, was supposed to ship yesterday, pushed out another month. Can’t wait for it to show up. What Other mechanical fan mfg are there that people would recommend? Mech or electric?
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I just quickly thumbed thru these posts , to start with , ''NONE of these guys'' that answered you have the heat building potential of ur hemi !
That 572 , if built for h.p. will create more heat than any of the engines they described , I raced one for 14 yrs..
I have a 440/505 in a tite engine compartment , with raised port heads , it creates so much engine bay heat , it has melted the 6 louvre vents I put in the hood on each side of my 6 pack scoop.
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If I were you , I d go the big rad., overdriven water pump, flow cooler thermostat, a good water pump , and A MECH. FAN , biggest u can run, on a real short thermal clutch , or even better straight belt driven . The ultra short clutch on mine is so short its a ***** trying to bolt it on. A full belt driven mech. fan is about 8 degrees better on mine than the clutch set up too -----------------jfyi , bob
 
You asked!

Mechanical with the right Radiator and shroud.

KISS it! I like simple!
 
famous bob said:
I just quickly thumbed thru these posts , to start with , ''NONE of these guys'' that answered you have the heat building potential of ur hemi !
That 572 , if built for h.p. will create more heat than any of the engines they described , I raced one for 14 yrs..
I have a 440/505 in a tite engine compartment , with raised port heads , it creates so much engine bay heat , it has melted the 6 louvre vents I put in the hood on each side of my 6 pack scoop. View attachment 1715572968 View attachment 1715572969 If I were you , I d go the big rad., overdriven water pump, flow cooler thermostat, a good water pump , and A MECH. FAN , biggest u can run, on a real short thermal clutch , or even better straight belt driven . The ultra short clutch on mine is so short its a ***** trying to bolt it on. A full belt driven mech. fan is about 8 degrees better on mine than the clutch set up too -----------------jfyi , bob
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FB, You bring up some good points. For what it's worth, I'm running a 26" Griffin radiator - largest that will fit in my Dart, and I'm running a good water pump that's over driven. I currently have a sized disk instead of a thermostat because the stats I found I thought were crap - is the flow kooler stat worth it? I decided to go with an 18" mech fan, I might have been able to fit a 19" but I know an 18" will fit. I was planning on running it belt driven because I don't think I have the room for a clutch, and frankly with the power I'm putting out I'm not worried about drag.

I'm switching all my pulleys this week, shorter and over to V belt, all to create more room for the fan. Assuming all this fit, then next question is whether I should leave the pusher fan in place and use in addition to a puller mech fan? Is the pro of using the pusher fan more than the con of it getting in the way and slowing air flow?
 
Velocity111 said:
. Assuming all this fit, then next question is whether I should leave the pusher fan in place and use in addition to a puller mech fan? Is the pro of using the pusher fan more than the con of it getting in the way and slowing air flow?
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Good question...
I've wondered about this one myself...
 
IIRC the pushers "get in the way" under speed. Probably would do better without it.
 
j par said:
I wish he would get his car on the road! Every couple of weeks or so on Tuesday night I do go down to the Abby's Pizza over on Stark Street. In the evening from 5 to 8 they have a little car gathering.
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Would that be 212th and SE stark? Stark is a pretty long street ya know. LOL
 
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