My cheap E-Fan mod

AgentOrange · #1 Tue, February 10th, 2009, 05:53 PM

I have been thinking of a way to put an electric fan on my truck for a couple of weeks now, but have been hampered by the removal of the stock fan. Well, I finally got that thing to loosen up last weekend, so I got to put my idea to the test.
I had an old e-fan laying around that I used on my old mud truck ('78 Bronco w/ 39.5 Swampers). I figured if it can cool off a 460 big block, why not the 5.4L...
I think I bought the fan from Summit Racing, it's a 16" metal blade driven by an electric motor. It had the highest CFM rating, which is why I bought it for the big block. The problem is it doesn't have a shroud, and I didn't want to mount it directly to the radiator...so I decided to mount it to the stock F150fan shroud.
To do this, I used a piece of 24" square sheet metal and cut it to use as a reducer. The fan is wired to a relay that is activated by a thermostatic switch or by the A/C.
I've attached a few pics so you guys can check it out, there's a few more of it installed in My Albums.
It has worked very well in the short time it's been on there. The temperature guage reads the same as it did with the stock fan. I'll have to wait and see what happens during the summer with the A/C full blast...it get's pretty hot here in Florida.

***Jackpine*** · #2 Tue, February 10th, 2009, 06:12 PM

Before I look carefully at your pictures, I'm going to jump in with some advice. Use your Gryphon, now that you have one, to monitor your Cylinder Head Temperature. The Coolant Temperature is not really monitored at all but is inferred from the CHT. The temperature gauge on the dash is really not worth a whole lot, but WILL warn you if the system is about to go into limp home mode by suddenly spiking to full hot.

I monitor my CHT and find that here in Arizona it tends to stay in the 210 degree range during summer driving. If I pull a trailer up a long hill in the low desert, I've seen it get as high as 214 degrees.

Possibly, these numbers will help you decide if your E-fan mod is doing what you want.

Now, I'm going to study what you did! Thanks for posting it!

- Jack

AgentOrange · #3 Tue, February 10th, 2009, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackandJanet

Use your Gryphon, now that you have one, to monitor your Cylinder Head Temperature.
- Jack

I wish I had a Gryphon...waiting on my tax refund.
I'm trying to get everything done before I get it.
Once I do, I'll definitely take your advice.

BTW, with the E-Fan and the CAI mod I made, I'm gettin' 14 mpg. Before them I was averaging 10-12 mpg.

***Jackpine*** · #4 Tue, February 10th, 2009, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AgentOrange

I wish I had a Gryphon...waiting on my tax refund.
I'm trying to get everything done before I get it.
Once I do, I'll definitely take your advice.

BTW, with the E-Fan and the CAI mod I made, I'm gettin' 14 mpg. Before them I was averaging 10-12 mpg.

Holy cow! That's a whopping big increase in economy!

Those are great pictures and a nice bit of engineering/fabrication, in my opinion. One in your Gallery showed me how you connected the metal "reducing" shroud to the stock one - I'm glad you posted that one, because it was the only question I really had.

I suspect you and I are seeing similar temperatures on the road. As I've said, the CHT stays VERY stable, once the engine warms up. And, I can't see any reason at all to monitor Engine Coolant Temperature (ECT) since it is just a "shadow" of the CHT. If you want to have heart failure though, monitor your oil temperature when the engine is under load! Oil temperature climbs rapidly under high RPM load conditions and quickly moves from near the CHT value to around 240+ degrees! I think the oil is doing a lot to dissipate engine heat.

Nice job too wiring the fan to the A/C or to temperature as seen by a thermostat.

All in all, a great mod! Nice post, AgentOrange!

:ford boob girl smal

- Jack

AgentOrange · #5 Tue, February 10th, 2009, 07:16 PM

Thanks Jack.

The "coolest" part of these "mods" is the fact that they look stock, they're cheap, and they function just like the more expensive add-ons, plus, if, for whatever reason the mod does not work, they are easily returned to stock form.

FYI for anyone that removes the stock fan...store it in the vertical postion. If you lay it flat, the silicone fluid in the clutch assembly will run out into the fan drive bearing and ruin the fan (from Haynes repair manual).

***88Racing*** · #6 Wed, February 11th, 2009, 12:02 AM

My work truck(03 gmc 2500hd) was actually experiencing over heating issues 3 years ago while on a job where the only power was coming from the invertor in it. So the remedy our truck service company came up with was bigger altenator and the robbed the electric fans and shroud out of wrecked tahoe of the same year. Funny wired right into the harness. The tech had said most vehicles these days were never meant idle more than a half hour in hot temps. With that in mind the electric fans are a great idea for a lot of trucks mfg after 2000(rpms are lower). He also said that the dual fans act together in a 2 stage operation. But the most important point that calmed the boss down was this: incase one failed there was a back up. I know belts break too! Just food for thought.

Lars

Buckeyes903 · #7 Wed, February 11th, 2009, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 88Racing

He also said that the dual fans act together in a 2 stage operation. But the most important point that calmed the boss down was this: incase one failed there was a back up. I know belts break too! Just food for thought.

Lars

I noticed my g/f's 2002 Dakota has both a clutch fan and an electric fan, now I know why, or atleast have a reason for it.

***88Racing*** · #8 Wed, February 11th, 2009, 04:16 PM

Some engineer @ dodge was probably thinking for once. Wonder if he got a bonus? Just kidding. Don't know why EFI vehicles run lower rpm's? Or why some of the clutches do not kick in until 1000 to 1200 rpm's? The mechanic demonstrated this on a ford f150 and my gmc 2500hd, he had set up clamp to stop it with a load gauge. Sure enough they both were free spinning. Got the gmc to 1100 rpm's and the load increased. The ford was at about 1050 rpm's.

-Lars

Buckeyes903 · #9 Wed, February 11th, 2009, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 88Racing

Some engineer @ dodge was probably thinking for once.
-Lars

Yeah, they probably finally got one good engineer and all the others only let him change the fan setup.

***88Racing*** · #10 Wed, February 11th, 2009, 11:00 PM

That dodge idea is not a bad one, especially if your putzing around or idling alot. On the economy side and performance end, kind of putting extra load on front end of that motor? If everything decided to operate at once. AC, fan clutch, and extra load on alternator. In the gmc clutch fan went bye-bye and got 2mpg more. Yehaw went from 6 to 8 in town and 7 to 10 on highway on that 6.0. That truck only weighs in at 10500! All the time! Wish boss would pay for a tuner on this truck.

-Lars