Electric fan recommendations?

[Gerald Morris]

I gotta clarify. I have NO heat issues when the AC is NOT on.
Everything cools fine going down the road and I ran the spal fan for years no problem. The spal would actually cool it down from 195 to 185°.. Added AC last year because it gets too hot and humid and its annoying when you have to peel your butt off the sweat soaked vinyl lol. Anyway, discovered that the spal fan is just not enough for the extra heat from the condenser so I thought great...an extra 1600cfm from the FFD should do it. Honestly... that FFD is not pulling 3600cfm. Not at only 20amps. My spal pulled 60!!!

Anyway, with no AC on and the FFD running, i can keep it at 195° but the fan wont cool it down, so my conclusion is that the FFD is WEAK AF! I think a high flow AC waterpump might give me the edge I need on this, probably a good idea to replace the pump anyway...unknown age and mileage

I'm curious about which model of SPAL fan you were using on your ride. I found something which resembles your description in this: VA18-AP71/LL-59A * 16"C/12V, though they rate it for a 40A fuse with a volumetric flux of 2024 cfm. Do you still have the factory nomenclature for your SPAL fan? I ask because I've seen ratings of 28 amperes for the actual running load, and 40A for a 13V fuse, but nothing like 60A. Could this be an overcurrent device rating? for example, you may have obtained an "80A" cheap chinese relay with that FFD, as I did. I'm uising it for the present, for warranty purposes, though I place FAR greater faith in my stockpiled 30A Bosch and Tycho/Bosch SSD relays than any chinese copy.

I'm impressed with SPAL's honesty more than any other firm in the after market radiator cooling fan racket. These people clearly calculate or measure the volume flux of their products with greater scruple than the rest, who simply take the product of rms air velocity with the cross sectional area of their fan, and suitable dimensional manipulations.

 

[Knebel]

Duh I thought the 59A was the current draw rating!? Anyway i think that is the fan I have. Its very strong and blows stronger than the ffd for sure! I'm thinking doing two spal 10" fans on my condenser as pushers that only activate with the AC button and keep either the spal or the ffd as a puller.

 

[Gerald Morris]

Duh I thought the 59A was the current draw rating!? Anyway i think that is the fan I have. Its very strong and blows stronger than the ffd for sure! I'm thinking doing two spal 10" fans on my condenser as pushers that only activate with the AC button and keep either the spal or the ffd as a puller.

Yes, an understandable mistake. The overload rating of 40A for a fuse implies the actual running current probably lies around half that. Fuses need to be nearly double the running motor load simply because startup loads oft approach twice the steady state current. Nearly all these axial fans use inductive windings to start the field rotation which, once the armature or rotor reaches the proper angular velocity, sustains a rotating magnetic field as the poles of the rotor literally spin around in the static field created either by permanent magnets or stator windings. The startup windings have to be disconnected shortly before the steady state angular velocity to permit the rotor to then resonate against the stator field, resulting in a steady rotation. Nice thing about pure permanent magnet stators is that one can get by without a startup winding, but at the price of added bulk and weight. Brushed armatures also simplify startup, but with the penalty of requiring the brushes and commutator then to switch the polarity of the armature and keep things spinning lively. Either way, startup current is much greater than steady state current.

You can tell what kind of motor you have just by gently moving the fan blade with your finger. If you feel little bumps of resistance as you push it around, then you have a brushed, permanent magnet motor. If not, one has a brushless arrangement which, if taking DC, MUST use some sort of current switching to at least pulse the fields, emulating AC. I think the more modern fan motors, like bicycle motors, lean this way, but neodynium magnets make good perm magnet high speed pure DC motors affordable, just. SPAL might use this approach. Try pushing your fan blade if curious.

This doesn't help you for **** with your car of course, but Pure Knowledge has uses.....

Good luck!

 

[Knebel]

Are there any good places i can get a 7/8 and 9/16 threaded nippels for bypass and heaterhose? I got my new waterpump and it has those threads.

 

[Knebel]

Working on gettin the shaw thermostat in and then the high flow waterpump looks like I found....a.little too much permatex

 

[thethee]

Hmm, I wonder why it overheats

 

[Rustyrodknocker]

The year may be 2022 but these cars are still all iron block and heads from 1970. You can't just toss modern fuel in the tank and run them 35 degrees hotter without feeling some sort of offset.

I like them to run as cool as possible while still running good. That maximizes the differential between normal operation and over heating when you get into some circumstance on the road.

Modern cars are designed to run at higher temps and have to do so to hit emission standards.

I went to an aluminum radiator last week the biggest I could fit. I bought it two years ago but really did not want it in the car ss I only hsd issues while hauling bike over the pass in the heat.

With no other changes it is running 30 degrees cooler at 100f on the freeway. I got into short traffic jam last night and had no indicated change on the gauge.

I suspect the abandoned A body barracuda I seen this week was not so lucky. I wouldnt hesitate to tow down the shoulder now.

 

[Knebel]

I wish I would have known that this bolt was made out of old butter... sigh.. they all came out easy and this one..oh boy I put the wrench on and barely twisted...

 

[bnz84]

Must be those ultralight aluminum racing bolts.

 

[Knebel]

I'll be darned, even the welded on nuts twist off!? And I've been soaking the sucker wuth pb blaster too!!! How crucial is that very top bolt to have?

 

[HWYCRZR]

I'll be darned, even the welded on nuts twist off!? And I've been soaking the sucker wuth pb blaster too!!! How crucial is that very top bolt to have?

Will likely cause more issues leaving it than taking a center punch trying to get exactly in the middle and drilling a pilot hole and progressively getting bigger. If you can find a left hand drill bit (many times found in ez out kits) progressively go bigger being careful not to get into the parent material. Many times the heat of the drilling will back it out when the walls get thin. Then clean out the threads with a thread chaser (tap). EZ outs sometimes work but can also break off in the bolt making it even tougher. If you use an ez out get as big of a pilot hole as you can.

 

[Knebel]

Already started drilling... went a little off center but i think I will get it out

 

[Knebel]

Wow that Bolt is like fused to the housing. I think what I have to do is put the pump on, use the hole as a guide and drill all the way through with a 3/8 drill. Then secure with a longer bolt and nut. There is no saving those threads but I really dont want to take off the timing cover or render it useless...

 

[Knebel]

Got her buttoned up. Thermostat housing has a minor leak still but temp creeps up with ac on still...just a lot slower. If I set my fan on temp to 185° and off at 181° it will stay in that range but only with AC off. Thermostat is a high flow Robertshaw 180° .

Ac on and Fan on, It goes up and At 220° i can hear percolating in the engine.... no issues like that with AC off. It is about 95° here so it was a good day to test this. This does appear to be either an issue with the radiator not shedding enough heat or the FFD fan still not pulling enough air.

 

[Knebel]

So much for FFDs advertised 35mph. It only has an 8mph windspeed infront of the Radiator...

 

[Knebel]

Here is the Spal. Both equal scenarios, Idle with AC on and Fan mounted to the shroud. Windspeed infront of the radiator was around 10 to 12mph I am waiting to hear back from FFD and see if they will make it right.

 

[Knebel]

Spal infront of Radiator

FFD infront of Radiator

 

[twostick]

Lonnnngggg thread on Moparts about adapting a C class Mercedes fan. It requires a controller to run it. A member there designed one for it. Requires pulse width modulation. If you just plug 12v to it, all the magic smoke comes out. On high it will just about blow the paint off the engine.

Monster electric cooling fan upgrade. long. w/photos.

Kevin

 

[Knebel]

So I've been waiting a bit to post about this. I have been in contact with FFD and also essentially told them their product does not meet the specs they claimed and I would like to send the fan back and get a refund.

As a reply I got a rude email telling me that they benchtest their fans with oh so expensive equipment rambling about how expensive their equipment is and not with a 10$ walmart windspeed meter. Apperantly they also think any Vehicle produces 14.9v at idle since thats where they benchtest the fans at (no mention on the website for this of course!). They will only take the fan back to benchtest the airflow, which they want me to pay for. And of course pay return shipping and all that ontop of it.

Fact is, even the 10$ walmart windspeed meter says that the FFDynamics fan is nowhere even close to 35mph windspeeds like they claimed to me in a previous conversation. And my lower rated spal outperforms their product.

I replied and said I wont be paying for sh*** and that their product is simply not up to par and does not perform as advertised and we dont drive vehicles on a bench but in real life. I also said I was going to post about this on here, where their company was recommended....

Have not gotten a reply. BEWARE their warranty and return policy screams Scam! You are stuck with the product either way.

 

[fury fan]

Old thread, but worth saying:
Perhaps mentioned already, but was the FFD fan's rated at a CFM and pressure?
A flow rate without a pressure drop is meaningless for a fan.
Even if both fans are rated at free-flow, that doesn't allow a comparison of how they'll do in a restriction. 1 might fall on its face, another fan might fare better.
You are running through 2 restrictions, the condenser and radiator, and if the fan's rating is at free-flow then yes, flow is gonna drop a lot.