Printable View
Gent, I have a 67 Mustang GT Fastback with the 390 FE engine. I am completing a rebuild and am installing an electric fan. Does anyone know a good fan application that will meet the cooling needs of this engine? I am looking for a manufacture type & model # if possible. Thanks!
Why an electric fan??? With a good radiator, shroud, and a steel hub aluminum blade 7 blade fan it will cool just fine, and none of the reliability problems of the electric fans. Electric fans and electric water pumps are great for drag racing, but IMO a little overrated for street use.
Dave's words for street use are right on - track??
Good radiator, etc.
If you have a mindset on electric.. checkout out a puller fan from "Spal."
I agree.Quote:
Originally posted by Dave Severson
Why an electric fan??? With a good radiator, shroud, and a steel hub aluminum blade 7 blade fan it will cool just fine, and none of the reliability problems of the electric fans. Electric fans and electric water pumps are great for drag racing, but IMO a little overrated for street use.
There right, but if you must you can contact becool direct, and they have a nice set up that will drop right in. Had problem with my first radiator set up with two 11" puller fans, didn,t have enough room with the electric water, on the big block in my 67 cougar. So they work with me and got a real nice set up with to 13" pusher fans and with a little work it set right down in there.
Well the electric fans do free up a few pony's. Flex a lite sells a nice dual 12" setup with shroud. Ron Davis sells a very nice aluminum radiator with dual fans and shroud. Be Cool products another good one. Some sell a radiator/fan shroud combo sized ready to go. See if there is something for the Mustang. I'm sure you will find a few nice setups. However the price will also reflect quality in some cases. Shop wisely! G.
P.S if a "period correct" look is not critical look at the Edelbrock water pumps. Aluminum and can be polished ir painted to suit your taste and complements the radiator cooling factor. Flow you know!
G, you are right as to removing a mechanical fan freeing up horsepower, but it also eats up horsepower to keep the alternator charging enough to power all the electrical accessories. It would take a dyno to measure the difference. IMO, I'll stick with the mechanical fan on the street and save the electric stuff for my drag car. JMO
Ahhh true...very true. I used an puller style elec fan in the Cobra with very good results. Plus no room for anything else and not many accessories. I see your selling your nailhead?? Anything FE planned with your earnings? A nice 427 block maybe???? Your "427 block for Dave" collection fund is still a little shy on funds I'm sorry to report. But I'm still hopefull everyone here will pitch in....... Hope all has been well with you! G.
Hey G you caught on right away!!! I've got some very nice FE stuff accumulated over the summer, gotta love them swap meets!!!! Brand new cam and lifters, Cobra valve covers, tri-power manifold, top loader, dual point distributor, another set of 4V heads, and numerous small parts. The nailheads are very kewl motors, but the FE is still my first love !!!!!!!
How about a middle of the road option? Like using a clutch fan. I've found this to be a great option as they are not nearly as noisy, saves on HP, and atfull tilt pull just as much if not more air than a straight fan. Been using them on my mopars for quite a while aswell as on a few fords. Not 100% sure when for actually started using clutch fans but i thought it was scarcely in '67.
Clutch fans are OK, had one come apart once. When they break at 7 grand they are really tough on the radiator, hood, hoses, shroud, etc, etc, etc. !!!!!
Right now I am going back and forth with cooling also. I an using a 15" flex fan with my stock 48 radiator and shroud. I put a recovery tank on it and it overheated the first time in heavy traffic pretty good. I don't have the room for a bigger bladded fan nor the money for an aluminum radiator so I am hoping that adding an electric pusher spal for in traffic will help. Good or bad idea?
Back to the '67 Mustang - the original pump and clutch fan worked great for me. 390 and 428 don't usually see 6000 unless heavily modded, so I've never had a problem. Used to drag race the thing, and hit 6k pretty regularly, and the clutch lasted over 100k miles no prob.
The issue with this is the value of the original fans and clutches for the FE Mustangs. I've got the original clutch, which finally started leaking fluid and freewheeling a bit too much, in a box for shipping to rebuild. I tried several parts stores for the replacement, and they were all too long - put the fan against or into the rad. Had to go to a Mustang specialty shop. These things are a tight fit.
Biggest cooling problem I've had in recent years is the gauge. The car runs in spec if you use an IR thermometer or drop a candy thermometer in the filler. But the gauge runs near the top. Finally got an OLD sender unit, which helped a lot, but it was for another car and still doesn't read right. The new senders look like they've rolled about 20 different units into a universal package.
But unless there's a real need to go to the electric fan, I'd just stick with the mechanical. Oh, I also found if I use too cool a thermostat, it just opens up and stays open. The pump moves the water through the rad too fast, and it runs hotter than it did with the original 195. Common sense, but it took me a while to figure it out. I've also started using Water Wetter in the rad, and it seems to help a bit. But cooling those FE Mustangs is interesting.
Dave sound good bud!!! And a tripower! ...very cool. Sounds like a really nice collection of parts. If you need carbs check out DSC or Carls Ford parts. They both sell the new re-issued Holley sets. Ebay once in a while has a set of carbs also. Good luck! G.
Thanks G, will have to check them out, been watching on Ebay. I'll trip over a set of them eventually, or (gulp) just write the big check for new ones !!! What a scary thought !!!
I've run both and my experence a mechanical fan just flat works better. Where I'm at getting the car too cool properly is probably one of the biggest challenges when building a car.
What I have found works best (if theres room) is a good clutch fan with as many blades as your can find ( buy a GOOD clutch unit that is also thermostatically controlled). Direct Connection (forerunner to MOPAR Predformance) ran a HP test rears ago and found flex fan ate over 20 HP and the clutch units were down around 9 HP.
Next best fans that I've found are the stock 7 blade Ford flex fans,
Yea they are getting expensive for sure. Hey this is a pretty good tech site and for $20 have a really good rebuild and tech download www.hptrends.com If you have not see it check it out. I have a few others I'll find for ya! G.
I'm using a mechanical fan and an electric fan (mounted on the front of my radiator). If I get caught-up driving in traffic with my '53, as in stoplight traffic, the temps start to climb a bit, sometimes 200+ degrees. This is when I switch on the electric fan to flow air through the radiator. This is also on 100 degree temp days as well. When cruising down the road, it just stays pegged at 180. It doesn't do well without airflow. I'm a "Nervous-Nelly" when it comes to underhood temps. I'm also running the big 4-pass "Desert Cooler" US radiator as well. I'm wondering if I'll need the electric fan when the engine gets a few more miles on it than the current 600 miles......just put some more "break-in" miles on it. I also think that when the temps cool down, say below 85 degrees outside, I may get away with not needing it as well. Who knows, I guess I'll find out with experimentation. Just my current situation and setup... ;)
You simply can not beat a mech fan w/a clutch. Since nothing works at 100% effiecency it takes more power to run the alternator that feeds the electric fan than a electric fan produces.
Thus, for those cars that run a/c & have the fan running all the time you actuall use more energy w/a electric fan. The mech fans speed & power changes w/temp(clutch) & thus are more efficient if running a/c.
If you insist on running a electric fan use a Lincoln mark7 or 8. They are a 2 speed fan that I have measured 38 amps , which should be right at 4000 free air cfm.
Don