Electric Fans on the Cheap...

BluegrassDiesel

BluegrassDiesel

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Ive been thinking about going with electric fans on my pullin truck for a while, but never felt like dropping $550 for a Flex a Lite kit. I read on pirate 4x4 and on here that the late 80s and early 90s model Ford Taurus had some pretty sweet little electric fans on them from the factory. I dont have any hard data to back this up but Ive read several places that they are supposed to flow anywhere from 3500-4500 CFM. The fans are 15 inches so I think I can fit two on my truck. That would be anywhere from 7000-9000CFM, which would be a whole lot more than what you would get out of a much more expensive Flex a lite kit. I decided to try this so I went searching today. Found 2 ford Taurus' over at a salvage yard in Berea. I paid $20 each for them. I should have less than $500 in the whole setup by the time its all said and done. Im not going to worry with wiring them up on a thermostat, but just hard wire them into a toggle in the cab. I think it will turn out pretty good. We hooked them both up to a battery just to make sure they worked and they will flat get it! Here is a pic of them.

index.php
 
not too bad, i have 220 into my electric fans from derale, and they flow plenty of cfm for me, and they include wiring and all, and you can retain your washer fluid resivor and overflow tank, and i just wired my fans to a single switch, i only use them when the truck is at idle for 10-15mins and starts to get warm.
 
Should work just fine josh. I swiped a set from a mini van. Went and got a Thermo- rely from advance and set it to come on at around 190 then kick off at 175. At the end of a run my water temp may get to 220 but dosnt stay long. That relay I have has an override built in to put to a switch in the cab to run full time. The relay will hold up to 40 amps.

Lynn
 
Should work good. Thats another car to get fans off of now. LOL We've got a set off of a Lexus car but don't remember the model on a buddys pull truck. They are jus run to a taggle switch in the cab also. Work great.
 
Two 15`s will work great Josh. That`s what I have with a thermostat, Relay with adjustable settings or an overide toggle in the cab. Very similar to Lynns.
 
Like josh said the Taurus fans do 4500cfm. They are 15" fans.
The Lincoln MarkVIIIs do 5500cfm, but are a 16" or 18" fan.

This is a VERY popular upgrade for Mustangs.

You can also get them BRAND NEW for $85.00 each.

Josh, heres the control I was looking at for dual fans.
Summit SUM-890014 - Summit SummitRacing.com
 
ill be looking for a few in the junk yard when i get a chance, gonna hard wire mine in with a switch too, with my coolant bypass my engine doesnt even get to 190 during a pull, so i will turn them on just when i get ready to pull to help pull air across the IC and then leave them running to help cool down the engine bay after a run.
 
Bad azz TB, that is exactly what I was thinking about trying! I would set mine up with a T-stat switch though for my use.
 
sounds like a good idea guess i need to be calling the salvage yards to find me sum for my 03.
 
I used just one of those and it's fine. Make sure your wiring is up to par, they pull 38A each.
 
My humble offering of electric fan conversions:

Dual Elec Fan Setup... - Powerstroke Nation

I used the large relays that were originally for the heater grid for low and high speed for the fans.

I havent had a single problem cooling the truck with 100* ambient temps and 10k on the trailer, with the a/c on.

There are quite a few shroud ideas on Pirate as well if you search around. Mine is holding up great, but it's on a PSD radiator, so a little diff shape than you guys mostly.

Good Luck

Jason
 
Diesel_Weasel said:
My humble offering of electric fan conversions:

Dual Elec Fan Setup... - Powerstroke Nation

I used the large relays that were originally for the heater grid for low and high speed for the fans.

I havent had a single problem cooling the truck with 100* ambient temps and 10k on the trailer, with the a/c on.

There are quite a few shroud ideas on Pirate as well if you search around. Mine is holding up great, but it's on a PSD radiator, so a little diff shape than you guys mostly.

Good Luck

Jason
Click to expand...

I still have my large grid heather relays on the truck, this would be a great option...but i am clueless about wiring. I take it I just need to run heavy wire from the relay to the fans, and then use a switch to trigger the relays...they should already have power going to them from the battery as I never removed all that stuff.

what gauge wire is needed from the relay to the fan for that load?
 
has anyone tried running these on a daily driver? might be something i would be interested in doing when the new motor goes in.
 
SKYNYRD said:
has anyone tried running these on a daily driver? might be something i would be interested in doing when the new motor goes in.
Click to expand...

I drive my truck every day, in every condition... works fine.

getblown5.9 said:
what gauge wire is needed from the relay to the fan for that load?
Click to expand...

I used 10-12 gauge I believe, and your understanding of a relay system is correct. If you go into your local auto parts store, just ask for a continuous duty starter solenoid.

Make sure it is rated for continuous duty. They look identical, but an actual starter relay is only meant for short bursts of power, versus the continuous duty relay. If you want to usethe low and high settings of the fan, you will need two relays.
 
I have the Flex-A-Lite fans on my daily driver and they are on of the greatest mods I have done. These fans that you guys are talking about will pull more air than the flex-a-lite fans so I think they would work even better.

Joe
 
Diesel_Weasel said:
I drive my truck every day, in every condition... works fine.



I used 10-12 gauge I believe, and your understanding of a relay system is correct. If you go into your local auto parts store, just ask for a continuous duty starter solenoid.

Make sure it is rated for continuous duty. They look identical, but an actual starter relay is only meant for short bursts of power, versus the continuous duty relay. If you want to usethe low and high settings of the fan, you will need two relays.
Click to expand...

how does the high/low work? would i just run 2 toggle switches. might jsut be easier to just set them up to run high all the time since they will see limited use.
 
Diesel_Weasel said:
Make sure it is rated for continuous duty. They look identical, but an actual starter relay is only meant for short bursts of power, versus the continuous duty relay. If you want to usethe low and high settings of the fan, you will need two relays.
Click to expand...

I would expect that even a starter solenoid rated for hundreds of amps for a short period of time would be fine in this application. The amperage being passed through the solenoid is much lower, so the duty cycle should be able to go up.

getblown5.9 said:
how does the high/low work? would i just run 2 toggle switches. might jsut be easier to just set them up to run high all the time since they will see limited use.
Click to expand...

Personally, I would use a 3 position switch (on, off, on) and get it all on one switch. Whatever floats your boat though...
 
mondtster said:
I would expect that even a starter solenoid rated for hundreds of amps for a short period of time would be fine in this application. The amperage being passed through the solenoid is much lower, so the duty cycle should be able to go up.
Click to expand...

Search on Pirate4x4 and any mustang/camaro forum... you would think they would work, but they burn out pretty quickly... trust me, save yourself the time/money.
 
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