Electric versus Flex Fan

[Thumperbird]

I am sure this has been discussed before but looking for fresh chat as I have seem some electric fan duscussion recenty.
I have  moderate 445 2x4 in a Thunderbird, probably around 500hp, hole in the hood for a scoop but if it is 95 out and I am stuck in traffic the temp. will climb to 220 pretty quicky, have never boiled it over but it makes me nervous if it is really hot out and cruising is more like crawling.  I have a decent quality flex fan and some fabricated sides acting as a shroud but not a "typcial" tight to the fan shroud.  Aluminum aftermarket radiator.

Now for the question, in general, could one expect a flex fan delete and the addition of a large single or dual electric fans to remedy this siutation?  In other words, just how good or different are electric fans at pulling air through the radiator, it does have an AC condensor and a trans cooler out front adding to the restriction.
Thanks.

[fryedaddy]

look at the Spal electric fans,im happy with mine,temp never gets above 190,even with no shroud on it except the one around the fan.

[Barry_R]

x2 on the Spal.
Best fan on the market.
Electric fans are pretty good at low engine speed situations.

[TurboChris]

Should check this out as well. Soft start and can use for AC. My brother runs one and loves it. Only runs as much fan as you need.

https://www.autocoolguy.com/home

[Barry_R]

Should check this out as well. Soft start and can use for AC. My brother runs one and loves it. Only runs as much fan as you need.

https://www.autocoolguy.com/home

Don't know if the product is good - - but spell check could help out a lot on that site

[TJ]

Is your crank pulley equal or bigger than your fan pulley?  Going from an under drive crank pulley to a direct drive made enough improvement for me.

[jayb]

+3 on Spal fans.  At low speeds the flex fan turns slowly, and will not pull the same amount of air as a couple of good Spal fans.  Beware, many of the other electric fans out there don't pull a lot of air, despite their promising cfm ratings...

[pbf777]

      In these older type chassis, for one's typical "street car" use applications, and with consideration of what is typically marketed as,  I consider electric fans as best utilized as being "supplemental", this to the existence of the best execution of the mechanical fan first.   

      Scott.

[Tunnelwedge]

I've tried two different aluminum rads on a 428 Edelbrock.
The cheap rad worked okish. The nice expensive rad works great.
Same fan.
I'm still running the old 68 brass top rad on the 482 BBM. It works okish.
A better rad would help a lot. But then I would not have the brass top.

[GerryP]

There was a time in the recent past where this fan assembly was the secret weapon:  https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/ford,1993,taurus,3.8l+v6,1138766,cooling+system,radiator+fan+assembly,2181

3,500CFM low speed, 5,000CFM high speed.  And cheap!

Runs with this controller:  http://www.dccontrol.com/Multispeed.htm  Not very cheap at around 100 bucks but solves the question about how you're going to drive the fans and when the come on and off.

A couple hundred for the whole shebang.

It comes down to whether it fits between your engine and radiator.

[Thumperbird]

Thanks for all the feedback thus far.
Not sure I can run a Taurus fan, oh the stories I could tell about my 94 taurus wagon!

While I do not recall specifics on the aluminum radiator I bought it was a good one at the time from what I remember.
I just don't think I am pulling much air, fan blades are ~1" back from the rad. face and it has to pull through radiator and condensor, and even the oil cooler for part of it and like I said shroud is a home brew not sealed well to the fan blades.

More questions:
1.  Do you guys typically run 2 smaller fans (as large as will fit) or 1 as large as will fit?
2.  Do you use one of those temp. sense switches, on at say 185, off at 175?
3.  Scott throws caution at running an electric fan only, others thoughts on this if quality of all components is good?
     (i can imagine I would install an overide switch to run full time in case of controls failure)

Back to the Taurus, once had the Ford regional customer rep. tell me that the reason the electric window motors died and windows stopped working (motors/gear box got wet) at 3.1 years old (out of warranty) was because I did not take it to a dealer for routine maintenance.  That must have been why the trans started slipping at 3.6 years of age and under 61000 miles (out of warranty) and why the head gaskets went by 90k miles.  Did I mention the rear tires wore very excessively due to alignment issue right from the factory?  Maybe I'm confusing that with my 2000 era ford trucks that used to eat coil packs, blew spark plugs, head gaskets, and trans as well.  Why I bought more Fords back then I'll never know.

Thanks all for any additonal feedback provided!  Happy winter.

[Jim Comet]

Here is my setup from my 66 Comet. Dual fans from a 99-2000 cougar/mistique V6 which I got for 35.00 from a salvage yard. Works really good with my Dakota Digital fan controller. Jim

[fryedaddy]

Thanks for all the feedback thus far.
Not sure I can run a Taurus fan, oh the stories I could tell about my 94 taurus wagon!

While I do not recall specifics on the aluminum radiator I bought it was a good one at the time from what I remember.
I just don't think I am pulling much air, fan blades are ~1" back from the rad. face and it has to pull through radiator and condensor, and even the oil cooler for part of it and like I said shroud is a home brew not sealed well to the fan blades.

More questions:
1.  Do you guys typically run 2 smaller fans (as large as will fit) or 1 as large as will fit?
2.  Do you use one of those temp. sense switches, on at say 185, off at 175?
3.  Scott throws caution at running an electric fan only, others thoughts on this if quality of all components is good?
     (i can imagine I would install an overide switch to run full time in case of controls failure)

Back to the Taurus, once had the Ford regional customer rep. tell me that the reason the electric window motors died and windows stopped working (motors/gear box got wet) at 3.1 years old (out of warranty) was because I did not take it to a dealer for routine maintenance.  That must have been why the trans started slipping at 3.6 years of age and under 61000 miles (out of warranty) and why the head gaskets went by 90k miles.  Did I mention the rear tires wore very excessively due to alignment issue right from the factory?  Maybe I'm confusing that with my 2000 era ford trucks that used to eat coil packs, blew spark plugs, head gaskets, and trans as well.  Why I bought more Fords back then I'll never know.

Thanks all for any additonal feedback provided!  Happy winter.

my radiator is square on mine so one fan fits great,. it depends on the shape of your rad,square or rectangle.

[Rory428]

There was a time in the recent past where this fan assembly was the secret weapon:  https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/ford,1993,taurus,3.8l+v6,1138766,cooling+system,radiator+fan+assembly,2181

3,500CFM low speed, 5,000CFM high speed.  And cheap!

Runs with this controller:  http://www.dccontrol.com/Multispeed.htm  Not very cheap at around 100 bucks but solves the question about how you're going to drive the fans and when the come on and off.

A couple hundred for the whole shebang.

It comes down to whether it fits between your engine and radiator.

Gerry, do you know how thick the Taurus fan setup is, between the rad and the electric motor?

[jayb]

I always run 2 Spals, big as I can fit, with an on/off pressure switch in the water jacket.  Usually on at 180F, off at 170F, or somewhere close to that.  No shroud, to avoid blocking airflow through the radiator at high speeds.  Works great, even on my 1000 HP Drag Week car.  I've never had an electric fan failure.