I'm new to the group, but I've been lurking for a while. I don't want to start another Civil(Fan)War (Mech vs Electric)
I have a 36 Plymouth with an aluminum radiator and 16" S-blade puller fan(a cheapie). I know I get what I pay for, but the fan doesn't seem to pull enough air through the radiator, heats up to 210, runs 185 on the highway, using a stewart hi-flow pump. So my question is which electric fan does the best job of pulling air through the radiator? Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks



BTW How can you tell when a redneck is fixin' to meet his maker? When you hear him utter these 3 little words.
"Y'all watch this" Yes y'all is one word.
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Donnie Cool

I checked into electric fans prior to purchasing one for my project, and I decided on a SPAL 16 inch puller.
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Lynn
'32 3W

When I built my rod I put a mid-priced fan on my car. It worked well...for about 4 yrs/20,000 mi. Then it started vibrating badly and shook the front fenders. After much debate I bought a Spal 16" because of the reputation. 2 yrs and 12,000 miles later all is well. I can't say it will outlast the cheapie because I haven't had it that long.

If you have room for a mechanical fan, and it sounds like you do, STAY with it. Get the biggest one you can fit in there with a thermostaticly controled hub and use a shroud.
Make sure the fan blades are about half in and half out of the shroud. The only rod I have with with no room and electric fans is the one that I'm having trouble keeping cool. Just my opinion.
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Carl Larkins

I did have a mechanical fan on at first, but the engine sits so low and the radiator is only 16" wide and there was no room for a decent shroud, did build a half shroud to try and pull some air through the upper part of the radiator. So I'm pretty much set in using a electric fan. I've seen alot of talk about using a 2700 cfm fan (which my fan is supposed to put out), but I've also seen alot of writings about don't rely on cfm ratings and go with amps draw and wattage ratings. So I thought I would ask the question about which electric fans are the better choice, I'm looking at the Spal fans as well as the Cooling Components (they use a built in shroud on theirs) Anyone using these fans? How they working?
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Donnie Cool

The Spal line is the best for the money and performance wise. The top of the line 16 incher will pull over 20 amps and produce 2400ish CFMs. You are absolutely right about amperage and/or wattage of the fan. Many claims of 2700+CFMs and only 12 amps continous, is not a good bet!

The Derale line is an excellent choice too, but do not produce the flow that the Spals do, but there advertising is accurate and honest.
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Steve Jack
Engineering & Marketing Technologies
ConceptOne Brackets and Pulleys

Thanks for the info, I was hoping you would comment on my question. I have read several of your posts concerning the cooling issues.

Does the 2400 cfm spal fan have straight blades?

Thanks again to everyone for responses to my question.

Makes a newbie feel welcome.
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Donnie Cool

The top of the line Spal has straight blades. There is a slightly less efficient model that is not straight bladed, but is relatively quiet compared to the straight bladed model.

Donnie, welcome to the fray....you will become addicted to the site!
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Steve Jack
Engineering & Marketing Technologies
ConceptOne Brackets and Pulleys

Picked up a Spal 16 inch puller for my deuce high boy at a swap meet. 2 questions for those in the know.
1. The fan has about an inch removed off of the tip of each blade,something about a crank trigger on a big block Chevy. I have e-mailed Spal about a replacement with no reply,any body been down this route?
2. The fan is a puller rated at 1300 and change cfm. Is this enough air for a small block Ford with EFI? I am using a Ford Motorsport supposedly high flow water pump.
New to this game and really like the responses.

HB32, don't use a fan that has been altered....esp the moving parts. Spal factory balances their fans to reduce vibration on the motor and moreover when setting against the radiator frame or fins. The airflow in not enough either for your application. I don't know anything about the "trigger" issue you mentioned and should not have anything to do with your setup/application.

Get a new one from DickZ here at this site. You can order the top of the line one, a puller 16" rated for 2400ish CFMs, or get the less noisy one with skewed blades that is the puller rated at 2100ish. The part numbers are VA-18-AP6-41MA and VA-18-AP13-59A respectively. They are both identical in size/footprint. They both take around 20ish amps, so a good relay is in order as well. I think the lesser will do and you will like it better because it is quieter.

Check my cooling forum out at www.inccn.net/techforum.htm for more on cooling and/or look for the new July issue of Northern/Southern Rodder Magazine......."Jack'Stands" is the column.
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Steve Jack
Engineering & Marketing Technologies
ConceptOne Brackets and Pulleys

Thanks for the info HOTRODSRJ.I was going to use a copper brass rad but will now look more closely at an aluminum type. My problem is space between the rad and engine because of the Ford in a Ford concept. I am running the Ford Motorsport SVO pump which is shorter than stock and supposedly high flow.I will need a fan that is very thin for clearance...hence the Spal with the lower cfm rating. I have yet to make contact with someone who has put a 5.0 in a deuce who can give me some input.

go to www.roybriziohotrods.com

He builds a lot of 32's and puts Ford in some of them. The reason a Chevrolet V8 is in MOST 32 Fords is that that fit better. They are short enough to work without cutting the firewall, the oil filter does not have to be changed around, and the resell value is greater.
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Same Wife, Same DEUCE Roadster, Same Job for over 20 years. Must be in a rut. AIN'T LIFE GRAND.....

GE makes a good oscilating fan. I had a Panasonic in the bedroom, but it took a crap. I'd avoid TPI and NULINE. Patton has a nice pedistal mount, 120V.
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MrWillys aka HRB
Member: Dipstick Street Rod Association
Paint don't make 'em any faster!

the best electric fan is the mech. fan u can squeeze in a shoud exactly like ancientrodder states........ buuuuuuuut cant always be done.
GE makes a good fan...??????/HELLO>>>>>>>>>
--
pink rod ... tom

o'h, hello to you!
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MrWillys aka HRB
Member: Dipstick Street Rod Association
Paint don't make 'em any faster!

I have another question on cooling, I've seen stated that water (distilled) with a water wetter is probably the best way to go to help cooling, yet my A/C manufacturer stated in their instructions to use at least a 50/50 mix of antifreeze to keep the heater core from freezing. Is this really a problem?

I noticed that you are in Miss! My recommendation is to run whatever is needed for YOUR demographic region to protect you from freezing.

Here in Atlanta, I run about 20% ratio all the time. That gives me freezing protection to 0, improves heat transfer during the summer, and contains some wanted additives as well.

As a matter of interest and I am researching this now, there is a new generation of ethylene glycols already on the market in Europe and now being used by some OEMs here. The ethylene gylcol based product will have a much longer life time (100,000s of miles) without all the downsides of other based coolants. About 7 buckos a gallon....more later!
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Steve Jack
Engineering & Marketing Technologies
ConceptOne Brackets and Pulleys

Steve and others, I have a radiator and fan question.

The T coupe will be running a blown flathead so mechanical is out of the question unless I add ANOTHER pulley! Wont have room anyway.

Hoodless or top only. Whats a good combo?

It runs a nice steady 180 at idle with just carbs and no blower on the test stand using a monster old 48 F6 truck radiator.
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Carl
Automotive gold is everywhere; you just have to learn how to dig for it

When upgrading to a better radiator or choosing a new one, choose to buy cooling capacity, not marketing hype! This adding of “cooling capacity” translates to choosing aluminum construction, multiple rows, bigger tubes, higher fins per inch, cross flow models where applicable, and single pass models only.....in that order. In my opinion, the largest PRC you can design would be adequate with the appropriate hardware.

Spal fans can't be beat per amp! I would choose the largest fan I could get to fit! That should suffice also. The combination of a high efficiency aluminum radiator and high CFM fan should be a killer combo.


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Steve Jack
Engineering & Marketing Technologies
ConceptOne Brackets and Pulleys

Er.....Thats Cooler Combo, Steve....lol
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The "New" and Unimproved edcroozer... Charter D.S.R.A. member

Ed......you da man! Keeping me honest and funny at the same time. Hey....looks don't count either....I know what yur thinkun?
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Steve Jack
Engineering & Marketing Technologies
ConceptOne Brackets and Pulleys

You are safe Steve....There is no one more less appealing than me....lol
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The "New" and Unimproved edcroozer... Charter D.S.R.A. member

I solved my heat trouble with a Flex-a-lite Black Magic fan from Summit (set up to run as a puller). Since my '34 Ford grill's been severely sectioned (nearly 8"), my radiator is VERY short. This doesn't leave me many options for cooling. The universal model Black Magic came with it's own shroud that completely surrounds the back of my radiator. I'm also using water wetter. The additive doesn't seem to help the wife's Anglia at all, but it dropped my coupe's temp nearly 10 degrees. Go figure. The Flex-a-lite fan came with a thermostat, but I'm gun-shy of putting faith in such controls so I use a toggle. Loads of mounting hardware was included, but as with all "universal fit" stuff, I still had to do some minor fab work. Price was comparable to most others I considered. To tell the truth, I chose the Flex-a-lite mainly for it's dimensions. I've been running it for over a year and a half with no failures so far.

Remember...
Self tapping threads... DON'T
Leak proof seals... DO
Universal fit... DOESN'
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(8^P)=

I buy-sell-trade vintage HO slotcars

I've bought a 16" straight blade Spal for my 46. I'm in the process of installing it now. If I center the fan vertically on the radiator core the fan motor will come in contact with the water pump shaft....just. (It would have just cleared, if I didn't have to space the fan back 1/4-1/2" as recommended by Spal). Anyhow, If I move the fan to the top of the radiator core, vertically, will this impact the effective use of the fan? Moving the fan up should take care of the interference problem. I haven't installed the condensor yet but I was thinking about installing it high as well. Any thoughts?

ain't too smart, but I sure have fun
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Fatstang

I bought the Spal 16" puller fan also. I mounted mine up high on the radiator, I've read in other discussions that's where the fan does the most good. I mounted my Spal per the directions going with a 3/8" clearance between the fan and the radiator. Is this what everyone else has done with there Spal Fans? I haven't run the car with the new fan yet, but when I turned the fan on, it sure seems to pull a lot more car than my previous electric 2700 cfm $75 fan.

Donnie, that must be some fan if it pulls your "car" LOL

just kidding I know you meant air. but, could not resist ;)
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Watch those speedbumps!! Debb

No I meant the car, those Spal fans are really strong. But sometimes my mind is thinking one thing and the fingers type something else. But the worse thing is, I read the message over before I posted it.

LOL, happens to the best of us!!! Like my Irgent instead of Urgent msg to George, lol At least yours was funny :)
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Watch those speedbumps!! Debb

Hi guys, this seems like a good place to remind all that fellow SRS member Steve Jack has written a couple useful articles on cooling tips which can be found in the article section of this web page. Good info check it out...Ray

The articles are named Top ten cooling suggestions and Ten more cooling suggestions.
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Grump

Welcome to the site, Donnie. Is that your real last name? If so, it's prety KQQL. :) I just got home from Hot Rod Mag's Power Tour and one of the sponsors is BE COOL. Spent quit a bit of time over at their display checking things out and picking this very good looking guys brain regarding radiators, fans etc. What caught my eye, (besides him, lol) is they had a very KQQL looking chromed electric fan. I didn't ask the price, I'm sure it's not cheap, but boy did it look awesome. Just some food for thought if looks are as issue and price isn't. :)
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Your "top-less" cruzn buddy, Denise

http://www.geocities.com/lipstickrun/

Yep, that's the real last name, even though I've never been kidded about it. Yeah right, I've threated to name my son Joe, but that nickname has kind of faded.

That's me, D.Cool Redneck
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Donnie Cool

How far away from Biloxi are you and do you go to the Cruzn the Coast show there in Oct? I went for the first time last year and had a blast. Going again this year, have rooms at the Holiday Inn Express. Hopefully, Debb and her hubby Rob are going also.
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Your "top-less" cruzn buddy, Denise

http://www.geocities.com/lipstickrun/

Oh, man. Denise is looking for a date again!LOL

What else is new?
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The "New" and Unimproved edcroozer... Charter D.S.R.A. member

I'm just trying to be FRIENDLY to the new guy. :) Makin' him feel welcome and all. You 2 (Fred and Ed), are reading toooo much into this (wink, wink). LOL
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Your "top-less" cruzn buddy, Denise

http://www.geocities.com/lipstickrun/