Are electric fans worth it?

[Supracentral]

Hmm...I know this is an old post, but unlike many others, I SEARCH. Question for anyone who can answer this...My stock 10 blade fan was chipped and cracked to death due to arms, fingers, sockets, wrenches, etc. so I put on an NA fan. Would this by chance be a bad thing? I hope not...It seems to run just fine to me if not a little bit cooler at times.

The turbo fan moves more air, but not a massive amount. I've know people who have done this in a pinch and have never had a problem.

However, something to keep in mind is that's street driving.

I'll tell you, as someone who spends time in the south at road course events, you learn quickly who the guys are with the electric fans.

They are the ones who can't finish a session without the car overheating. You'll see them sitting in the pits with the hood up just waiting for the engine temps to come down. You might have the same result with the N/A fan if you are pushing the cooling system to it's absolute limits.

I'd say as a temp fix for a daily driver, it's probably not an issue. If you are going to push the car hard, get the correct fan.

Just my $.02, ymmv..

 

[Jspec7m88]

Well thank you for the quick feedback. I've been running this fan for about 3 months now...It's went through NUMEROUS runs, acouple dyno pulls and driven through 30 degree temperature all the way up to 95 degrees. I've got a tranny cooler now so the radiator doesn't have to share that much more air...but everything seems to be going fine...Eventually, I'll find a GTE fan when I come across one.

 

[IJ.]

I ran the 7 blade for ages and the only time I notice a difference with the 10 blade is idling in traffic with the AirCon on.

 

[thesandymancan]

i didn't even know the gte was a 10 blade. i bought mine with a 7 blade on there. weird.

 

[spoolint78]

my car overheated in toronto 115 degree weather.
I'm going back to the stock clutch fan and aux fans.

i don't really want to have to worry about something going wrong with my car.
mk3's have enough problems as is.

It would suck to melt a wire, or burn a fuse just because of an electric fan, and being far from home.

And i believe trent did a dyno run with the stock clutch fan, and a electric one.
he gained like 5hp

 

[Jspec7m88]

Yeah, it was on the top of my to do lists recently(getting electric fans) but as I did more studying, I found that it isn't necessarily for the better. The only reason I disapprove of my stock fan so much is because I don't have a fan shroud so it looks like crap. Once I get one, she'll be just fine.

 

[bigaaron]

You'll only see a hydrofan or clutch fan on my car!

I've had electric fan motors seize and relays/connectors fail. Never had a problerm with a mechanical fan.

 

[ToyoHabu]

I have run a flexalite dual fan for about four years now without a hickup. longhauls , shorthauls fasthauls:naughty: never had a problem in and out of traffic. I think if your car overheats and the fans are working then something is wrong ie clogged cooling system. junk on the outside of the radiator. something. the car is talking to you.

 

[NashMan]

odd my gte did not have a 10 blade must be an assuie thing mabye


and as for eletric fan i find it does do some thing for your car improves thottle respones a great deal as for max hp not to much but there is gain and gains are every thing to me

whould i ever go back stock clutch fan never

 

[bigaaron]

If you guys are running flex-a-lites and not overheating, then you are not really driving. Do a good canyon run or hit the track where you are on boost for extended periods and it WILL overheat.

 

[ToyoHabu]

Mine did not budge after 45 minutes of hard running on his track. http://www.tgprace.com/about_track.htm Mine is a mostly stock 1jz

 

[IJ.]

Think I'd prefer a reliable Car that I can beat on in 40c heat in traffic with the AirCon on and not worry about it cooking it's brains out than have +5 hp! (1% extra duty cycle on the boost controller is much more than that)

Again repeat after me it's NOT a race car.......

 

[ToyoHabu]

My freind has several cars with electric fans and he lives in Tucson AZ where it has gotten to around 46 C. A properly sized electric fan will cool just as good as a belt or hydro fan will there isn't any magic to it..

 

[Jspec7m88]

Honestly, I think it's just a very opinionated topic. I mean, obviously, there are people on here that have clearly stated that they run these for extended periods of time without having any problems. Our cars are the same...but at the same time, are so different from one another. Same thing with adding horsepower with an exhaust...one result might be "completely" different from another car. It is DEF. a case of whether or not it is installed properly and carefully...but other than that, it's just a matter of what you prefer.

 

[IJ.]

Given a tight fitting shroud and good sized powerful rare earth magnet electric motors well designed fan blades and a good fan controller yes they can work well!
(maybe .1% of electrics would fit these criteria)

To replace a good working fan clutch "to save 5hp" at the risk of overheating knowing the 7M's propensity for self destruction from an overheat is just plain stupid.... :nono:

 

[Jspec7m88]

But IJ, we all know that there are people out there that can conquer and defeat ANYTHING with a 7M!

 

[bigaaron]

I was personally talking about the Flex-a-Lite Black Magic fans on a Supra with increased hp output. I didn't really consider a bone stock 7m in a racing situation, because frankly, that would be a little bit boring :biglaugh:
SPAL makes a dual fan that is capable of cooling a modded 7m or 1jz if used with a good quality variable speed fan controller.

Something like this:

with something like this:

But like IJ said, we are not talking about trailered race cars here. Our cars need to hold together for 100k miles, not 100 miles. Race cars use electric fans because they need to squeeze out every ounce of power available.
I gladly sacrifice 5hp for increased reliability, and to make up for it I just run another .5 psi of boost.

 

[supra90turbo]

I did it for cleanliness, and read at the time that it was the way to go. I personally, don't like the clutch fan, but if I have to run it, I guess I'll have to get serious about an idea I had a while ago and try to get Duane to produce a CF fan shroud once the CF supply surfaces.

 

[Nick M]

Honestly, I think it's just a very opinionated topic.

Misstated information is not the same as an opinion. An opinion would be that blue is a nice color.

A fact would be that you need a large electric motor to run as fast as the fan clutch will.

 

[NashMan]

ok people.

most of the time people have overheating probs is cause of this

their car has prob some where else or you put way too small of fan on it

that is it


oh yeah 20 push year old cores are not good heat sinks any more