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I purchased an electric fan for my resto-mod project. I was looking at the build car that has (and I intend to keep) an air conditioner system. To give me adequate space I had intended to put the fan on the front of the radiator as a pusher which could happen if I didn't have A/C.

In re-examining the situation I find that the air conditioner condenser is immediately in front of the radiator. I know the condenser has it's own fans so where do I put the electric fan?

Could those that read this and have electric fan installations, please post photos so I can see how it is done?

I look forward to seeing your installations.

Larry

Sorry Larry, I don’t do photos, but I have an air conditioned 4.6L 8, with about 330 BHP.

I moved the radiator forward about 1.6 inches, which also meant it had to go down a bit. This gave me the room to fit the fan behind the radiator as a puller.

We are lucky in Oz that a VN Holden commodore radiator, which is quite a bit bigger just fits, filling the full width across the front.

I had a 4 core version made for me, & mounted it just far enough forward to fit the fan without moving the radiator or engine components.

Moving it forward does restrict the air flow to the top of the radiator a little, so we fitted a panel from the top of the spoiler to the bottom of the radiator as ducting, to stop the air spilling out under the car, to force it up to the top of the radiator.

We have never had a cooling problem when the car was working hard. We did have a cooling problem with city slow running. This was actually a tuning problem, which was traced to a lean mixture at low revs with small throttle openings, since cured with a better injection computer.

Hasbeen

I used a 14" slim Line fan for my 1981 TR7 with AC. by mounting the fan slightly off center to the right It cleared the AC pulleys and works fine. As an added bonus I placed the sensor under the clip that holds the NOS fan temp sensor. It holds it nice and tight to the brass of the side tank.

Here is a link to the fan on the Summit Racing site.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/prm-18124

It moves a lot of air and does not draw too much power. The fan edges were a bit rough but a file soon cleared that up.

Edward Hamer
Petaluma CA

The cars with AC have two electric fans (push) and a mechanical fan with viscous coupling (pull).
I was thinking to remove the fan with viscous coupling and replace the old electric fans with more efficient modern ones.
The new electric fans should work for the AC and cooling the engine. All modern cars use one fan for cooling and AC.
Has anyone tried this?

I doubt one fan will work with your air conditioning. Any moderns that have only one, have the radiator & condenser set up so air flow must go through both units, or a combined unit. With our old things, any air spills after going through the condenser & does not go through the radiator.

My 7 has an electric on the air condenser, & the thermo fan for the main radiator. This works perfectly, the thing runs on the very bottom of normal, even in out high temperatures.

The 8 has 2 separate fans. The pusher for the air, & the puller on the engine bay side of the radiator for the engine. With the 4.6L this is not overkill. When the blade on a new fan was installed wrong way round, it was inadequate. The concave side of the blade must be on the downwind side to give enough efficiency to work.

The manufacturers advise this is not necessary we were told, but we have found it is critical in our restricted instillation. We had both gearbox & engine oil coolers complicating the thing, all needing air flow, now much improved with a manual gearbox fitted, & that oil cooler eliminated.

Hasbeen

We have fitted an electric fan in my daughters 7 it is similar to that in the photo's and is a joy. It is what I have done in my 8 that may be of interest. It is quite possible here in the summer to get temperatures into the 40s C. My 8 is with Air Con and the standard procedure was for both fans to come on at slow speed at around 80 and at about 90 the two fans switched to high speed. I have changed this so that both fans come on at high speed at around 80C.
Re the comment about moving the radiator forward , the 8 has this as standard in order to cater for the Air Con.

Hasbeen wrote:I doubt one fan will work with your air conditioning. Any moderns that have only one, have the radiator & condenser set up so air flow must go through both units, or a combined unit. With our old things, any air spills after going through the condenser & does not go through the radiator.

Hasbeen

The condenser is fitted in front of the radiator, so the airflow goes through both units?
Just like on modern cars. May have to make the fan-box in front of the radiator more air tight to guide the air. (2L engine, with factory US-spec. AC system)

I was thinking the air box is even better, because a fan straight against the radiator blocks part of the radiator. With the box the flow will be spread over the complete radiator surface.