All Electric cooling

[Nicad]

I test fitted my rad tonight. I had the stock radiator tank locally rebuilt with a Triple core high efficiency copper core. Hopefully there is enough additional surface area for the cooling system to shed heat. Pretty obvious the new hydraulic clutch fan I bought from Mesa will not have enough clearance with the rad. So either I can ditch the rad or ditch the belt driven fan. Leaning towards putting in an Electric fan in front of the rad (I do not have AC).
Has anyone gone full electric and if so, what were the results? What fan did you use?
I am running the stock alternator. Think it would be wise to upgrade to a higher amp unit?

Tia.

 

[Polariscsl]

I'm running a triple core rad with a 14" kenlowe blower fan on the front. The viscous fan has been removed and I have a standard rebuilt alternator. Given my engine is 270 bhp this setup is fine and the fan rarely comes on. The thermostat keeps the temps solid halfway up the gauge.
One thing to note is that most of the fan companies do high power (hi amp) fans of the same size - you don't really need one of these higher cfm ones and the current draw is huge.

 

[kasbatts]

I have just gone electric, with a full re cored / re built twin core rad as per the standard, I'm not sure the brand of fan I'm using, will get some pics for you soon, bought the fan on line from summit racing.
No real need for a triple core down here, doesn't really get hotter than 30 deg C on a real hot day in the hight of summer
I wired it using a relay and fuse straight to the battery, the relay being switched by a new temp switch up in the thermostat housing, 90 -95 deg switching.

 

[Mike Goble]

I removed the mechanical fan on my Bavaria and installed the auxiliary cooling fan from an E36 in front of my radiator. I wired it to use both speeds using a Volvo two speed relay and BMW 90/99 temperature switches. It rarely comes on, even in the hottest NoCal weather. I use an AC-Delco 105 amp alternator to cover the extra current draw.

 

[sfdon]

Mike- would you share the part # of the new alternator?
Did you use a different bracket?
Same fan belt?

Thanks!

Don

 

[Nicad]

On the Summit racing site they suggest a 6 cylinder vehicle typically needs 2000CFM fan. In their short video they suggest that the fan should cover 70% of the rad surface area. They also say that a pusher style fan (in front of the rad) is only 80% as efficient as a puller style, but that thick radiators (multiple rows) should use a pusher style.



Click the Video Icon on the left side of the page

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/spu-ix-30102052

 

[jamesw]

Along this line - has anyone come up with a good fan shroud solution? Maximum cooling is required in Houston. It's tough because the fan is so close to the radiator. I can see how a dual electric puller fan with in-built shroud would work well.

Cheers
James

 

[Nicad]

Along this line - has anyone come up with a good fan shroud solution? Maximum cooling is required in Houston. It's tough because the fan is so close to the radiator. I can see how a dual electric puller fan with in-built shroud would work well.

Cheers
James

Something like this might work

http://www.flyinmiata.com/index.php?deptid=&parentid=&stocknumber=09-56210 1990-93

 

[Mike Goble]

Mike- would you share the part # of the new alternator?
Did you use a different bracket?
Same fan belt?

Thanks!

Don

It's an Autolite 1342-6-7 I got from P-n-P for $22. You find them on mid-90's GM V-6 cars, and they have the 120° mounting ear clocking. It's mounted on the BMW bracket.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/_/N-5yc1s?itemIdentifier=312827

I also took the plug from the car and wired it up using this diagram. The pulley is about 2.5" dia. and off an earlier alternator that uses a v-belt, and it may be the Bosch pulley. I used a 17411 belt.

wiring:
http://alternatorparts.com/Fig3.jpg

I don't recall exactly the adjustments I had to make, but they are very minor, like drilling out a mounting hole, etc.

It's been working like a trained pig for several years.

 

[Sven]

Jamesw - With the upgraded 9 blade mechanical fan there is a BMW plastic shroud available that fits against the rear of the radiator. It has tabs at the bottom that engage the slots at the radiator supports and two screws that support it along the top of the radiator. I could not find a part number, but others here have them installed. One caveat, they are a tight fit with the later 3.5 l Motronic conversions that use the newer front mounted distributor.

 

[sfdon]

Thank you Mr. Goble, much appreciated!

 

[Stevehose]

Shanon did this - his "Arctic Wind" project, search for it or PM him.

I test fitted my rad tonight. I had the stock radiator tank locally rebuilt with a Triple core high efficiency copper core. Hopefully there is enough additional surface area for the cooling system to shed heat. Pretty obvious the new hydraulic clutch fan I bought from Mesa will not have enough clearance with the rad. So either I can ditch the rad or ditch the belt driven fan. Leaning towards putting in an Electric fan in front of the rad (I do not have AC).
Has anyone gone full electric and if so, what were the results? What fan did you use?
I am running the stock alternator. Think it would be wise to upgrade to a higher amp unit?

Tia.

 

[kasbatts]

Here's my my fan mounted

Sorry, can't tell the brand name, but is 16 inch diameter "S" type blade

Relay and fuse

 

[Nicad]

Here's my my fan mounted
View attachment 8798
Sorry, can't tell the brand name, but is 16 inch diameter "S" type blade
View attachment 8799
Relay and fuse

Looks nice, how has it performed so far?

 

[kasbatts]

Hi Nicad, sorry I can't tell you yet as the car is still not on the road, I'm still about 2 months away from a drive.
In my mind it can't but not work, it's a bigger more efficient fan than standard, so it has to work.
I'm not 100% happy with my install of this to be honest, with a bit more fore thought I could have mounted the fan closer to the radiator and eliminated the mounting straps running behind the fan, however I'm in a hurry to get the car finished before summer and am still confident that it will all work ok anyway, suffice to say there's room for improvement if needed.

 

[decoupe]

I have a 16" http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hfm-zfb16s/overview/ installed set 97c on 92c off and stock radiator controlled by the ECU on the engine management. - no AC but with the summer we've had.... .

My 2002 has a fan from an '81 320i that is controlled by an adjustable sensor probe stuck into the fins - works fine so nothing fancy works just as well as an on board computer.

How was Mt. Hood? Hot I hear.

Doug

 

[Nicad]

That one pumps 3000 CFM and draws 11 amps. I think they must be playing with the stats as you'd imagine amps and CFM under load would have to be relatively constant. Anyway, glad to hear it works for you with a stock rad. How would you describe the noise level, how long does it usually come on for?



Mount Hood was very good, as was Oregon. On the first day the only other old guy broke his collar bone within the first half hour. I learnt a lot of things I can hopefully apply this winter if I can get fit. In early July it seemed to be cool enough in the morning. We were off the hill at 11:30 or so. 2 days of Dirt biking on a KTM SX250 and 150 was the big challenge and highlight.

 

[decoupe]

You're probably right on the cfm stats but I wanted to keep the start up and running amps low. It runs more or less continuously at idle, frequently at low speeds and not at all on the highway. It is quite quiet - much quieter than the viscous clutch assembly that it replaced. A shroud that focused more of the air flow would probably improve the cooling efficiency at idle.

One thing I noticed with some of the fan suppliers is different cfm ratings depending on whether the fan is installed as a pusher or puller. This fan was sold as a 3000cfm puller that was convertible to a pusher (with no cfm spec'd).

Good to hear you have entered into the hardcore training program - I'll just cheer you on with a beer.

Doug