'94 electric fan conversion

Okay, I have read Seabronc's conversion writeup and I could definitely do that, but his '83 has a belt driven fan and my '94 has a clutch fan. Should I spend the money and put in the electric fan or replace the fan clutch (since it is not working). Will I see any kind of power increase with the electric or is simply replacing the fan clutch the better way to go?

Thanks for the help.

yo BRAD,

The OEM cooling usualy is cheapest way to go if not most reliable.

I have some 92-96 electric fan conversion LINKS in my site @ http://www.broncolinks.com/index.php?index=186

The electric fan conversion rocks if you do any slow crawling off-road. That is when your cooling system is most inefficient. With an electric fan you get full draw across the radiator any time that the fan is on. If you do go with an electric fan get some thing that has a rating of 4000 - 5000 CFM. If you get anything under that, you will more than likely have cooling problems. With my cooling system I also had an oversize radiator which helps a lot when you get real high air temperatures. My radiator was for a vehicle with A/C but my truck did not have A/C installed.

I agree with miesk5 that OEM is just fine in most cases. Ford didn't under design the system and if everything is functioning properly it is perfectly sufficient for normal use. I had more than one motivation for putting in an electric fan. I was working on things that could be done to boost gas mileage by taking loads off the engine which equate to wasted horse power. Also, it got that dangerous fan out of the way, which had nipped me more than one time while working on a running engine, and cleaned up the engine compartment.

If you don't already have a 3G 130+ amp alternator in your truck, you will need to do that conversion also to handle the additional electrical load when the fan is running.

Good luck,

>-

I'm doing SB's conversion for the milage and also for AC cooling. My AC system is in top shape, but when I get stuck in traffic and the sun is blazing here in Florida, it can't cool to my liking. I sometimes have to put it in park and rev the engine, and the older people here think I'm an idiot.....the young ones think I want to race!!!

I'm doing the elect fan conversion and keeping us all happy.

Thanks for the info. I am going to Pick n' Pull today to find the elecctric fan. We have many rocky trails and hot days here in California so I think the electric would suit me perfectly.

brad6920 said:

Thanks for the info. I am going to Pick n' Pull today to find the elecctric fan. We have many rocky trails and hot days here in California so I think the electric would suit me perfectly.

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You will probably find the 4200 CFM fan in any Ford with a 4.6L engine

>-

I'm not sure if this should go in its own posting but j was told when doing the conversion its easier to just put a switch in the dash for the fan so you can manually turn it on since normal driving keeps the engine cool enough. Not sure if that's true or what. I'm also considering doing the swap I'm just not sure if I can lol.

90bronco86 said:

I'm not sure if this should go in its own posting but j was told when doing the conversion its easier to just put a switch in the dash for the fan so you can manually turn it on since normal driving keeps the engine cool enough. Not sure if that's true or what. I'm also considering doing the swap I'm just not sure if I can lol.

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I would not suggest this course of action. I would put a switch in that allows it to be shut off when crossing deep water so you won't brake the blades. It is always better to let it be thermally controlled. You may not be paying attention and have it overheat. You can put in an ON-OFF-ON switch that overrides the controller to allow you to force it ON in case the controller fails and force it OFF for water crossings. That is easily done with a controller. Always have the fan relay controlled due to the high current draw of a fan.

Normal driving doesn't necessarily keep the engine cool enough. In the Winter that is probably true unless the vehicle sets at idle for over about 5 minutes. In the Summer when the temps are in the upper 90's it will generally be needed below about 35 MPH. The variations in outside temperature and driving conditions would make manual control a royal pain in the BUT, and you would have to be constantly watching the temperature gauge.

The minimum I would advise is a temperature controlled switch mounted in the intake manifold water jacket. The electronic controls are adjustable and allow you to determine what temperature you want the engine to run at.

If you are doing the conversion and want one of the diodes shown in the diagram, I have a couple in the garage, or you can get one at Radio Shack. The diode prevents the inductive voltage spikes generated when the fan turns off from hitting your electrical system.

>-

I went to Pick-n-Pull yesterday before work and found one from a '96 T-Bird. Unfortunitely, they charged me $38 for the fan, which was down from $55 after I questioned the price. But at least I have it to begin my install today. Thanks to everyone for their input on this issue. I would be definitely lost without this great forum.

Brad

Some pics when the installation is done would be nice. :-"

The conversion is now complete, though I decided to go without the relay, at least for now, because my father-in-law checked the amp draw and it only drew 12 amps continuous with a start up spike of 29 amps. I used 10 guage wire for all of the connections, with a 30 amp in-line fuse. Seems to be running great. Pictures of the installation will come tommorrow or Thursday.

Brad

Here are some pictures of the fan installation. The electric fan sits on the original clips that held the old fan shroud and is now held in place with a bolt through each clip. On the top, I made the angle brackets which are rivited to the electric fan and then bolted to the radiator. There is a steel bar on the underside of the shroud that connects the angle brackets together and keeps the whole thing rigid. I could not get the thermostat that is inside the upper hose to stop leaking no matter how tight the clamp was, so we took off the hose and put some silicone good to 600 degrees on the wire and put the hose back on. That did the trick.

It would be great if you would resize the pictures to around 900 x 675 so they fit the screen. These are very difficult to look at and raise havoc with computers that have low speed connections. From what I can see from the thumb nail pictures it looks pretty good. What size engine was in the donor car? If your current ratings are that low it must be a lower CFM rated fan than the one in the Lincoln Mark VIII 4.6L. As long as it works without the engine over heating it is great. You will most likely be fine even if the CFM is a little on the low side for normal running. You will find out when off road and crawling in the hot sun if it is a little on the low side.

Please re-size the pictures and edit the post so we can see them better.

Good luck,

>-

PS Still add the diode across the fan. Inductive motors throw a lot of heavy spikes on the electrical system when you cut the power to them.

Oops, I don't know how to resize these pictures. Please help! Anyway, the fan is from a '96 T-Bird with a 4.6L

brad6920 said:

Oops, I don't know how to resize these pictures. Please help! Anyway, the fan is from a '96 T-Bird with a 4.6L

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I am going by the writeup in Ford Muscle magazine that gives the specs on the fan. Maybe they have made some changes in the fan over the years. I'll give you a hand with those pictures if you can't figure out how to do it.

http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2003/02/electricfan/index.php

Good luck,

Okay, The first picture is "before installation" and the rest are after....obviously.

brad6920 said:

Can't seem to resize the pictures yet, but still trying.

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If you are trying to do that when uploading them, it won't work. They have to be resized by photo processing software on your computer.

Finally got the pictures the correct size.