how many guys are running electric fans on their slants? was there a noticeable difference in seat of the pants power after the install?

what about light weight flex fans? ive heard that they can be loud and get annoying. anyone have experience with this?

I have a good quality (USA steel, five blade I think) flex fan on my Duster - no complaints, no noise. Car Craft did a dyno comparo of flex fans/viscous drives/no fan some years ago - that'd be a good article to check out if you can find it.

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

I'm running an electric fan. There was a seat of the pants difference. Nothing huge, but noticeable. I mounted it between the radiator and grill due to space considerations, but it turned out convinient because its out of the way when working on a running engine.

I use a flex-a-lite 19" steel flex fan in the summer and a Black Magic electric fan in the winter. I keep very accurate gas mileage records. Most of my driving is at 65 mph. In my case, I pay a 2 mpg penalty with the steel fan. It gives tremendous cooling with A/C use in hot weather, but it does rob power and mileage. When I take this fan off, there is a noticeable increase in power - especially at part throttle. I saw a dyno chart of a 5.0 Mustang with & without this same fan and the difference was about 15 rear wheel HP @ 4-5000 RPM. That equates to about 20 or so crankshaft HP just to turn the fan. One of the lighter duty flex fans would not be as bad.

Mitch

Our Valiant has run winter and summer with no fan for 3 or 4 years. Keep in mind 95% of our driving is on the highway. It never overheats. There is a noticeable difference in power and noise.
I used to have an electric fan installed between the rad and the grille. It spun itself to death freewheeling in the winter wind. It never turned on. I removed it when the squealing got too loud.

running electric fan. noticeable diffrence in cooling and power. even when it's on and generating a load to the engine thru the alternator. I have twin electro fans between rad and grille, top rad hose installed sender, no thermostat, direct connection (it stays on for about 5 to 6 min when I turn it off after dense city traffic.
would reccomend to anbody to use electric fans!

I used renault model 18 twin fans. The motor is extra flat, japanese and quiet, and it consumes as low as 2 amp each.

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Juan Ignacio Caino

Please use e-mail button istead of PM'ing. I do log in sometimes but I'll be answering quicker thru e-mail.

I love my electric fan, it's connected through a relay so after I shut if off it only charges for 1-2 seconds. During the winter I almost never have it on, during the summer I only have it on for short times. Even when running it feels quicker than the stock setup. Some say only use them with thermostats, I say I've ran mine for one and a half years now with no reliability issues and no overheating. I also run mine with an idiot light that turns on whenever the fan is on, saves a lot of worry and has been usefull for when I blow a fuse playing with my wiring.

-Shivadart

I have a pair of 10" electrics between the motor and the radiator. I set them to come on at 195 which is the thermostat I am running. Winter and summer I have had no problems. I definately feel more power at the top end. That and removing the mufflers (the turbo keeps it reasonably quiet), gave me another easy 500 RPM at the top.

I decided against removing my mechanical fan and installing an electric fan. An electric fan may short out or just simply fail while you are driving somewhere. Your mechanical fan will always turn, and if you do remove it, I cant see myself noticing a 3hp increase due to less drag on the motor. I did however install a hayden 10" electric fan in front of the radiator for those summer days where you are haulin' on the freeway and the temps rise.

3hp is noticable when you bearly have 100 to start with. Most of your power gains from an electrical fan will come on the higher rpms, where the mechanical fan will take more power to run.

They are relatively reliable as well. I know this isn't saying much, but I've never seen one fail. Most if not all modern cars use them today don't they?

If your haulin on the freeway with a mechanical fan then you shouldn't need anything else. If you do, something else is wrong. With my mechanical stock 4 blade fan and a AC radiator (no ac in my car) with 80-90deg ambient, coolant temp was 150degF after a freeway run. Thermostat was 180 or 195, can't remeber. Heck even without any fan and sustained freeway speeds you should still be under 200 easily.

Its the low speed in town stop and go driving that you need extra forced air movment because air isn't pushing past your radiator by your cars momentum.

Pyper, just for fun remove your mechanical fan and go for a run to feel the difference for yourself. Test out your upper end acceleration and see. Make sure your electric fan is on. Its a quick 4 bolts. Keep an eye out on the temp gauge, as a 10" electric fan isn't enough to cool a slant but a short romp will be fine.

I have a 180 thermo in mine, On the street im about 170 driving around, on a hot day . and im talking 100 degree weather, my dart hits 200/205 degrees, thats a noticeable increase for driving on a freeway in 100 degree weather, and thats normal, plus sitting in a parking lot aka the 405Fwy, an electric fan will help you out when there no airflow. My scoops are functional on my hood and also help in the temperature drop.

Pete

I'm using one. Works great, though I can't say I felt a difference.

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It's a Slant thing. Even I don't understand.

1974 Duster, EFI /6 soon to be turbo...

Get that Monkay! Get that nasty thing!!