I'm finally trying to wrap up my cruiser and I need to know what type of electric fan to get. I have a SBC350 and a Griffin Alum radiator with a high flow waterpump designed for dirt track and other high cooling required conditions. These are all in my FJ55 by the way. So based on all of your experience what type of electric fan should I get push... or pull..., I'm not really concerned about what brand is best but what would be the pro's/con's of each. I already have the tranny cooler with a 12" cooling fan attached if that makes any difference at all. Thanks,

Josh

I have been told in the past that the pull fan with a shroud works better. My buddy has a push fan on the front of his jeep and it works fine for cooling but you can tell standing next to it, that it is not as efficent as my brothers jeep with the same fan/radiator in a pull set up.

If you have the room run the electric pull fan. That's what I am getting ready to do.

josh,
an electric fan is only good up to about 95degrees ambient temp when stopped (also depends on humidity). mechanical w/ a shroud is much better (more $$ also). a push/pull combo is a little better that a puller fan but a pusher fan by itself in not good at all. if you want the best electric puller fan go w/ black magic by flex-a-lite. I've got one that I used for about 3 months on my fj60 if your interested.

HTH

Originally posted by sixty
josh,
an electric fan is only good up to about 95degrees ambient temp when stopped (also depends on humidity). mechanical w/ a shroud is much better (more $$ also). a push/pull combo is a little better that a puller fan but a pusher fan by itself in not good at all. if you want the best electric puller fan go w/ black magic by flex-a-lite. I've got one that I used for about 3 months on my fj60 if your interested.

HTH

If Josh isn't interested in it, I may be. If the price is right. :D

The puller style is more efficient. I had a nice flex-a-lite (16 in?)fan in pusher mode on my FJ55(with 350 v-8) and it could not handle the cooling duties on warmer days(85-90+). I doubt had there been room to run it as a puller that it would have worked better enough to make the cut. It got axed, and I am in the process of moving the whole drivetrain back to where it should have been so I'll have room for a chevrolet clutched mechanical fan from a caprice with a towing option(19") That thing could suck small animals through the radiator.

If you can, go mechanical, I think they will handle all the heat from the four wheeling you'll be doing much better...Just my experience...

Actually I'll take bids... maybe we'll start the bidding @ $189.00 & see how high above retail we can go :eek: ...... oh wait, this isn't EBAY ;)

I was thinking about $100 but I'm open to offer (or bids LOL)
I guess since I offered it to josh first he kinda has first dibs on it but if he doesn't respond send me an email & we can figure something out.

nothing's better than a black magic...

Sixty,

I am looking at getting a new radiator and fan in my 40 sometime in the next 6 months. I have talked with Griffin and Ron Davis about Aluminum radiator's the consenus seems to be that a double pass 1" tube radiator which is 24" X 19" should do the trick. I was looking at the 26" X 19" put I am leary of hanging the Radiator out all the way to the outer edge of the frame.

The rub is air flow when the vehicle is at rest. The rep from ROn Davis suggested a minimum of 3100 CFM for a Small block Chevy and A/C in the heat of glendale AZ. Since I don't and won't have A/C in the 40 I thought perhaps the 2800 FM of the Black Magic could get me buy. For the 26" X 19" Radiator they sell a really cool dual 12" electric fan shrouded setup which pullss 3500 CFM...bummer

From your experience is the black magic just going to leave me marginal when it gets ~ 100 and the truck is below 35 MPH

Thanks

Krcruiser,
w/ my experience (not that much) a black magic fan on a standard fj40 w/o a/c the black magic *should* work. I think it would work about as good as a mechanical fan w/o a shroud (maybe a little better). It's pretty hard to say though b/c w/ the increased humidity/ air pressure down in LA you should be better off than those of us in the high desert. I would recomend mechanical fan w/ a shroud or a black magic puller & a pretty strong pusher activated by a switch for backup (or thermostat $$).
as for aluminum radiator I'd go w/ a Howe from www.perfomancebodies.com (http://www.perfomancebodies.com) or www.pitstopusa.com (http://www.pitstopusa.com) . for the price ($189.99) & quality (fully welded, not epoxy) you can't beat them. when mounting it make sure you support it from the tanks. I have a 19"x26" that Me & my brother have been running for about 2 years (its been in my fj60 & his fj40 in that time) we mounted it using the the upper & lower flange (bolted thru) & had no problems. I don't know if the newer generation radiators have that b/c I just got a 19X31 & those mounts were not included so I had to use a lower support mount. these radiators really cool!!

HTH

I agree with cruiserbrett I plan on using the same 19" fan clutch he is talking about. Not saying that one of the super high output electric fans wont do the job, but if it won't cut it you'll spend more in the long run. If you can fit the cluthched fan I would go that route. So Cal can be brutal in the summer.

I'm next in line for sixty's BM if neither of them end up getting it. doubt it will, but you never know:D Matt

I agree with sixty - I run a mechanical fan (its a flex a lite, but the RV/flyswater type - a lot lighter than the Caddy or 19" Caprice fan, so saves some waterpump wear - not a big deal given that I don't put that many miles on it) great shroud and a electric pusher fan w/ a temp switch - the cool thing is that I can manually overide the temp switch and be proactive about turning it on.

I just don't trust a purely electrical fan - On an offroad vehicle a bit of redundancy is nice. I have killed on pusher fan already - deep water crossings in muddy water (Fordyce, Rubicon and most of WA and lower BC) - When it died I couldn't believe how much crud was in the motor - they are not sealed! If I had a primary electric fan, I would pull the motor once a year and do my best to clean it and then waterproof it.

If you are in the dez and never dip the fans under water, maybe it will never happen.



Just my $0.02

Jim

I agree with sixty - I run a mechanical fan (its a flex a lite, but the RV/flyswater type - a lot lighter than the Caddy or 19" Caprice fan, so saves some waterpump wear - not a big deal given that I don't put that many miles on it) great shroud and a electric pusher fan w/ a temp switch - the cool thing is that I can manually overide the temp switch and be proactive about turning it on.

I just don't trust a purely electrical fan - On an offroad vehicle a bit of redundancy is nice. I have killed on pusher fan already - deep water crossings in muddy water (Fordyce, Rubicon and most of WA and lower BC) - When it died I couldn't believe how much crud was in the motor - they are not sealed! If I had a primary electric fan, I would pull the motor once a year and do my best to clean it and then waterproof it.

If you are in the dez and never dip the fans under water, maybe it will never happen.


one thing I do like about an electric fan is that if you do get hot it still runs w/ the motor turned off & will cool the motor while you are parked. this is nice most of the time but you get lots of funny looks when you park your cruiser, turn it off & a big loud fan is still running as your leaving your truck. a secondary pusher fan will accomplish this also

HTH

one thing I do like about an electric fan is that if you do get hot it still runs w/ the motor turned off & will cool the motor while you are parked. this is nice most of the time but you get lots of funny looks when you park your cruiser, turn it off & a big loud fan is still running as your leaving your truck. a secondary pusher fan will accomplish this also


It would be really trick to have a thermostat operated electric Meziere(sp?) water pump and electric fan, then you would really cool off the motor when you shut it off.

Sorry, just getting off track a bit...

I still vote mechanical with a clutched fan, even in spite of the extra wear and tear from the heavier fan.

I have a 16" puller and it cools good,except high speed in hot weather, but could crawl all day in the same hot weather.

Problem w\Electric fans is they block flow at high speed.
There are some cool ones out there that have doors that open at speed and lets some air bypass the fan,I forget who makes those.

My highway driving is over so i'm not going to change anything:D

Thanks for all of the input. I do still have my new mechanical flex a lite so I guess I'll run that. Sixty, thanks for the offer... but I'll let others on this board have a go at it. Thanks again for all the info.

Josh

i'm running a permacool puller fan now and have no problems. i went permacool instead of black magic because of the higher cfm's and my "little bro" had a black magic and it couldn't keep his cruiser cool enough...my cruiser also has a slightly larger radiator though). i planned on mechanical, but because of how low we set the engine, i wouldn't even come close to proper setup compared to the radiator.

I lived in Sacaramento Ca,
Were the temp. sometimes reached 114. I'am running a TPI350 375-400HP with a TH400. It would over heat just driving 15-20 miles. I fixed the problem by installing a hypertech 165dg switch & thermostat,went to the juckyard got a camaro elect fan pull and made a shroud
for it. Then i installed two 12in pusher's between stock 4row,trans cooler and grill
has'nt reached over 180dg since.

Now i live in Santa Rosa and it sucks.




TPI350 TH400 D60 D44 ARB's SOA 100" whl bs blah blah blah.

I run thegrifen andthe black majic
and red line water wetter.

I belivethat it is the best set up
available .......

of course opinions will vary but
you wont change mine.

ps I run a chevy 400 and it runs hotter than
the 350