Thread: Thermatic electric fan conversion

Well, I live in a very hot place and ditched the viscous for EL thermos. The viscous used a bit of HP, (3.5 V8 Rangie), and also didn't cool at idle as well. I know 350RRC on here runs a big Chevy engine with one fan running constantly and he's happy.

The best thing for the OP would be to do as much reading as possible, and also to try out the thermos as it's an easily reversible modification.

Found this thread searching after the Fan in the RRC let go in spectacular fashion - taking out the header tank bleed line, alternator belt and obliterating the fan shroud. There is also a dent on the bonnet where the fan separated and make life 'interesting' this morning, about 10km from home.

Luckily for me I carry spare stuff, but the damage to the radiator cores on the back side was not entirely apparent until I got home.

took a chance and reverse flushed the cooling system, and fixed hoses. Fanbelts will have to wait until tomorrow.

Pressure is holding so far and no 'nasty steaming surprise' but I didn't really want to push things so soon after the big bang.

So the engine is still ok as far as I can tell. I will have a much clearer picture in the morning when I go check.

Right now I'm looking for a fan and shroud to get me by, but it's not looking good until after new years.

I could get some EL fans from a wrecker for next to nix, but meh...

Of course, I may have to pull the radiator and re-core it and that would literally put everything on hold until the 606 is fully painted and the turbo overhaul is completed.

And I have other mechanical fan solutions available to me for the Mercedes engine - which are electromagnetic fan clutch, viscous clutch / direct drive on the water pump pulley, and these are more effective, lower mass and less power consumption than electric thermos. Having said that, the auxillary fans (HVAC) could easily be replaced with something more efficient and higher rated, I may consider this after I get the show back on the road.

The one thing I will say about the RRC VC fan, is that it is a lot of centrifugal mass at the end of a rather long projection from the front of the block. So it's unsurprising that something like this separation can occur, when the load is effectively unsupported and the pivot point is quite far.

I might have to investigate other interim options given the 606 is not far from being installed.

I'd still never go back to the stone age fan.

Only downside so far is that the 55 amp Bosch alternator needed new bearings recently, after being untouched for at least 300,000 kms apart from brushes.

DL