[i82much]

you guys must be tougher than i am. i only drive my GTO when it is below 80 outside. dark car, dark vinyl seats, I am hopping in the Silverado if it is even the slightest bit warm outside. I used to be tough but it was too much work, give me a latte and air conditioning please!

[RocktimusPryme]

Originally Posted by i82much

you guys must be tougher than i am. i only drive my GTO when it is below 80 outside. dark car, dark vinyl seats, I am hopping in the Silverado if it is even the slightest bit warm outside. I used to be tough but it was too much work, give me a latte and air conditioning please!

Im even worse. I only have a small range I can drive mine in low and high. Because some idiot (me) forgot to put the heater blower in before they put the fender on. So if the weather will make the windshield fog, it can’t drive it.

[i82much]

Originally Posted by RocktimusPryme

Im even worse. I only have a small range I can drive mine in low and high. Because some idiot (me) forgot to put the heater blower in before they put the fender on. So if the weather will make the windshield fog, it can’t drive it.

i stepped up to a 180 thermostat so I could have warmer heat, and sometimes I even think about adding aftermarket air conditioning.

My 19 year old self would weep at the sight of my 45 year old self.

[alsalp]

I'm in the process of an engine swap and adapted a MK8 fan to a 68 shroud

[Scott65]

Thats nice work.

[70 bird]

OEM fan swaps work well. I have a ford Windstar dual fan in my Firebird and it will hold at 180 in dream cruise traffic. In fox body mustangs Ford Contour fans are the go-to.

[RocktimusPryme]

Originally Posted by alsalp

I'm in the process of an engine swap and adapted a MK8 fan to a 68 shroud

That looks fantastic. Did you use an original Lincoln fan or is that a repro?

I have a dual fan setup I bought for $1 off of a dude at a swap meet who didn’t want to take things home on Sunday. Codes out to a G6 if I remember correctly. I’ve been meaning to swap the fans into something usable for an old car. It’s too wide as is.

[alsalp]

Originally Posted by RocktimusPryme

That looks fantastic. Did you use an original Lincoln fan or is that a repro?

I have a dual fan setup I bought for $1 off of a dude at a swap meet who didn’t want to take things home on Sunday. Codes out to a G6 if I remember correctly. I’ve been meaning to swap the fans into something usable for an old car. It’s too wide as is.

freebie original with a bad motor. bought a motor on Rock auto. Painted the fan parts with Eastwood plastic renew paint and satin clear coated the original Pontiac shroud. The Lincoln fan I think is ABS plastic while GM used fiber reinforced polypropylene. I couldn't find an economical glue or epoxy that sticks to PP. I used screws and butyl rubber to stick to both plastics. I use aluminum sheet to bridge the gaps and painted inside surfaces and the butyl to keep it from attracting dirt during use.

[alsalp]

Originally Posted by alsalp

freebie original with a bad motor. bought a motor on Rock auto. Painted the fan parts with Eastwood plastic renew paint and satin clear coated the original Pontiac shroud. The Lincoln fan I think is ABS plastic while GM used fiber reinforced polypropylene. I couldn't find an economical glue or epoxy that sticks to PP. I used screws and butyl rubber to stick to both plastics. I use aluminum sheet to bridge the gaps and painted inside surfaces and the butyl to keep it from attracting dirt during use.

Also, I will be controlling it with a PWM controller (HF-125) from this guy:

https://www.autocoolguy.com/home

[Skip Fix]

A friend put one of those controllers on his Charger and is pleased with it over the Derale he had.

[alsalp]

Originally Posted by Skip Fix

A friend put one of those controllers on his Charger and is pleased with it over the Derale he had.

I've researched as best I could for more economical solutions but this seems the only unit that can handle the amperage and has the reputation as being pretty bullet proof

[RocktimusPryme]

Which brand motor did you use?

[alsalp]

VDO

[andt]

Like I was sayin, difficult and expensive just to have an electric fan. And not sure how the guy cut his fingers off, but im sure a mechanical fan will do the same, especially with metal fins.
But aside from that, here is a idea for you all. all you need is two 70amp relays ( you can get them from napa for an audi headlight relay I think they are 90amp).

and one two way 30 amp relay(one that sends power to one side not energized and when energized switches power to the other)

i will try to make a diagram(
@= fan
^= power flow
|= connection/wire
⚡= battery
➕= relay trigger
⚓= ground/negative
♻️= alternator post(On) (*NOT*BIG WIRE SiDE)
||= 8 awg wire

````` ``➕@Lo===⚓===@HI➕
````````||``````````````` `||
```off```^````````````````^````off
```➖\ _70A_/➕``````➕\ _70A_/➖
````/```||```\``````````/``||```\
```⚓``⚡```^````````^``⚡```⚓
`````````````\```````/
`````````````^``````^
```````````➖\ _2Way_/➕
`````````````/ ``\^/`` \
```````````⚓```♻️```(clutch@)or(Alt@)switch


Just make sure you use 10 gauge or even 8awg wire
from ⚡ to 70amp relay to @ also ⚓to @.

That will do everything that a special controller will do for a 2; speed fan and save you a few hundred bucks and you can always replace a relay from any autoparts store and you still can jump it to run one relay if you need to. That way your vehicle wont over heat untill you replace it and you dont have to wait to order a whole new controller if it goes out, especially if your out on vacation somewhere
Hope that helps somebody someday.

oh this will work on any car/truck/jeep as I had done this to my XJ and my F150. Definitely pays for itself in the mpg on the gas it saves. pretty quickly. especially only getting 15 to 18 or 19 mpg . That 3mpg every 5 gal=15mpg@1gal $5 saved
So every 20gal fill up is $20 you didn't have to spend on gas sooner. That after 10 or so fillups its only saving/ making you money(as its money you get to keep when you would have had to spend it regardless) plus gain a few ponies as well

[android 211]

I found it interesting that the guy with the 71 'vert/455 went from factory setup (7 blade factory fan and Hayden clutch) to a Flex A Lite fan and it got cooler. I have a GTO with stock setup, air, 455 and it stays cool under all conditions here in Florida. 4 core brass radiator, very old but I had it cleaned. I have a '87 Cutlass with a 500 Cadillac swap and an aluminum radiator. I wanted to use the Lincoln fan but it doesn't fit; it hits the water pump. I used a homemade sheetmetal shroud and a 6 blade SS Flex A Lite fan and it was OK on the highway but not in traffic. It was fixed, no clutch. I switched to a 7 blade GM fan with a new Hayden clutch and according to the temp gauge it ran cooler.

[AG]

I have a '72 vert with a 8.9 CR 455 that is an original 350 car with a stock 3 row radiator. I originally used a stock 7 blade fan with a Hayden severe duty clutch and it would get hot in traffic and was ok on the highway. I switched to a 7 blade 19" Flex a lite flex fan and the car will not get hot regardless of the outside temp or traffic. On a 95 F day it might get to 175-180 F max. I had a 160 F T-stat in it and I switched to a 180 F because it wasn't getting warm enough. Not suggesting people should use this, set-up just offering my personal experience.

[Squidward]

112 here today. My Firebird with AC on is fine while cruising, but any amount of idle time causes serious creep. I am looking at electric now, so this thread was helpful.

[AG]

I use a Mark VIII fan in my race car with a 75 amp relay and always run it on high speed, works well.

[RocktimusPryme]

I love a good zombie thread.

Originally Posted by AG

I use a Mark VIII fan in my race car with a 75 amp relay and always run it on high speed, works well.

Do you have a legit Ford Mark VIII fan or an aftermarket replacement?

IIRC correctly the cool part about the testing I posted was that the Dorman unit actually seemed to run on a reasonable level against the FOMOCO unit. I cant imagine Mark VIIIs had a big production run anyway, so not only are the fans left out there not all that plentiful, but they now have 20+ years of abuse on them. A reasonable off the shelf replacement is welcome.

Originally Posted by android 211

I found it interesting that the guy with the 71 'vert/455 went from factory setup (7 blade factory fan and Hayden clutch) to a Flex A Lite fan and it got cooler.

Ill never not believe that there isn't some level of black magic to keeping old cars cool. There are just so many variables that can go unseen, and so many of these old cars have been cobbled together over decades. Joe Average Car Guy complains that he cant get his car to run cool and follows all the cooling system advice but nothing works. Little does he know his car is running too lean and with too little timing. Or a Pontiac guy who has a WP backing plate way out of wack. Google is probably never going to tell him that he needs to clearance that plate.

My 62 Cat has a cheap three row radiator in it. Strike 1, we all know the big two rows should be better. It has no shroud, just an open clutch fan. Strike 2 we all know that's wrong. And strike 3, it has a bunch of air gaps between the radiator and core support. But that darn thing runs a few degrees under its 160* thermostat (just what I had laying around).

Meanwhile the MUCH better supported engine in my firebird struggles a little if you get caught sitting at idle for too long.

Is it because the turd of an olds 455 in the 62 just doesn't produce enough power to make any heat? Do Oldsmobile big blocks have superior cooling tendencies? Ive always wondered that but never seen a study. When you have differences in design of cooling ports and passages in different engines you HAVE to have differences in cooling capability. So it stands to reason some engines would just stay cooler by design than others. I don't know which ones.

And as mentioned in another thread in the cooling section, most of these old cars just flat out didn't come with big enough radiators. When compared to cars from the 80s and up, radiators started to get more fontal surface area. The radiator for a 3.8 liter 90s grand prix has more frontal surface area than the "big block" sized first gen F body radiator from Cold Case.

[Squidward]

Agree totally. I've wondered "WHY THIS? but "NOT THAT?"

Basic principles of heat transfer are immutable.

More flow on any side of the equation is always better. Period.
More surface area for heat transfer is always better.
You can overcome a deficiency in one attribute by engineering in an excess of another.

If you have a small surface area radiator, you better have a lot of airflow thru that radiator to bring down the radiator outlet temp as much as possible. That's what I am dealing with now.

It's funny how first gens have all sorts of baffles to direct air, yet 2nd gens and A bodies had little of that other than a fan shroud. It tells us that the design engineers knew there was a serious constraint related to that platform. 1st Gen radiators are so comparatively tiny. Tiny radiator means that airflow capable of cooling a 2nd Gen is not enough to crutch a 1st gen.