I'm looking at electric fan conversion kits, and the black magin fan kit goes for about 350 cnd. I am just wondering if the benifits of electric fans are really all that great, and worth it, i can either get the fan or a rb header. What kind of gains am i looking at when getting an electric fan

Thanks in advance

 

I think a far better idea would be to look around in a junkyard for an e-fan, I know that Fiero fans work great on FC's, not sure what one to look for for the FB since I just got mine already with e-fan. It would be far cheaper and you could get your header too.

 

The benefit is less mechanical parasitic drag from the stock fan since it gets deep sixed....the extra load placed on the alternator to keep up with an electric fan is nowhere near as bad as the mech clutch fan....why I'd guesstimate a 5 - 10 HP gain at the flywheel just for that little conversion!! ...why do I do this?? ha ha! Anyhoos...I plan on going to the latest Derale fan for my newly acquired '83 GS later this year and I'm going to make an effort to do two dyno runs at Alamo "Motorpsorts" with the stock fan on, do the change in the parking lot, then do two more runs with the Derale. I want to conclusively end all the speculation... ...I'm confident the 5 - 10% gain will be seen. Yeppers...

 

The impact of going to an electric fan is minimal, a saving of about 2hp at best. OK if you are racing but very limited for street use. The level of change is such that for most dynos its a statistical error, it may even show a loss!

You can get a bigger airflow with a good electric so if overheating is a problem it may be worthwhile.

An electric fan is not so reliable and always breaks down at the wrong moment. Carrying a spare fan belt is easy! One way to improve reliability is two seperate 10" fans side by side as they fit well and should have seperate circuits. If you want to see how it looks REVHED posted a picture of his set up about three weeks ago.

I drive in very hot conditions over100 degrees for hours, my set up is to use the fan blades off a 13BT and am adding a dual alternator pulley. If you remove the airpump the remaining fan belt has insufficient contact so you can get slipage at high revs leading to overheating. For $20 made in Canada its a bargain!

A good header will give you ten times more power so I suggest thats the way to go.

 

Electric fans are now reliable, Paul, or the OEMs wouldn't be using them on cars with 100,000 mile warranties...when was the last time you saw a production mechanical fan come from the factory? The Derale I had in the '79 and then the '80 never gave out for the 3 or 4 years it saw continuous street duty. I'll admit I always had that fear in the back of my mind. If it hadn't been driven into the eccentric pully last May by the accident, I would've used it again. You get what you pay for in electric fans, though....

 

My control box went out the other day, but other than that, my fan works great. The only reason the box went out was cause it was "modified" and I blew a coolant line and water got where it wasnt supposed to get, so it was my fault . Anyway, I piked up another box and plan on making it all better this time .

~T.J.

 

I have a black magic fan on my car. I have no idea how much power it frees up, but you can definatly feel it, so its gotta be more than just 2. Its been too cold here to tell how well it works at cooling the thing, but in traffic the temp gauge won't move a hair, so its doing something. I can't wait to see how it performs this summer.

 

Funny you should mention feeling HP differences by the seat of the pants....the difference in acceleration and top end between my daily driver '84 now, which is a stockport rebuilt 12A with 14,000 miles or so, and the '80 RX-7 totaled in May, that had the RP streetport 12A, is absolutely stunning. The difference in HP between the two is about 35...

 

Yea, it is quite something, even a few extra ponies can make a noteable difference, I was pretty surprised.

 

so the black magic is the way to go?

 

Personally I think so, but others will argue against it. I'll admit the cost is a bit high at $200 but I think its worth it. Getting a fiero or taurus fan doens't sit right with me for some reason, I guess its the fact that feiros and taurus's are pieces of ****.

 

I dunno...I couldnt tell a difference with my electric fan. Of course, I never drove the car with a clutch fa . Also, I dont really think that my RX-7 is that fast compared to my stock 85. My 83 has all the mods in my sig, and weighs 2200 pounds. It just doesnt feel like it would out run my all stock 85 by that much? Maybe its just me?

~T.J.

 

I've tried both, and I admit, it did feel like there was a noticeable difference, but, alas, it could have just been psychological...

 

I agree that more cars are being brought out but my comments on reliability were based on remarks by two seperate mechanics. They both work in small outback towns with over 100 miles between service stations. where 100 degree days are normal. Both deal with electric fans and advised me against it if there was no overheating with a mechanical.

When an electric fan fails you are in big trouble when you see the cost of a 50 mile tow. Perhaps its a different story if you only drive in an urban situation.

I have a real problem with seat of the pants comment.
The difference in 1/4 time, an objective test, for a 10hp gain is a fraction of a second over 16 seconds. I seriously doubt anyone could pick the difference on a stop watch never mind in their pants!

 

Have you ever driven a car in which the fan clutch failed and locked up? You'll wonder who filled your truck with bricks... Yes, there is a noticable diff!

Another advantage of an electric fan is you don't have to run a dual alt pulley if you remove the smog pump.
I say do it.

 

You don't need to run a dual pulley from the alt if you just click on my sig

Sorry - couldn't resist that one. Anyway, the electric fan tutorial is about to have the work done in the next month sometime. The tutorial shouldn't be far behind it.

 

Oh jeez, my car's clutch fan was locked up when i first got it, it wasn't untill i heard my friends run when he first got it that i realized it wasn't supposed to be like that, haha my bad. I switched to a good one and **** what a difference.

 

Man, but what a roar it makes