Hey all,

I have an electric fan rated at 2500 CFM mounted on the front of the A/C condenser in push config. I am afraid sitting in traffic the fan wont push enough to cool the car down on the 90+ days here in TN. The issue I have is the fan is to thick to fit between the radiator and the front pulley in order to keep A/C on the car.

Can I move the A/C condenser forward to fit the fan in front of the radiator instead or am I going to run into clearance issues there as well?

Sadly I can't look at the car and figure this out since I can only work on the car on Fridays at my buddy's house.

If anyone has done this before do you have photos.

Thanks

 

If you don't have the stock fan/fan clutch setup you should have plenty of room unless you have a non-stock setup.

 

I have an aftermarket radiator. is a 3 pass aluminum radiator. probably double the thickness of the stock one.

 

you cant offset the fan up,down or to one side to clear the pulley?

 

You could also mount the electric fan in front of the Radiator and pushing air through it, but it would need to be between the A/C condenser an the radiator for that to work. Otherwise, your 'pushed' air will get through the condenser and then bypass the radiator entirely. The best way to do this is to use plastic sheet as a 'shroud' around the fan to space the condenser in the middle. This then sucks intake air through the condenser, and blows it through the radiator.

The side-benefit is that your A/C will probably work better, as the condenser would have much more airflow than the stock design.

I put a KOYORAD 2-row in my 84SE a few months back, and as you mention, the aluminum radiators are much thicker than stock. My engine-driven fan (and clutch) is a lot closer to the radiator fins with the aftermarket radiator, but no problems as there's still plenty of clearance using the stock fan assembly.

 

OP - can you take some pics of the clearance you have? I'm having a hard time thinking there isn't enough room on the engine side.

 

i ran into this with my 20B FC, and i ran two fans, offset.

 

Will get photos next time I am with the car. My main question was is there a way to move the A/C condenser forward?

That was my plan all along. Just not sure how much you can move it since it is hard lines and all.

 

I think you might be able to move it forward. Should be pretty easy.

 

I ran a black magic fan from Summit racing for awhile on an 85 GSL, mounted in puller configuration behind the radiator. Pulled air through condenser and radiator. I removed the spacer for the mechanical fan and had enough clearance. Worked fine in lower Alabama summers (LA). However I went back to the mechanical fan after the electric fan motor quit. Sounds like you have already tried to make it work inside the engine compartment and could not make it work.

 

Get a dual fan set from a junkyard to it clears the middle out and leaves room for the WP pulley. I did
this with a 1G MR2 fan set.

 

I measured the other day. I have 3" to radiator fins and 2 3/4" at the narrowest sport where the seam weld is on the radiator. I am going to try to move the A/C forward and if I can't then I will use a extra fan I have laying around that will fit between the engine and radiator. Sadly it only pulls ~1300 CFM but with the other fan pushing it shouldn't matter.

 

Having both a pusher and puller is a bad idea. Find a decent slim fan from Spal automotive. They're bound to have some that fit fine with enough air movement.

I recommend a Davies Craig fan controller also. Cheap and awesome units!

 

This is my 12A with an aftermarket rad that's significantly thicker than OEM. As you can see, there's plenty of clearance. The fan is a SPAL 30101516 -- it's 16 inches in diameter and less than 2.5" thick. It seems to flow plenty of air. SPAL is a good aftermarket choice because they're also an OEM supplier (better quality).


Instead of a fan controller, I use a switch that I screwed into the rear of the thermostat housing (Jet 60601). It closes at 195deg and opens at 185 deg. With our OEM 180 deg thermostat, this is a good setup. The fan only comes on if I'm stationary for a long time, and the window between closed and open temps keeps it from oscillating between fan on and fan off. You'll need a good relay too, of course.

 

well pulled the push fan off and got a Flex-a-lite 118 fan. It is skinny enough to mount on the motor side of the radiator. Took some fab work on the fan itself to fit but the fan actually kicks on and off now and the bottom of the radiator is so cool you can grab it.

 

new solution

 

Congrats.

You may want to replace that plastic wing nut plug in the top of your rad. Mine came with something similar, and the o-ring failed after one season. The OEM level sensor should fit in that spot, and it will seal much better.