Electric Fan Placement
 

So i'm about to do the 3.8 Taurus fan swap and was wondering if anyone has mounted the fan on the outside where the A/C went? I've looked at tons of pictures on members cars and haven't seen any with this done. Would I run into any problems? Seems like I would be better since I would be pulling cold air from the outside. Thanks for the advice!

Less efficient in the front. Mount it behind and it still pulls in cool air. Think about it.

Plus if you mount it behind, you can turn it off at highway speeds and air would flow through the radiator. If you end up putting the fan on the front you will have very little area for the air to go around and into the radiator.

The main reasoning behind a pusher fan is to make the fan motor dust free to increase its life. Do you know how many condenser fans I have replaced during my HVACR days? I made bucko bucks with 200% mark-up on parts plus labor. But for cars, that logic went out the door since manufacturers will install them either way. Cars come and go.

Yeah that makes sense, Thanks for the advice.

So is this a fan off a first gen or second gen Taurus? My brother just grabbed one out of a junkyard for his '67 mustang, I never even thought abut one for the 7! Its like the universal e-fan.

it is a great setup.

Here is mine:
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/IMG_4714.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/IMG_4715.jpg

Hmmm, what about it fitting a secod gen radiator?

I just installed one as a pusher on my race car. I will use it on grid and when I occasionally drive it on the street. I will send (or post if I can) pictures. The installation was very clean and works fine on the freeway with the fan off. I'll give details later (need to get some paying work done first).

Carl

OK, I will try to attach some pictures.

From the functional point of view, I have had the fan installed as a pusher for a few weeks. It is winter in San Diego, so I haven't driven it in hot temperatures. No problems with overheating, but your mileage may vary. I run it on the freeway without the fan on. The only problem I have is that my battery got drained when putting it on and off the dyno. It is a "lawn and garden" battery. Very light for racing and otherwise works fine, but may not have the stop-start capability of a regular battery. The fan also pulls a lot of amps when starting up. I blew a 30A fuse once when starting the fan. Haven't done it since, but.... I wired it to start manually (since my car is a race car). I use the dash switch for the rear defroster (race cars don't typically use rear defrosters). The convenient part of using the defroster switch is that there is also an indication on the instrument panel that it is on (good reminder when on the oval at PIR or California Speedway).

Anyway, as you can see in the pictures, I cut away alot of the shroud to improve airflow when the fan is off. Mounting it on the front of the radiator leaves a very clean engine compartment. I'm not sure my fan would have fit between the radiator and the nose of the water pump anyway. The motor on mine might be a little deeper than the one in the pictures of an earlier post. The fan sits on the sway bar. I cut out a little notch to drop it down abit. It is tie-wrapped to the sway bar. Yeah the sway bar rotates a bit, but I don't see a problem. At the top I added an aluminum angle to keep the edge of the shroud away from the radiator to avoid chafing the radiator tubes. Tie-wrapped the top to the aluminum angle.

So far it looks like a good installation. I'll have a better idea when things warm up in the spring.

Carl

So then Carl how long have you had the fan mounted in the front? Have you noticed any problems with debris?

It has only been installed for a few weeks. Someone commented above that fans are installed as pushers to keep them clean. I don't see how that helps. The engine compartment itself is not generating any dirt. The only dirt there comes through the radiator from the outside unless you are doing slow speed off-road stuff (not likely in an RX7).

I have a 1/4"x1/4" inch screen protecting the radiator (and now fan) from rocks and big debris. When racing alot of stuff get thrown up from the track (or off track) so in my opinion the screen is a necessity anyway.

So to finally answer your question. I have had it for a few weeks and have not had any problems with junk in the fan.

I looked at the pictures that someone submitted of their puller installation. Mine probably would have fit about the same. Only a little (but enough) clearance between the motor and the nose of the water pump.

If you have problems with cooling now, the pusher installation (in front of the radiator) might not be so good. The fan is probably not as efficient (although it still moves a boatload of air). If the rest of your cooling system is in good condition (radiator, thermostat) the pusher should be fine and makes the engine compartment much nicer to look at.

Another thought on wiring is that if yours is a street driven car, you should use a temperature switch to control it. Otherwise you might forget to turn it on. I didn't use one since my car is a race car so rarely needs the fan. To be honest, if my car were a street car I would have left the stock fan as I never had any problems with cooling (including driving through the desert between San Diego and Phoenix. That's no fun in a racecar with no airconditioning and stiff suspension). It doesn't look as nice as no fan, but it always works with only minor loss of power.

I hope this helps.

Yeah I have no problems with her overheating now but I removed the A/C, air pump, rats nest, and figured no fan would top off the engine bay. Thanks for the advice

I'm not sure this helps, but with my fan mounted as a pusher, the engine started getting warm at my last race. The air temp was around 95°F. And the engine was essentially running at WOT for 30-40 minutes. Fan was off. Turning it on didn't bring the temps down fast, if at all.

I found a thinner taurus fan, so will try mounting it behind the radiator as a puller. Don't think the puller part makes a difference, but I think not having any frontal area of the radiator blocked will help when the fan is off. Next race is in June, so will see the new results then.

My results may not apply to a street driven vehicle with the fan on all the time, but....

Carl

Forgot to mention that at the last race, the OEM temp gauge went to about 2/3 scale, when normal operation is at 1/3 scale.

Carl