The fan clutch on my 1980 SA is making a bunch of noise and I'm going to go with new rad and electric fan. Anyone with parts recommendations and how to wire up the electric fan. I want the fan to be controlled by some kind of thermostat and come on when it needs to, not some manual switch. I think JEGs had a switch that you put in between fins and was adjustable. Should I try and keep the plastic shroud? Thanks

 

You need to get either a dual or a single fan controller, depending if you’ll run one or two fans….they come with a heat probe that goes between the fins of the radiator or you can get the adapter and and use the bolt on heat sensor and put it on the water pump housing…

 

Here is the system I used, from Summit. It’s a ‘pusher’ fan which moves the air the other direction to a traditional. This allowed me to mount it backwards (motor towards front of car), because I wanted the fan to fit perfectly within the existing shroud. The fan has four bolt slots, which I used to bolt the fan in to the shroud. The controller is bolted low down on the driver side of the engine bay, below the battery, using an existing bolt hole. It’s the small black box with brightly colored wires going to it in photo.

When regular driving the car runs 1/3 up the temp gauge and fan does not come on. In stop go traffic the fan will cycle on and off, and I adjusted the controller to keep temp at 1/3 up gauge. Fan also comes on once when engine is turned off.

One downside. After a very hot day in stop/go traffic the blades started making a ticking noise when running, they were contacting the fan’s grill. I ignored this then one day the fan stopped spinning completely and discovered shaft of fan had broken. Theory is the fan jammed completely and the pin that holds the fan to the shaft snapped. I replaced the fan and before installing used a heat gun to heat the root of each blade and bent the tip slightly away from the grill, maybe a fingers breadth of space. All good since, but would defn bend the blades out slightly before install if I were to do this again.

IMPORTANT. Even at 3000cfpm and a good shroud the fan cannot cope with being in the dyno at the smog place that California requires. This is due to engine being under load and fan having no speed induced air flow. I overheated, and had to reinstall the OEM clutch fan and try again. Lucky escape, the tech overheated the car to the point of coolant jetting out of the expansion tank. So far seems to have done no damage.

 

This looks like a really good solution! For my ancient ride here in MA, there is no emissions test and they no longer do the dyno for any cars. Not sure why they stopped the dyno. It's all ODBII and an exhaust sensor on newer cars.

 

I mounted a dual fan setup from a MK1 MR2, fit the radiator just right and had its own shroud.




I've used this controller on another electric fan setup that was in a truck I had where I installed the Ford Taurus to keep it cool. Works really well and its only $50.00 or so.




https://www.summitracing.com/parts/flx-107006

I have since now set it up to run the MR2 fans but not sure it can handle both or not yet. Time will tell.

 

I was told to keep the oem fan setup as it's the best for this car, Thermostat was also lowered. Never had a problem even while running the AC

 

Love the bay @lil12abp , Just saw a FB marketplace listing in FL for these strut tower covers. Are you the one making them? Might have to snag a pair

 

Thank you

Yes I'm the one selling the aluminum full size strut covers, I do have a few more left from this batch. In the very near future (maybe 1 or 2 weeks) I'll also be making the radiator fan cover to match the strut covers. These complete the look especially if you have an aluminum radiator and Racing Beat heat shield under the carb. If you would like a set please text me at 20188nine308nine.


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A bunch have been shipped already and a few have been picked up.



Everyone here is getting ready for the Rotary Showcase #4 show, which is on April 19th

 

This controller can handle both of my fans in case you are wondering.