J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

Which one is better for the car, electric or clutch??? Will the electric give me a good boost in HPs? And what about fuel? Is it better to run high octane or low? Its an 87 NA that I just got started (under the thread 97 Mazda w. 13b will not start)

J-Rat

BiG WaNkLeR

I want to do the electric fan modification when it warms up which u will see on many of the cars on the forum. I heard a big one from the scrap yard off a 92-97 taurus is a big one for our big rad. For the octane, low octane of 87 is the way to go unless you advance the timing from what I hear from these guys.

No7Yet

What's better? Well, uh, define better The clutch fan is stock and works all the time, but an e-fan will not drag on the engine as much. You won't gain much hp, just better throttle response. Brian Cain swears by the Fiero e-fan/shroud. The e-fan will take some doin', though, as you'll have to wire up a temp switch for it. It's really a preference dealie.

Oh, and in an N/A, you want to run the lowest octane you can find. In FL, that's 87.

Brandon

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

Well, at least thats what I think! I was just wondering if it would be possible to use an electric fan. Obviously there is going to be some wiring involved. I am not worried about that. Just wondering about size,brand, airflow (what do they rate them at anyways? CFM?), etc...Since I have to replace the clutch fan anyways (its shot all to hell). I thought that this would be a PRIME opportunity to make my first mod..
Give me a good idea! Sounds like the taurus thing may work. I live in Tucson where junkyards are the main source of income for half the city....

BiG WaNkLeR

I really ain't too inclined on wiring and stuff but can I just get a fan and strap the thing on and connect it to a wire that runs power through it when my key is in the on position or I can make a switch right?

Drakk0r

An electric fan is good for one thing... Room... Thats it.. no bullshit hp gains or better throttle response.. People must think that because its what they THINK should happen. You wont actually see any difference and if you do, it's prolly just in your head. But it is good to free up space in your engine bay. Though it exposes your lower half of the engine, which has probably never been cleaned. I had the engine bay all clean and everything, then installed the electric fan. So now my engine bay is roomy, but looks dirty. Oh well.. I'll have it all spiffy again when it gets above freezing..

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

You can rig a switch in the car, it is the simplest way in my opinion, plus that way you have the extra control. On a cold day (we dont get too many of those down here) you can shut down the fan in order to warm up the motor a little quicker. Plus its good to see just how effective the fan is. But wiring it through the ignition fuse isnt too hard either. The worst part of wiring jobs in my opinion is making it look good, and hiding all the wires. I know that on the V8s, the electric fan does provide a signifigant amount of horsepower increase (about 20hp or so). I posed this question because I just happen to have an extra electric fan laying around and thought that I would see if it was an alternative to shelling out $150.00 for a new stock clutch fan. Also, I havent looked at the assembly too much, but are there going to be mods required at the pulley? Shorter bolts?

Felix Wankel

The pulley is bolted to the waterpump. When you take the fan off, you'll be left with 4 studs sticking out that are now only good for gashing your knuckles on, and 2 bolts that hold the pullley on.

Why bother hooking it to a switch or the ignition? Just buy a $20 thermo switch for it so it kicks on at 170*. That way all your wiring stays underhood.

Node

iTrader: (1)

When they raced them (Mazda racing N/A rotaries (not 787b or anything like that) they used 80 octane.
But they were tuned for that low of an octane.

BiG WaNkLeR

Is there a website for the instructions on mounting and connecting this thermo switch? Is the thermo switch a sensor that turns on when it detects 170 fahrenheit? Where would the thermo connect to or does it detect the temperature in it's surrounding area?

Thanks

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

Okay, so what is a good solution for eliminating the knuckle-busting bolts? As far as the thermo-switch.. Cant you wire it to the tepmerature-sending unit? So basically you would run a 12V wire to the thermo switch (or 2? one for the fan, one for the switch?) And when the sending unit hits 170* it allows the 12V to pass to the fan. The 12 V should be direct from the battery via the appropriate fuse. Then grounded to the frame. Sound about right?

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

And if anyone has a link, can we have it? preferably one that has the diagram for the 2nd gen N/A.

tesla042

The bolts can be removed with vice grips. just clamp, turn, and pull..

As for the manual fan idea, that's nice, except that you completely screw yourself if you ever forget to turn it on.. The most "ideal" configuration, IMO, is a thermo-switch to turn it on an a certain temp (180, or whatever your thermostat is, prolly), and a manual bypass to force in ON.

Just imagine...you're driving along one cold evening, with your manually controlled fan off.. Ah, all nice.. good, warm heat... and since you're moving, no overheatage.. Ah well... let's park it for the night.... Ok, next morning, you start your car to warm it up... Go in, comb your hair, brush your teeth... Come out 10 minutes later to see your blown engine, because you left the switch off and forgot about it. :o This is my second-worst fear.

The automatic solution is worth the extra 20$ it'll cost, IMO

-Tesla

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

I definately agree, as previously stated, I live in Tucson. It wont take me but one time to forget to turn on the fan, and then I am out one motor. But do you have wiring diagrams? Does the switch run off the temp sending unit? Type/brand of switch? Please advise.... Also, while I am going to be rewiring the hell outta my car. What about this fuel cut-off switch? That gets wired to the underdash relay, I know that much. Does anyone have a schematic for that too?

J-rat

tesla042

I believe that any aftermarket fan would have the wiring diagram come with it.. Doesn't really help for junkyard onse tho.. Pick up a Jegs or Summit catalogue--they have lots of fans and temp switches.

Fuel cut off switch.. Under the dash, sorta attached to the steering column is a big chunky plug.. I believe it's yellow plastic. It has 6 places for wires in it, but only 5 are used, if i recall.. Either way, you want to just splice a switch into the MIDDLE one. That's black/white.

-Tesla

Crusader_9x

i have always wondered about a couple of things concerning the who fan cooling idea. around what temperature does the stock fan keep the radiator at? and the temp switch that comes witha e fan, does it have a temp sensor in it? or if not what does it go off of? if it does where do you mount it? on the radiator? one of the hoses?
thanx

SpeedRacer

www.summitracing.com has lots of fans. I believe the black magic fan is a common choice for several people on this board.

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

Here is what I know...The fan doesnt have as much to do with engine temp as the thermostat does. Its the one that determines how long the water stays in the radiator. If youhave a 170* fan, and a 190* thermostat, the fan should always be running once you get up to operating tempature. But that also depends on where the thermoswitch gets its reading from. What I am trying to find out is, how do you wire up a fan and a thermoswitch if you dont have instructions? I already have the fan, I just need the instructions for hooking up the thermoswitch. And the fan gets mounted on the backside (inside the engine bay) of the radiator. They attach directly to the radiator itself. And is that for sure on the fuel cut-off? Just put an inline switch to the black and white wire?

J-Rat

Felix Wankel

The themoswitch has a probe that sticks in the radiator fins. So I'd imagine it works fairly well, but gets a little warmer that 170. I havent put mine in the TII yet, and my FB has its fan on a switch.

And yes, its the black/white wire that runs the FP relay. I always cut the same colored wire on the drivers rear shock tower and run the wires up to the console. I seem to be the only one that does that, but I also don't like laying in my floorboard doing wiring.

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

So the thermoswitch goes into the radiator but you run a switch? Thats probably what I am gonna do (for now).

Maxthe7man

I like the electric fan personally, it really opens up the engine bay and makes its alot easier to work on and mod the engine further..
I found though with the electric fan on, the car would run hot in warmer weather with the a/c on. When an electric fan is face mounted directly on the radiator, you are only using about a little over half of the rad surface area, the rest of the area is being cooled only by convection or air forced through at higher speeds.
I like my air conditioning, so I made this shroud to cover the face of the rad and mounted the fan to it, I can run the car hard in hot weather with the a/c on and the guage never gets over half. the white square indicates where I mounted the probe for the temp switch, about 2" below the water inlet to the rad. There is a kit you can buy for the wiring that comes with the fuse holder and brass stab through sensor that is fixed at 160/140, cut the fuse holder off , and replace it with female stake on conectors, the fuse holder that comes with the harness can't handle the load that it is rated for and it quickly becomes a pile of contorted burnt plastic....Max

Felix Wankel

Lucky for me my car has a pusher and a puller fan on it

tweaked

iTrader: (4)

the electric fan does free up HP and also helps your motor rev faster.
It frees up horsies BC the motor doesn't have to pust those blades throught the air. those blades are just drag. Hot Rod magizine found that they freed 12 horses from a chevy 350.
I read somewhere that if you remove the cluch fan and the stock water pump and replacing them with electric. you can gain as much as 15% horses just from removing the drag of the blades and impeller.
I use the Tornato 16" from Summit racing. it has the highest CFM rating out there. it even flows better than the 21".
but if you wan cheap and nearly as good go to autozone or someplace like that and get their 16". I think with the extra thermo switch it is about $70. the Tornato is over $100 alone

Node

iTrader: (1)

anyone have a picture of the fiero fan shroud?

Felix Wankel

Old school V8s hardly used clutch fans. I doubt you'll get a whole hell of a lot of hp from replacing a clutch fan. I just do it so I don't have that bigass shroud in the way