Fingers

People -- listen to my warning -- ELECTRIC FANS SUCK. Even the brand name ones that pull a gazillion CFM.
Even when properly installed, they will NOT adequately cool a rotary. NOTHING IS BETTER THAN THE STOCK FAN IN PERFECT WORKING ORDER. PLEASE DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY.

I will be putting my stock system in when I get a chance. Probably tomorrow. That was the biggest waste of time and money EVER.

Aaron, once again, you were right. I was wrong. I bow down to you.

pengarufoo

can you elaborate? what problems did you have? what fan did you use?

how you can say they cannot adequately cool a rotary is beyond me, FD's and FE's use electric thermofans stock.

bingoboy

now...if only we could get the stock clutch fan right up in the Radiators *** with a smaller shroud to clear up the engine bay...

BlackRx7

and what proof do you have of this? I live down here in hot San Antonio, and I'm usinga fiero fan on my 88TII it stays cooler than when I had the stock fan, I haven't had any problems in this 100 degree weather

Fingers

I am using a black magic M150 (which by the way, for an expensive fan, is made out of very cheap materials. The foam surround fell apart almost immediately, i broke the capillary tube but that was my fault). My point is, an aftermarket fan can NOT cool better than a functioning stock system. My proof? Personal experience.

I'm going to pull it tomorrow and see if i can understand why it sucks. It's possible that all my problems are due to the rubber surround.

pengarufoo

I have the black magic #150 fan on my NA, I ran that fan all last summer with no problems, the temperature was much more stable than the stock fan.

I agree the kit comes with some shitty parts, I'm in the process of making a new shroud for it currently that doesnt use the heavy steel mounting components. I don't mind the motor and fan blade quality though, it pulled more than enough air.

BlackRx7

Well thats what you get for wasting all that money, FYI the Fiero Fan has a 17" Daimeter Blade, also the shroud that come with it fits the FC radiator perfectly

pengarufoo

I have a fiero in my driveway, I might have to check out the fan and see how it mounts up on the SR Motorsports radiator. I think it might be too small.

NZConvertible

Let's not get too carried away here.

Aaron, myself and others have made a big deal of the fact that electric fans don't work better than the stock fan (because it already works perfectly), but we've never said electric fans don't work. As pointed out, the FD uses them, as do many other FC owners, without problems.

Rotaries are no special case here. A properly selected and installed electric fan installed on a healthy cooling system will cool a rotary. I think you need to elaborate on your installation and it's problems. I'm sure we can figure out what's wrong.

Bruce

is this a possibility, maybe he didnt get big enough fans or the thermostat for the fan isnt set right

pengarufoo

it's possible he didnt adjust the thermostat properly.

and I disagree, personally, I prefer the electric fans. At idle, a mechanical fan driven by the water pump will not be turning very fast. An electric fan rpm is not engine-rpm bound, so at idle, when the fan is most needed (presuming you are standing still), it can spin at maximum rpm. Something the stock fan doesnt do.

then you have the always present parasitic load of the mechanical fan vs nonexistant for the electric fan at speed when it would be shut off.

Rxmfn7

iTrader: (4)

I personally think the black magic or any other unshrouded fan really sucks. Without a shroud to pull air through the rad, the fan is pulling air from in front and around it, its not going to pull the air with the most resistance(through the rad..). 3000CFM is pointless if you cant concentrate on where it is coming from. Try putting the stock fan shround back on, or using a shrouded fan from another car ,and see how it works out for you..

pengarufoo

uhh, the black magic has a shroud



it just doesnt cover the entire radiator, but the fan is so close the shroud ends up being pretty tiny. i'm making a shroud that covers the whole radiator. this setup worked fine with the stock radiator and motor etc though.

Rxmfn7

iTrader: (4)

I must of saw a different model of the black magic fan then, the one I saw was just a blade inside of a small metal screen. If the fan is properly shrouded as you say, then there is no reason for it not to work properly. Something isnt working, or you have it set up wrong.

Bruce

do you have it wired properly, if you wire it backwards it could be running backwards and trying to push air through the radiator while your driving. Ill probably get flamed for this, but it is possible

88IntegraLS

Aftermarket fans suck, not OEM fans from other cars when used with a real shroud that covers the entire radiator. OEM engineering is completely superior to those of underfunded aftermarket suppliers.

Dak

This will be my third summer with my Perma-cool(finger chopper) fan installed.I have yet to have any problems with it cooling my car properly. It made it so much easier to work on the car without the stock fan and shroud in the way.

White_Seven

Yup, in my opinion all this "electric fans suck" stuff is probably based more on individual's opinions than actual data. My FC had the stock fan running in it for 17 years or so (it was my step-dad's car to start with) and just recently I did the electric fan conversion on it. Seemed to do about the same job as the stock, but I love the fact that it cleared a lot more room in the engine bay. I think it pretty much boils down to personal preference, though. I like mine, that's for sure!

Eroxx

Vintage Air, part # 32033-VFF. This unit is aprox. 17" x 22", turned on it's side to fit the RX-7
And a 16in fan from be-cool.
had to heat part of the shroud with a heat gun and use a pipe to form clearance for the upper and lower hoses.
also fab. brackets to fit rad.

BlackRx7

good god man nice car for only having 9 posts!!! I love the 3 MSD Boxes....are you using the stock coils?

NZConvertible

But why does that matter? The point people seem to completely miss when they critisise the stock fan is that it works perfectly! Spinning it any faster is not necessary, because it has no problems keeping the temp where it should be at idle speed. Another myth. Unless it's required, a thermoclutch fan is almost free-wheeling. Sure there's a little drag, but it's a fraction of it's load when engaged. It's certainly wishful thinking to expect much of a power gain from swapping. A clutch fan is only ever spinning as fast as it needs to to keep the radiator cool. An electric fan accomplishes this by cycling on and off thermostatically.

White_Seven

Couldn't say it any better. When I converted to an electric fan, I noticed no significant power gains. I just wanted a "cleaner" engine bay.

Icemark

actually the electrical load that a electrical fan adds to the system, (forceing the Alt to be running at much higher levels) more than robs any gains you might get from removing the minor amount of parasitic load.

dr0x

I dont see the big deal over that Icemark. You arent using the fan (or shouldnt be most of the time) when you are moving. Lets not kid ourselves, the 1hp the stock fan robs isnt going to matter anymore than the 1hp the alternator needs to steal while you are idling in traffic. The weather will affect how your car is running more than either of these should.

bingoboy

you have to be careful...small children will get sucked through that and made into ground children...