Electric Fans

[smokenbutch]

Hi has anyone put a electric fan in their midget instead of the stock fan clutch and if so what to look for ? I have a 76 Midget 1500 and I was thinking about putting one on would I have enough clearance between the water pump and radiator. Any help would be great before I buy one.

Thanks

 

[tweety]

I'm pretty sure it would fit, I think you can even do it on the front of the Rad if you had to...

I'm curious about the current draw, would the electrics need an upgrade? Also curious if there's much of an increase in power after the change out.

 

[regularman]

I got one off ebay and made a pusher fan and have it in front of the radiator in the shroud thing. The fan doesn't pull that much. I just bought an adjustable temp switch at advance and hooked it in to the accessory (white) wire and it works fine. It pulls less amps than the heater fan does. Seems to cool it fine and only comes on when needed for quicker warm ups and there is a lot more room for your hand without that fan in there.

 

[Morris]

On a 1500, I don't think you can fit a fan in the puller configuration. The shaft that the old clutch mounts on almost touches the radiator.

I just bought an off the rack fan at the local brick and mortar. I think it is 10 inches. I had to do a little cutting on the plastic suround to make it fit in the shroud, but nothing major. Even in 110° heat it cools fine. The car always runs at whatever temp the thermostat is set at.

 

[tweety]

so... what temp should it be set at?

 

[smokenbutch]

So you put it in front what year is your car and do you have any pics of the fan in the car
thanks

 

[regularman]

So you put it in front what year is your car and do you have any pics of the fan in the car
thanks

Mine is a 71. If you had asked yesterday morning I could had taken all kinds of pics but I just put the radiator back in yesterday. I had to pull all that to get at the steering rack and put some wrap around the clamps because there was play there that was affecting my steering. Its tight in there and its a job to get all those screws out to remove that front shroud thing. I had to modify the fan by trimming it and make 4 brackets to hold it in side that shroud mounted on the top and the bottom. The fan was only 25 bucks or so. Let me see if I can find one like it on Ebay.

 

[jvandyke]

I posted this over at "experience" forum but I'll repeat it here too.
I have the second one down on this page from Flexalite
It is mounted on the engine side of the radiator, engine fan removed. I had to shave the housing/surround down slightly to get it down in there. It has sensor in the top radiator hose and a dial adjuster. I have it set to kick in at about 190. I rigged it with a toggle switch under the dash so I can disable it or bypass the sensor. I also rigged a little light to come on when ever the fan does so I know it's running. Works great, only comes on if I sit at a light for a while and turns off again with in a minute or two of forward movement. Got stuck in a traffic jam on a really hot day recently and it kept up fine. I have the original generator and the fan doesn't seem to draw enough to bother it but since it seldom comes on, it's not much of an issue. Now if I got stuck in traffic on a hot night, with lights on and fan running and car idling, that might be an issue but that's never going to happen! I'll have to remember to try and manually turn it on some night while I'm driving with lights and heater blower all on, I suspect my volt meter would show that I'd be in trouble eventually, running out of 'lectrickity. I do have an oil cooler too though, in front of the radiator. This is in a '63 with a 1098, not sure about fitment with a 1500.

 

[regularman]

I bought one like this. Shipping looks kind of high though.
ebay fan

 

[Morris]

Holy Moly! I got the same fan for $75 at Advance Auto. Doh!

Here are some pics I took when I installed the fan. Click on the thumbnails for a larger pic.

https://www.electrongun.org/hotrod/fan/index.html


The second picture is the pieces I cut off the housing to make everything fit nicely. I pulled the radiator and shroud as a unit. Installed the fan, then replaced the radiator and shroud as a unit.

 

[jvandyke]

I do like the quieter running, little more horse power and absence of finger chopping engine fan. Certainly worth the little $$, especially for that ebay fan, that sounds like a good deal really.

 

[DWeeB]

I hope it's reliable! At that price I find it suspect.

 

[jvandyke]

It's probably the exact fan sold other places (as said earlier) but without huge middle man markup. There's not much to these fans, no reason why they all shouldn't cost under $30.

 

[DWeeB]

Probably, but $18 just sounds to good. Let us know how it works out.

 

[Gundy]

I really like my manual over-ride on the thermostat.
I guess it is an overkill but it is sort of a security blanket
thing for me. Say I'm going to do some hard driving...say hill climbing. I just pull the switch and forgetaboutit.

 

[jvandyke]

Yep, me too, but I haven't touched my toggle since I installed the thing, well except for last night. I wanted to see what the voltmeter said with lights, stereo, heater blower and the fan all running. Fan didn't seem to make any difference, the lights and heater blower do though.