I have been thinking about this for a few months, and have looked in junkyards. What car electric fans will fit the Mav? Preferably with some sort of mini-cowl and all. Don't need clutch or relays. This is south Texas, hot all the time. Would not hurt to run all the time, full on. A guy on another thread say the Taurus fits. What else? I would like to call the local yard and give him options. Then pick and choose what looks good.
there are lots of cars that should fit. i know the taurus set up with two fans looked sweet.looks to be perfect size.
The Taurus fans work well. I belive some were dual fan, some were single...and I hear nothing but good about the single fan setup (pulls over 3000 CFM IIRC). I had one on my old Mustang GT. Never ran hot unless the relay quit working...which was common because I was only running a 20 amp relay (should have been at least 30 amp). Also check mid-80's Firebirds and Crapmaros....with 5.0 and single electric fan. They weren't real common, but they are great fans. Had on on my old 460 powered F100, solved all of the cooling problems it ever had. At one time, I even had a pair of the biggest Derale fans I could find and it still ran warm (230) when sitting at a drivethrough or a long stop light. The firebird fan--never went over the thermostat (180) temp. You could really hear the thing though...it wasn't exactly quiet. The Taurus fan is quieter, but not as big either. I used a fan from a early 80s Buick front wheel drive...3.3 V6 (think it was a skyhawk?) on my Maverick for years. No problems, but it was on a drag car.
Which pulls more (generally), a single large fan or two smaller dual fans? Relatively speaking, say, between the same model of car (single taurus vs. dual taurus).
What measurements do I look for, one that fits the overall radiator, or larger (to mount on places off the radiator), or smaller, and mount with those wire-tie thingies?
An electric unit off of a mid to late '80's Chevy Celebrity works pretty good also. I used one to cool a 468 Big Block Chevy just fine....and recently when I got my AFCO aluminum radiator for the '71 I'm trying to get going, my brother saw the fan hanging on my garage wall and asked if it was the fan I was going to use. I told him that I hadn't thought about it, and we took it down from the wall and trial fitted it, and the fit was perfect! This is the fan/shroud that is going on the car. I think it cost $10 at the junkyard! Measurements are up to you...but I would try and get one that fit the radiator that I was going to use and then fabricate mounting brackets from there. I usually just make them from aluminum, but you could use the plastic mounting things if you wanted. The fan/shroud that I'm talking about is a 1-piece, so I will just be fabbing up the necessary brackets myself. Later,
Sounds like anything that will fit will work. Or even, anything you can get to fit, will work. My wife and I went junk-yard "shopping" a few weeks back (she found great bucket seats from a Honda Accord!) and I noticed many electric fans laying around, and it got me thinking... I have been pricing fan/shroud combos for $200-$500 in Jegs and on the internet, and figured I could buy a junkyard model, and even if I had to buy new electric motors, could probably have a good setup for well under $100.
I got a 14" fan off a 89 caddy and put it in front of radiator to push in my old 390 ford truck.ran it for 3 years...never a problem
I have a 16 or 18'' fan that was on my GMC when I bought it. Aftermarket w/ adjustable thermostat. I've ran it on that truck, a 76 F-100, and will run it on my Comet. Also have ran a Tempo fan, and also have ran a fan from a 97'ish cavalier (found radiator and the fan on side of road, sold radiator as scrap) The Cavalier fan worked GREAT. Around 14'' or so and cools great. Ran it on a big block FE in a 66 F-100. Cooled great even w/ stock radiator, etc Ran around 190. Put a Aluminum radiator in it and it ran 165-180 all the time.
Great suggestions guys. I was hoping this would be an easy one. What are the chances of buying one from a yard and having the electric motor being dead? Is there any way I can check it, other than dragging a battery in with me? I know most yards do not guarantee electric parts.
I wouldn't take a battery with me...it would get heavy lugging that thing all over a junkyard. I'd just tell the JY people that you want to make sure the electric motor works first, and see if they will let you hook it up to a battery that they have sitting around, or take it to your vehicle and pop the hood and hook some jumper cables to your battery and to the wires on the fan motor to see if it works. Just my .02 Later,
