Myth of the electric fan

[mnc2fan]

Looking for some efans for the sierra. Just needing more room in front of the engine. Came across this.. its aimed toward rx-7s but thought it was interesting.

Its mostly cons of efans over stock. Give it a read, not too long. And what are some benefits, as I have non for now, except room.

The Myth Of The Electric Fan

[kerrige]

It appears that what he is saying here is that no real power is freed up from using efans. Maybe I am just really confused, but I have seen people post and give examples even videos of gains on the dyno of 5-10 rwhp. Can some one clarify for me?

[ff_jeff]

It appears that what he is saying here is that no real power is freed up from using efans. Maybe I am just really confused, but I have seen people post and give examples even videos of gains on the dyno of 5-10 rwhp. Can some one clarify for me?

Ill tell you what. Next time I get dynoed, Ill do My testing and runs and then ill put the clutch fan back on and see exactly what this means for us.

[567234ta]

There you have it. For the most part, electric fans are not recommended as an upgrade unless you have a very specific reason to do so. They provide inferior cooling to the stock fan

i really disagree with that, when i removed the stock fan from my 5.7L L31 i noticed a faster throttle response and the electric fans provided plenty of cooling. I really prefer the electric fans for many reasons.

i have an override switch that turns on my ac fan so i can have awesome cooling at idle. this is good for tranny cooling, stuck in traffic, stuck in mud, snow or whatever. If you have a tranny cooler and you are stuck you are sitting there spinning the wheels heating up the tranny but the cooling is only for the engine temp if you have a stock fan.

i would never go back to a stock unit after seeing the difference and advantages to electric fans. and his conversion or hp to elec couldnt be more flawed, what about the battery? thats what they are there for. while you are on the highway and the electric fans arent even needed the alt charges the battery(s) just fine.

i was watching an off road race today with the baja trucks, you know what they all had? electric fans. while the article was written for a small foreign car that i dont know much about i dont think its applicable for our racing uses with trucks. I know some off roaders prefer the stock fan to electric when mudding, deep water, but most people here have on road racing trucks anyways.

[kerrige]

thanks jeff I am not gonna lie that is way beyond what I thought anyone would do. Way to step up. I expected maybe just people to voice their own opinions. It will be awesome to see someone settle that debate in one shot. Oh and how long does that actually take to do....aka change them out and back again?

[mnc2fan]

Seems like most if not all racing apps use efans to cool.

It makes sense to me giving you more power and better throttle response. Its just less the engines got to turn, even when the fan clutch isn't engaged.

I also don't see how he is saying its overstressing an alt, since.. tell me if im wrong.. most electronics connect to the battery, then the alt charges the battery. So the fan adds no, or very little extra pull on the alt. So I can kind of see where you get better response and power with efans over using the stock fan

Guess the same argument for epumps, less the engine has to turn. Just more the battery gets used thus the more the alt needs power from the engine. But still less than what the pump or fan needs directly from the engine

Ill tell you what. Next time I get dynoed, Ill do My testing and runs and then ill put the clutch fan back on and see exactly what this means for us.

Now that would be awesome actually testing to see what you gain from efans

[GasGuzzler]

Never really noticed any performance gains with mine on the Denali 'cause it already has OK power and is a huge pig. Noticed a little more power on the 4.3L Blazer but it's small and weak.

[ff_jeff]

thanks jeff I am not gonna lie that is way beyond what I thought anyone would do. Way to step up. I expected maybe just people to voice their own opinions. It will be awesome to see someone settle that debate in one shot. Oh and how long does that actually take to do....aka change them out and back again?

It took about 30mins to install my efan. That included wires and all. AS for putting the stock one back on... it just threads back on the pully, and 2 bolts with abut 5-6 plastic push pins. It shouldnt take more than like 10-15 mins to revert back and forth, since the hard stuff is allready done.

Now that would be awesome actually testing to see what you gain from efans

After I get cam installed I will make an appointment with Allen at Nelson performance to get a dyno tune. Im sure he would not mind too much.

[pl4yboy]

Actually, the fans DO put extra strain on the alternator because it has to work harder to keep the battery charged. But that is really irrelevant anyway because your alternator isn't going to crash from running efans when people run 1000 watt stereos on stock alternators. I've done a lot of study on the charging systems since getting into car audio. In my 69 I run a 240 amp (180 at idle), my regular battery, and a special audio battery (Batcap 2000).

The main thing is, if your voltage isn't dropping to extremes and the headlights don't dim, you're safe.

[ChevyLee]

I think the dodge 3500's come with a clutch fan and electric fans to keep the cummins cooled.

I like the Efans, more room to work.