jon-d

Posting pics with description to follow.

jon-d

thought i would post this to help anyone who may be thinking about installing an e-fan. the fan i used is from a 94 3.0 Tarus that i picked up from the JY. when fitting it i debated on leaving the gap at the bottom or top, and decided the the top would be best for my conditions. fitting the fan was a bit more effort than i had thought it would be and part of that was because my rad was further towards the motor than it should have been which really limited the clearance. after that was cleared up, i cut about 0.25" from the top and bottom, notched the pass side, and then cut some notches on the bottom so the fan would fit into the factory tabs and help hold it in. the only holding points i added were on top, and i used two of those zip type that can be picked up from the local auto store.

there are different ways to wire up the fan and I ended up using an external temp sensor from a previous e-fan conversion and a starter solenoid for a quad that i happen to have. i wired up the temp sensor so it would only power up when the jeep is running. an issue i am having is i think i fried the solenoid because the fan would not shut off after turning the engine off.

i have not put it through i good test yet, but at 80 degrees with the air on while doing some very mild off roading the fan would kept the engine in the right range. i will post back more feedback after running it for awhile.

dave1123

I question how much good it's going to do because it seems like you're blocking an awful lot of cooling fins with the shroud and that will cut airflow thru the rad.

jon-d

I am not sure I understand what you are saying Dave. I would have preferred the shroud to encompassed the entire rad to pull air through but that is the size it comes in.


I elected to leave the top open (rather than the bottom) because looking from the front of the jeep that is the most direct flow through the rad. so my thought was during regular driving I should get decent flow through the top and enough through the bottom to keep it cool so the fan would not have to come on as often. I also plan to add a winch so that will block some flow as well. if I lived in a climate that had lots of water crossings I might have mounted it further up. But the jury is still out and I will test it out over the next few months and provide feedback for others that may be interested. Any pitfalls, advice, recommendations would be appreciated.

dave1123

All I'm saying is I would think you'd get move air thru the radiator without any shroud at all rather then what you have now. Like the e-fan from a WJ sits in the middle of a shroud for a clutch fan so all the area around it is open.

jon-d

that's a good point Dave and I think you are correct and would expect the shroud to block some flow through the rads while at speed. I was thinking more in terms of slow going and getting maximum air flow. Just as a sanity check, from what I understand without a shroud the fan does not pull all the air it should through the rad, but pulls some air from the sides or some of it even recirculates around the edges of the blades (similar to the tips of aircraft wings when landing or taking off). the shroud should provide more surface area to pull from directing all the air flow through the fan. not sure if what I am attempting to describe makes sense but what do you think?

jon-d

tested the fan out wheeling today on long hill climbs with the air running and it kept it below 210, no problem. also, no issues on the freeway as well. the only thing that makes me a bit uncomfortable about an electric fan is there are more points of failure vs a mechanical fan.

a friend of mine has a Dakota that he installed a volvo fan on with a home made shroud that encompasses the entire radiator. he said slow moving no issues but while on the freeway the shroud blocks the flow and the temps start to rise. he plans to install a by-pass.

jon-d

yesterday, after a day of wheeling, my fan remained on after shutting off the engine. turned out the relay switch could not handle the amps and long running time of the fan and the points welded together. anyone remember how many amps the torus fan pulls and where to pick up a relay?

as i was concerned about, another point of failure...

dave1123

The fan on my WJ is fused at 40 amps.

Bustedback

The Taurus fan pulls a lot of amps when it kicks on. I believe it's 40amps for the high speed fan, that's why Ford used a two speed fan. It starts in low speed and then ramps up to high speed. I use a 40amp circuit breaker for my Taurus fan conversion, I melted the 40amp fuse holder and my fan failed to come on resulting in overheating and blowing the tank off of the radiator.

jon-d

thanks busted. I thought I read somewhere it pulled more, like around 60 amps but was not sure. the solenoid I have was used for years on a pancake fan I had (which did not fit so I could not use it) and worked fine until now. out on the trail the fan was on quite a bit with all the hills and such which caused the problem.


BTW, I really like the way you top mounted your fan I am thinking about cutting the plastic mounts I have and doing what you did. one final question on the torus fan, does yours sound like a dry bearing like a faint bit of squeaking when off and when slowly turned by hand? I have that but not sure if its normal or not and don't see a way to apply lube.

dave1123

Most electric motors today use sealed ball bearings and there's no way to lube them. Squeaky bearing will cause a larger amp draw. That's what usually burns out the resistors on heater blowers.

Bustedback

I made a couple simple brackets for the top, they support the weight, but at the bottom I'm using the plastic mount things to keep the fan against the radiator. My fan did sound a little rough, then got a lot rough. I replaced the motor with a new one from O'Reilly's, it cost more than the whole assembly from the junkyard. I also swapped the ZJ water pump for an XJ water pump and pulley to gain a lot more space between the fan and water pump.

jon-d

cool, thanks for the info. I did not realize the xj pump would provide more room. I struggled with that spacing for about an hour or so before I got the rad pushed out and the fan placed so that it would not interfere. would have been much faster to simply change to the xj pump!

jon-d

BTW, it looks like one of those solenoids for a golf cart is the way to go. high amps and continuous run rated. I found one on ebay for 13 shipped and a local auto parts store has them for about 35. not sure if one is better than the other but I did contact the ebay seller and asked him to confirm the solenoid was normally open and he asked "what is that?" not a confidence inspiring seller...