XJ Pank

Hey guys, I had been wanting to swap to an E fan in place of mech but it is out of budget right now. I have a 96 4.0 and im looking to see if anyone has tried a diff type of mech fan in their jeep.

My thoughts are find a similar size fan... hopefully plastic, replacce the mech fan and ditch the fan clutch to save some weight and drag. With the fan bolted directly to the studs where the old fan was it would run directly with engine RPM hot or cold. It would also cut down the drag a bit with something more light weight.
Any one tried using some random junkyard fan the right size?? One reason for this also is beacause my fan blades are a little bent and cant fit in a shroud any more. Figured why not try a cheap improvement rather then replacing the heavy stock fan?
Any input? I cant see what it would hurt and can see it as an area to gain on. after hearing some feed back I'llk be looking for a fan and will post back with pics of the fitment and how she works.

XJ Pank

Sorry if this should be in advanced. Just thought this would be something that someone has thought of or tinkered with.

wiggles

Searching would have helped on this. A common upgrade is to put a Ford taurus e fan it. It's a 2 speed fan and is what you should do

XJ Pank

no no I know about the ford fan. Im not looking to swap in an E fan. Im looking to put a different style mech fan inplace of the original mech fan and clutch. As i stated just using the different fan it self and mounting it to the stock mech fan pulley. I would think putting a plastic fan or a metal fan with no fan clutch would not hurt anything besides taking a little longer to get to temp with no fan clutch. Hope that makes it a little more clear?? The different light weight fan and no fan clutch should cut down the drag a bit I would think?

AeroSynch

Maybe it will cut down on the drag, but having the fan running at 100% of the engine RPM will most definitely increase drag again and your MPG will really go down, while fan noise will increase.

wiggles

You don't want to run clutchless and the only other upgraded one is to put a grand Cherokee (1993-1998) fan clutch in with your fan on it. It keeps you a little cooler

XJ Pank

Ok got ya, yea i didnt really consider the MGP affect of running the fan at 100% all the time. I think my next step will be to find a nice plastic fan and matching shroud at the junkyard and mount this to my current fan clutch to cut down the weight a little bit. Thanks guys

wiggles

Why not just go to the jy and get a new stock fan and shroud since you said yours is bent

XJ Pank

Yes that option would work perfectly fine. Im not looking for a huge upgrade. Just figured it would be worth a shot trying a different lighter fan to lessen up drag a bit. Would not be hard to take any fan really and drill out to fit the 4 bolt pattern of the stocker. Then with retaining the fan clutch I'll still have the ease of just bolting back in. My thinking is that I really would love to swap to E fan but I dont like the unreliability aspect of it especially with ford fan. Mech fan will always get me home cool. lighten it up and use possibly a better fan blade (s blades). Might improve cooling actually and lessen drag... to an unnoticable point im guessing but wont know til I try.

ZINGGG

The OEM fan is not that heavy...

I'd agree with Wiggles and say to just take a trip to the JY and get a "new" one to replace your bent one.

XJ Pank

indeed. the only last question i have is the fan clutch itself. As mentioned before running with out the clutch would put you at 100% fan all the time. Once a certain temp is reached isnt the fan going to be 100% all the time any way? The vicsious fluid reaches a temp and engages the clutch. So wouldnt that indicate it will be running 100% when that temp is reached?

djb383

Negative, if all components of the cooling system r functioning correctly, the clutch should momentarily engage MORE when it senses high enough air temp and should soon return to a LESS engaged state as soon as air temp drops. That's the beauty of a clutch fan.....virtually no drag when not needed and moves major air when needed and does it all automatically.

I would suggest that if u want to experiment with a plastic clutch fan that u also use the fan clutch designed to go with the plastic fan. A light weight plastic fan on the stock XJ fan clutch (designed for a heavier metal fan) might not function correctly.

DFlintstone

Myself, although I applaud you courage and creativity, I don't think there is much to gain there with weight. Pushing the air, the water, the power steering, and the electricity IS a bit of work, but overcoming the weight of the fan blades to get them moving just isn't a big issue.

There MIGHT be some potential over all energy savings with going to fully thermostat controlled electric. Using the mechanical energy directly through a functioning clutch, might be hard to beat though. (Turning power into electricity, then back to mechanical energy has losses) 2nd law of thermodynamics (I think)**No energy transformation is 100% efficient.

Having the mech. fan horse out most of the job, then adding the electric as needed might be a somewhat cool setup.

OHHNOES

Thought there was a thread on here about a Grand Cherokee fan upgrade. Never mind, re-read post.

XJ Pank

Lol thanks DL. The idea you mentioned would be a cool setup like you said never 100% with energy changes. Sorry for making a whole thread on this. I figured if it had been done it would have turned up in my search, or it would be a widely used pratice. Thats why I love CF never hurts to ask and get some brain juices flowing. Thanks again for steering me straight guys.