cooling idea..........old news??

[Rockhound]

i was replacing my mounts for my engine today and i strted thinking about replacing all my cooling components next month. i'm sure this has been thought of before and there may even be a kit if its practical. i'm thinking of yanking my mechanical fan and replacing it with a dual electric fan setup. theoretically that should regain a little power and help keep the engine much cooler. gimmie your thoughts.
Rockhound

[mattk]

Don't waste your time with the electric fan idea. It's been tried several times by myself and others. The mechanical fan works better than any electric I know of. If you don't have an aux fan on the driver side, installing one yould be a great help.
mattk

[Scott Mac.]

I've been thinking the same thing, I may give a shot and install some hood vents to help disipate the heat.

Note: I've got a 3 core radiator and wouldn't consider it with a stock unit.

[Ted Z]

my dual electrics work good.....

[Lucas]

I'm pretty happy with my electic conversion too. I stuck in a GDI 3 core radiator, new H20 pump, and squeezed an imperial 12 inch fan. I also got the imperial wiring harness that will controll both the new primary fan and the aux fan simultaneously.
The rig warms up much faster, and the needle is always below 210, right at 210 at long idle with AC on max.
I also suck in a gigantic transmission cooler (WAY overkill, but it rocks), bypassing the tank coolers, which might have helped out a bit.

Total cost (parts bought over a period of time)
12 inch imperial fan (autozone) - 70 dollars
Dual thermostatic/ac override wiring harness - 20 dollars
New H20 pump (free w warranty)- usually 30 dollars
assorted wiring bits and pieces - 5 dollars
24,000 gvw tranny cooler - 40 dollars
barbed connectors for cooler - 5 dollars
GDI 3 core radiator - 100 dollars

I probably should have done my hoses but it wasn't on my mind at the time. Pretty soon ill be sticking in some hood vent too, Ill let you know how it goes. As for HP gains, I dunno. I guess a little seat of the pants feeling at wide open throttle, like at 4000+ rpms, but no real world gains.

The main 2 reasons I wanted to do it was
A)the option to turn off the fans when crossing deep water/mud to prevent sucking gunk into the radiator, also preventing the mechanical fan from "swimming" the engine forward into the the rad.
B) With less resistance from the fan, the engine works less hard. Combined with the tranny cooler, I hope this extends the life of my drivechain.

my 2cents

[THE_OWL]

Flex-a-lite makes a Dual 10" setup with shroud that darn near fits the XJ radiator perfectly (height wise, leave about 5" on the side)
I run it. it blows like a 70s Ron Jeremy Flick. Very good flow, but I can watch my voltage drop when I kick it on.
Fan setup is like $160 though
\\hoot

[Scott Mac.]

Who's Ron Jeremy?

[rockwerks]

You will notice that everyone who likes eh dual fan setup does not live in a hot climate....the setup is worthless for hot climates and heavy towing or other heavy use.....Many of us ahve done real world testing on it in AZ..CA...NM...UTAH and plainly spoken the fans just dont pull enough air...I even went to triple electric fans here is my write up on the fiasco

http://xjnation2.homestead.com/thegreatelectricfanmyth.html


I really think yo can spend your money in other better ways.

[mattk]

I live in FL. I didn't say the electrics don't work. They just don't work as well. I have the three core too.
mattk

[THE_OWL]

I built mine in AZ, and now reside in NM.
With the engine I have I dont have any other options that will fit.
But I run a tad hot sometimes. That is more due to the Hi Compressions and .060 bored SBC

[rockwerks]

They just don't work as well

right you said it...if it dont work as well as stock then you are throwing your money away......

[Backdraft]

Hot climates and electric fans suck bad. Bring your rigs down to Texas this August and sit in Dallas/Ft. Worth rush hour traffic with the A/C on and I guarantee that the electic fans will fail. Maybe there are special occaisions on specific XJs But as a whole they will not pass the southern heat test.

By the way, I ran the 3-row GDI and Flexalite 110 on mine.
Should have spent the money on a new mech. fan.


$.02

Mike

[Rockhound]

well alright. thanks guys. verdict..............in Pensacola, FL, i'll stick with my stocker setup. does anyone have a particular system setup then. i plan to get the GDI, but is there a specific aux. fan that works better than the factory? any other cooling system components? TIA
Rockhound

[Backdraft]

Not sure what year you have, but if its an older one I would replace the aux. fan with a later model aux. fan. Better design and better flow. The old one has fat straight blades, and the newer one has more narrow curved blades. FYI

Mike

[REDXJ4FUN]

Its funny listening to all of this. my clutch fanis pretty much useless and i still have the original old style aux fan and even in the hotest days (110plus) my temp guage never goes over 210. I've been looking at eltrice fans and some of them say they are good for up to a 5.8l by its self. so its interesting to hear they don't work well.

[Backdraft]

Just speaking from expierence REDXJ. I know everyone has an opinion as well as different results.

[REDXJ4FUN]

I know I'm not calling any one on BS its just another XJ thing like DW and diveshaft issues.

[Backdraft]

LOL, Aint that the truth. Just swapped in a new D30 and WHOA!!!! Time to go to the alignment shop. Feel free to flame because YES i can align it and reset the steering wheel straight myself, BUT Im lazy and dont feel like doing it:D

Mike

[AJsArmor]

Does anyone know the CFM rating of the stock mechanical fan? Granted it would be dependant on the engine RPM but just wondering how much air it actually pulls. I've tried a 1,250 CFM electric similar to the Flexalite 120 and wasn't really impressed with it. It did "ok" but on really hot days under load it wasn't keeping up like I thought it should.

One idea I was thinking about since I removed my AC condensor was to move the radiator forward a bit. Looks like I could go 1-1.5" forward, maybe a little more. Then I could do a little trimming and get some space in there to fit the Perma-Cool 14" electric fan that is rated at 2950 cfm. I like electrics for the ability to turn it off when crossing deep water, especially those thick mudholes. Just a thought.

[Lucas]

The problem may be that there is too much of a gap around the housing/shroud Aand the radiator. My new electric is only 12inches, and the housing is almost exactly as tall as the new radiator I put in. As such, almost ALL of the air it pulls in (only 850cfm) is being pulled through the radiator itself instead of just pulling air from around the shroud. I dont see how you could get a 14 incher in the compartment without making a custom shroud.

[THE_OWL]

I havent had the stock motor in my Jeep since 1995. I never had overheating issues from the fan before that (only the BS open cooling system Jeep tried in the late 80s). But I have tried a lot of different electric setups. What I have noticed is that the shroud is the most important issue.
http://www.flex-a-lite.com/auto/twinline.gif

If you want to use electric for whatever reason, I think this is the best solution.
check out the specs on the link:
its almost a perfect fit for our strangely shaped radiators.
FELX-A-LITE (http://www.flex-a-lite.com/auto/twinline.htm)

\\hoot

[AJsArmor]

Originally posted by Lucas
The problem may be that there is too much of a gap around the housing/shroud Aand the radiator. My new electric is only 12inches, and the housing is almost exactly as tall as the new radiator I put in. As such, almost ALL of the air it pulls in (only 850cfm) is being pulled through the radiator itself instead of just pulling air from around the shroud. I dont see how you could get a 14 incher in the compartment without making a custom shroud.
Yeah I know, 5lbs of crap in a 2lb bag. ;) I was thinking of cutting a little bit out of the lower crossmember since it's getting completely reworked as well as the plate that goes over the radiator. I really don't know, it's just one of those things where I was tossing around ideas in my head. At one point I was thinking of trying to fit in a taller radiator and change the grille area so that it's taller and the bumper steps down a bit. Give it a Wrangler type look to it and then be able to fit a larger radiator in it as well. Would work with enough modifications and completely reworking the crossmember situation but I think that's one of those projects to put on the shelf for a REALLY long time.

[Lucas]

Did anyone see the white cherokee that was a candidate for the Top Truck Challange? It actually had 2 radiators, one in the engine bay and the other somewhere I think in the rear hatch.


Hey AJ, i didn't recogize the name until I saw the link to the website at the bottom of your sig. Ive been contacting you about 1/8inch rockrails for ...uhhh...well a long time, sorry about the delays and questions (shookashooka@yahoo.com). I'm selling off the parts for my ZJ disk brake conversion to finance the rails, so you shoud get payment from me really really soon. Thanks.

[AJsArmor]

I had no clue that was you, it's no problem about the wait or questions, don't mind a bit!

I'm assuming if they had a radiator in the back it was all open with an exo or internal cage right? My wife might not like that idea.:eek: I like the specs on those dual 10" fans but the price I'm sure is a little more than I want to spend right now. Wish there was a junkyard fan that was small enough to fit and put out some good cfm's. Seems a lot of factory electrics really have some good power, would be cool to stick one of those dual speed Ford/Lincoln jobs in, puts out like 4600cfm. VOOOM!

[Lucas]

I was messing around with my new conversion and testing the airflow, well, with a napkin in front of the radiator. It seems like the factory aux fan actually pulled air hader through the front of the car, much more vacuum than on the new fan's side. This worried me, but Ive been driving for the past couple of days in traffic and the needle still stays at or under 210.

As for the dual radiator thing, the XJ had all the factotry sheet metal. Didn't have an exo or anything. I have no Idea how he did it, it was just on the spec sheet.