Junkyard electric fan conversion - Contour fan, or?

[Red91Laredo]

I'm wanting to convert to an electric cooling fan on my XJ... did some searching and it looks like a lot of people are either running aftermarket fans, which I would prefer not to do; or using something like the Taurus e-fan and having to remove the mechanical fan pulley and mounting hub to make room for it, which I'm also hoping to avoid.

Is there a known OEM e-fan that is slim enough to fit in place of the stock mechanical fan without having to remove the mechanical fan pulley, etc? I was thinking maybe the Ford Contour fan? I'm sure that swap has been done before but I could not find much information about doing installing one on an XJ (mostly seems to very popular with the CJ guys).

I know the Taurus fans are great, I'm running one on my Mustang, but it seems like it's just too much work to be a very good choice for an XJ. I want to use an OEM fan due to the low cost, proven reliability, and cost/availability of replacement parts. While there are some decently affordable aftermarket fans out there, I don't know if they'd have the longevity of an OEM unit. Plus, should I have an aftermarket fan fail, it would potentially very hard to come by if it happened far from home.

I'm not sure if it'd be better to use a single fan that would fit next to the stock e-fan, or remove the stocker and use a dual fan setup, like the Contour fan. I assume that either setup has the potential to function equally well, so whichever will fit better and be less work to install would be my preference, I guess. I expect having to trim the shroud and make my own brackets for whatever e-fan I adapt to the XJ, but I'd like to use something will fit without a ton of hacking. I was hoping to grab an e-fan from the junkyard and get this project done over the weekend rather than having to spend hours modding things to work. I figure there's gotta be some kind of slim OEM e-fan out there that would work. Any ideas?

 

[bails85]

They will not pull enough air. Your engine will overheat. plain and simple. Keep the mech fan or take it all the way out and go full blown elec conversion.

 

[REVROK]

Dual Taurus fans move more air than the stock setup. There are a number of write ups. This one is probably the best http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1035194&page=2

 

[yossarian19]

I'm with Bails85 and RevRok. I wouldn't bother unless going with a Taurus fan. It's a lot of work and it's an assload of cooling. My 2200 cfm fan wasn't much work and can't hang with the stock mech fan when I'm towing or wheeling or even just climbing a steep hill under 30 mph.
I'd put the stock mech fan with a ZJ clutch as the all-around most effective cooling fan, especially if paired with a Taurus fan in the stock e-fan's place.
Second, Taurus fan. Maybe it's a tie.
Third, stock shit.
Fourth, by a ways in most cases (though it may be sufficient for the owner's usage) is "other" electric fan swaps.

Of course, depending on how you use your XJ and how you set up your fan controls, you might never need any more than 2000 cfm out of a fan swap.

 

[Southwest Chuck]

Volvo fan conversion?
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/general-4x4-discussion/1034031-whats-better-than-ford-taurus-fan-taurus-fan-better-application.html

 

[Red91Laredo]

Yeah, something like that is exactly what I was looking for, thanks! The motor used on those still takes up a lot of depth, so it may still not fit without removing the mechanical fan pulley & hub, but definitely could be an option worth looking into further. It's looking like I may have no choice but to remove the pulley & hub to fit any OEM fan.

So much for an easy definitive answer, I guess it's time to take some measurements on the XJ and then hit up the junkyard to measure some fans...

 

[yossarian19]

Depending on which volvo, it's the same motor as the taurus. Ford owned Volvo for a while there...

 

[REVROK]

Ford owned Volvo from 99-10