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Electric fan recommendation for 327 SBC with 11:1 compression

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#81 ·
hydro462 said:
The electric fan cooling system has too many delicate sensitive parts to be trustworthy. Were the mechanical fan doesn't have any of that. In order to have a debate, you need to have two parts that are at least equal. The electric fan can't begin to compare.
The mechanical clutch fan with the clutch engaged, will move 8000 CFM at 1500 rpm not 4000.. It's really worth it to use the mechanical clutch fan system. They are so easy to adjust, just change or bend the little bi-metal clip.
Most older cars were designed to have constant engine bay ventilation.
I don't use the shroud, I think it slows down the free air flow when the car is moving.
Click to expand...
I installed my Efans/Shroud in my Car on May 27, 2012 plus wired One Efan to a Temp Sender in the Intake
near the Thermostat Housing and the other Efan to a Toggle Switch for when it is needed
Ten years & NO Problems at all plus the Engine Coolant runs at the Temp I want for on the Street/Hwy or at the Track
And as you know Clutches do go bad and they STOP working completely

First off the Op was asking/talking about at Idle, which in most of our Old Muscle Cars is around 900 RPMs or less
So that Mech Fan would be hardly turning at all at that Engine RPM
and certainly not producing any where close to 8,000 CFM IMO

Where is your source for the 8,000 CFM at 1,500 RPM ??
AND when for how long at what Speed does some one have the Engine at 1,500 RPM
as usually when a Car is moving on the Hwy at 60 mph the Engine is turning at 2,000 to 3,000 RPM
and the Air Flow is sufficient to cool the Rad Core/Coolant in the Rad Core
and the Mech Clutch Fan does not even need to be Working/ON

All cars are design to have a Flow of Air thru them even thou the New ones do look a little Tighter than our old ones
When My BBC Engine is Idling at 900 RPMs I do know that my Efans, usually only one is ON at Full Power,
sometimes they are Both ON at Full Power if needed, plus this with only a 80 amp Alternator,
do produce their Max Rated CFM and produce enough Air Force/Pulling Air thru the Rad Core
to keep my Engine Coolant running at a Temp of around - +180*
whether sitting Idling or in City Stop & Go Traffic or doing Back to Back Hard Runs down the 1/4 Mile Track

So you are contradicting yourself that the Original Mech Clutch Fan/Shroud setup is better
than a well thought out Efan /Shroud Setup
that Most modern Day Cars/SUVs use

I guess you will be going Electric Powered Vehicle soon then ! :D
but wait they need a Efan to cool the Electric Engine !! :eek:
 
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Discussion starter · #82 · (Edited)
So after almost 2 months, I'm finally starting to take her out for test drives aaaaaaaand she over heated on the second test drive today. She shot up to 210° and kept climbing during 2 long traffic stops in the FL heat . I tried to keep her cool by killing the motor and running the fans, and, yep, I managed to drain the battery. Getting her pop started on US-19 was quite the S show, and if any of the 4 strangers that helped me out today are reading this - Thanks!! but anyways, I digress ...

I went with the Dorman 620-118 becuase a lot of ppl posted it's the best bang for your buck. The only numbers I could find for it were in the Q&A sections in Summit and Amazon and the numbers are a bit all over the place (max 21 amps, 35 amps, or 40 amps, pulls max 2900 CFM, 4000 CFM etc).

would @red68chevL, @GTO44 or anybody else know the actual max amps and max cfm for the Dorman 620-118 without guessing? Is the Dorman 620-118 the same as "Thee MKVIII Fan"?

The car stays under 190° over 25 MPH, the controller's temp sensor has been tested and turns on at 160°, I filled her with 50/50 coolant/distilled water and ran it with the cap off and watched the bubbles come out after the thermostat opened and topped it off, I upgraded the alt to 140 amps, I upgraded to 4 AWG between the alt, batt & grounds, used 10 awg for the fan leads, and permently wired the fan on its 'high' setting. When the engine is off and the fan is running the temp goes down.

Looking at the pics of my setup, should I fabricate a shroud to cover more of the radiator?

If I haven't missed something and this fan just isn't pulling enough air to keep the car under 200° in the FL heat at stop lights then I'm going with GTO44's recomendation of the Flex-a-lite 298.
 

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#84 ·
clutch2k3 said:
So after almost 2 months, I'm finally starting to take her out for test drives aaaaaaaand she over heated on the second test drive today. She shot up to 210° and kept climbing during 2 long traffic stops in the FL heat . I tried to keep her cool by killing the motor and running the fans, and, yep, I managed to drain the battery. Getting her pop started on US-19 was quite the S show, and if any of the 4 strangers that helped me out today are reading this - Thanks!! but anyways, I digress ...

I went with the Dorman 620-118 becuase a lot of ppl posted it's the best bang for your buck. The only numbers I could find for it were in the Q&A sections in Summit and Amazon and the numbers are a bit all over the place (max 21 amps, 35 amps, or 40 amps, pulls max 2900 CFM, 4000 CFM etc).

would @red68chevL, @GTO44 or anybody else know the actual max amps and max cfm for the Dorman 620-118 without guessing? Is the Dorman 620-118 the same as "Thee MKVIII Fan"?

The car stays under 190° over 25 MPH, the controller's temp sensor has been tested as working, I filled her with 50/50 coolant/distilled water and ran it with the cap off and watched the bubbles come out after the thermostat opened and topped it off, I upgraded the alt to 140 amps, I upgraded to 4 AWG between the alt, batt & grounds and used 10 awg for the fan leads. When the engine is off and the fan is running the temp goes down.

Looking at the pics of my setup, should I fabricate a shroud to cover more of the radiator?

If I haven't missed something and this fan just isn't pulling enough air to keep the car under 200° in the FL heat at stop lights then I'm going with GTO44's recomendation of the Flex-a-lite 298.
Click to expand...
Look at how much surface area of the radiator is not covered by the fan. Even the fan shroud leaves a ton of surface area open.

That doorman is a 16in single fan. The MOST its capable of pulling is around 2,900 cfm. The only way a single 16” fan could pull more cfm is if was a new style brushless fan. You simply arent pulling enough air thru the radiator to keep the engine cool. The biggest engine its marketed for is a stock 4.6.

I would go with the dual 13in fans and shroud from my post on the first page of the thread. The shroud covers the ENTIRE radiator core which is very important for electric fans. It also pulls a true 4,600 cfm. 1,000% you’ll notice a huge difference between that doorman and the Flexalite. You’ve already upgraded your electrical system to handle to load. Its the only sure fire way in Florida to keep these engines cool especially when using A/C. Also i recommend getting a cheap radiator filler kit with the radiator cap adapters so you can properly burp the system and get EVERY single air bubble out of the system. I also recommend dumping a bottle of water wetter in. It helps the coolant get complete coverage on the surface area of the water passages in the block.
 
#85 ·
Are you running it on low speed or high? It is a dual speed fan. Are you running it on a relay or a PWM controller? If relay, what temp does it kick on at? Finally, where are you measuring your coolant temp from ?

I have mine on a PWM controller for high speed only. So I could go measure it, but I'd need a hot day to get the controller up to "full speed". I do not have a perfect 1 to 1 comparison for you.

The dorman you bought certainly looks exactly like my MarkVIII fan, so I'm going to say yes it's the replacement and the same specs.

I would not bother with a shroud. Guys running the Windstar fan setup have to cut flaps in the shroud to allow air thru the shroud at highway speeds. Your setup looks just like mine.



Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
 
Discussion starter · #86 ·
I just ordered the flex-a-lite 298 for ~$350. With any luck my next test drive will be Saturday AM. This time I won't be taking her out on US-19 before giving her a "Red Light test", ya live and ya learn ...

My engine is overheating with the $78 Dorman 620-118 fan running on High. It was a quick $78 experiment and I'm sure this fan works fine for others. I'm glad I tried it before spending $350 on the flex-a-lite
  • I hardwired it on high
  • Using a relay
  • Relay's set to turn on at 160°, measured in the rad, upper driver's corner. But regardless where the relay's temp sensor is, the fan starts running at 160°.
  • I'm measuring the coolant temp on the intake in "The normal place", near the water neck using a Dakota guage's brass-type sensor (its visible in one of those latest pics I posted, has the wire with the green heat shrink)
 
#87 ·
How bad is your upper rad hose kinked? In the pics it looks like it's pinched in half by the intake?

Also, you have a huge radiator and you experimented with a fan that didn't pull air through all of it? You ever try to cool yourself off with only having half a fan blowing on your body?
 
#89 ·

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Kept my 468 cool in Alabama summers no problem. Draws about 60 Amps at full tilt. Your choice-if you prefer to spend several hundred dollars you may do so. Or you can use this. This fits the core pretty well on our cars, requiring minimal trimming.
 
Discussion starter · #90 ·
@GTO44 Thanks for the heads up on the burp kit, never knew they existed! I found this video and plan on buying this kit

Is the recommendation for water wetter to drain the existing 50/50 antifreeze/water and then refill with straight distilled water and a bottle of Redline Water wetter? (If the car ever leaves FL something's gone horribly wrong)

I have a make-shift 12 oz overflow tank; if I went to straight water, do you think it would routinely overflow? I'm thinking I'll have to upgrade to a 24 oz tank.
 

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#91 ·
clutch2k3 said:
this is the best angle for seeing the kink. when the thermostat opened the flow in the rad looked good to me🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...
In the pics above it looked pretty bad off, you should be ok. Wish you the best w/ the new setup!

Don't know if you want to mess w/ the thermo housing but I always pull the stat and fill the block through the intake, eliminates any hot spots, air pockets, or bubbles. Fill it till it's to the bottom of opening, install stat, seal, and top off the rad. This way you're guaranteed the block is full and water is at the bottom of the stat so it opens when it should. Also fill LS engines the same way, just use the upper rad hose because the stat is in the lower hose inlet.

EDIT I'm running a cheap universal dorman (54002) tank I got off amazon. Haven't had any issues with it. Someone on here is running a factory tank for a camaro or something that tucks into the fender if you wanted to hide it.
 
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#92 ·
clutch2k3 said:
So after almost 2 months, I'm finally starting to take her out for test drives aaaaaaaand she over heated on the second test drive today. She shot up to 210° and kept climbing during 2 long traffic stops in the FL heat . I tried to keep her cool by killing the motor and running the fans, and, yep, I managed to drain the battery. Getting her pop started on US-19 was quite the S show, and if any of the 4 strangers that helped me out today are reading this - Thanks!! but anyways, I digress ...

I went with the Dorman 620-118 becuase a lot of ppl posted it's the best bang for your buck. The only numbers I could find for it were in the Q&A sections in Summit and Amazon and the numbers are a bit all over the place (max 21 amps, 35 amps, or 40 amps, pulls max 2900 CFM, 4000 CFM etc).

would @red68chevL, @GTO44 or anybody else know the actual max amps and max cfm for the Dorman 620-118 without guessing? Is the Dorman 620-118 the same as "Thee MKVIII Fan"?

The car stays under 190° over 25 MPH, the controller's temp sensor has been tested and turns on at 160°, I filled her with 50/50 coolant/distilled water and ran it with the cap off and watched the bubbles come out after the thermostat opened and topped it off, I upgraded the alt to 140 amps, I upgraded to 4 AWG between the alt, batt & grounds, used 10 awg for the fan leads, and permently wired the fan on its 'high' setting. When the engine is off and the fan is running the temp goes down.

Looking at the pics of my setup, should I fabricate a shroud to cover more of the radiator?

If I haven't missed something and this fan just isn't pulling enough air to keep the car under 200° in the FL heat at stop lights then I'm going with GTO44's recomendation of the Flex-a-lite 298.
Click to expand...
When you say the above do you mean to the Lower Rad Cap Opening or where ?
Usually our old cars do not have a closed system and therefore the Coolant should not be filled up all the way
there should be Space for the the Coolant to Expand as it gets Hotter
I cover the Fins/Tubes in my DF Rad so that the Coolant Level is down/at a 1" to 1.5" from the Lower Rad Cap Opening

I would replace that Top Hose from the Intake to the Rad with one that does not Kink

I change the Coolant twice a year on my 67 and a 50/50 Mix is too much AntiFreeze
I do a 30% Antifreeze so the Water Pump gets Lubricated enough
& 70% Water for best disbursement of Heat from the Coolant

In MHO that 298 Flex- A - Lite Efan Shroud is the best you could find if your Rad Core is equal to or close to
the 17.5" Hi x 27.5" Wide
 
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#94 ·
clutch2k3 said:
@GTO44 where do you tuck away the 40 amp fuse holder on chevelles/elcos for the flex-a-lite VSC? Maybe behind the battery?
Click to expand...
Thats exactly right. Behind the battery just on the inside of the tray is where i put it for the chevelle in post #2. Here’s a pic:

Image



One thing to mention:
This install was from 2019. Over the last couple years i’ve switched to using a breaker setup vs the big maxi fuse that’s included with the kit.

The reason being, if for some reason the fans over heat or you get a temporary short, the fuse will pop. This could leave you stranded on the side of the road if you dont have another Maxi fuse handy.

A breaker will serve the same purpose to fuse and protect the circuit but will automatically reset as soon as the breaker cools off. Usually just a few minutes or less and you have your power back. No need to keep spare Maxi fuses in the car.

Looks like this:

Image



you can get them at all the local part stores… here’s the link to advanced auto for reference.



**Also disregard the timeslip pic attachment… it added accidentally and i cant get it to delete… it was one of my customers first 9sec pass lol
 

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Discussion starter · #95 · (Edited)
@GTO44 what did you use for gaskets on the radiator-side of the shroud? Car door gasket or something? does the radiator come with that stuff?
Edit: Never mind, I see that it comes with the gasket.

btw shipping is delayed on mine and it's not arriving til mid week now 😪

im going with the 40A breaker too. That Maxi (or w/e) fuse holder is massive. Not sure why they just didn't use a 40A ATC fuse 🤷🏼‍♂️.
Edit: I read this and it looks like the biggest fuse an ATC type holder can handle is 40A. Flex-a-lite probably didn't want to include an electrical component that would be working at the top of its operating range.
 
#96 · (Edited)
Kirk's67SS your right, I was wrong, enjoy...

I have to go over my posts on here. I had Hep C and was on medications for the last couple months that made me feel like I was in the Twilight Zone! I read some of my posts on here and they were so off topic I was surprised you didn't pull them.

I forgot one of my personal posting rules, we are all on here to have fun and take the edge out of life. It's not about belittling my fellow Chevrolet forum members, it's about enjoying life.
 
Discussion starter · #97 ·
Updates!

tl;dr: My overheating problem was due to an under sized controller and not the fan. So far the Flex-A-lite controller and mark VIII fan are doing an amazing job of keeping this car under 160° in Florida. I'll be upgrading to the FLex-a-lite fan after AC is added to the car.

Apologies to anybody I may have unintentionally P'd off because I incorrectly thought the fan was the problem (@red68chevL)

Since I made a few changes she hasn't gone over ~165° even at red lights on 4-lane roads surrounded by other hot vehicles while in direct sunlight after driving at 50 MPH for 30 minutes in 90° heat (IMO the best test). Since the changes, the temp gauge is cycling between 155° and ~162° and spends more time under 160° than over (the new controller has the PWM feature).

Changes I made
  • Replaced the POS $60 25 Amp Derale controller with a $155 Flex-a-Lite controller
  • Used a 40 AMP breaker instead of the provided 40 AMP Maxi fuse
  • Used a thread-in temp sensor in the intake manifold instead of the push-in probe
  • Changed the ratio of anti-freeze to distilled water from 50/50 to 30/70
  • Tightened and blue-loc-tite'd the "internal" grounding wire on the starter
  • Filled the radiator all the way to the top after the thermostat opened, until fluid started going into the over flow tank
  • Upgraded to a 24 OZ overflow tank
  • Replaced the 650 CCA battery with 800 CCA

I can't stress enough how important a good fan controller is. If you're in the process of choosing one, don't just think about how its going to control the fan, think about the effects of an efan on your entire electrical system, including your starter. I wish I took @GTO44's recommendation from the start. I don't understand how so many ppl are giving the $60 Derale controller 5 stars; I give it 1 star.

The reason I was wrong about the fan causing the overheating issue is because the "internal" grounding wire on the starter came loose at the exact same time as the fan's 30 AMP fuse blew. Since I'm a newb, these 2 problems occurring at the same time really threw me off. Especially since the starter has been working fine for 9 months and I was still able to start the car once after the fan fuse blew.

I used a heat gun and an volt-ohm meter to determine that the Derale push-in probe doesn't work with the flex-a-lite controller because their sensors operate at different omh-ranges. Somebody might be able to get a flex-a-lite probe to work with a derale controller if a resistor is added (pure untested speculation on my part).


Thanks for everybody's help!!
 
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red68chevL
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