Rad Fans

[notaping]

Anyone updated their radiator fans? Mine are pulling quite a load when they kick in and if at idle the engine drops about 150rpm - which you've got to be ready for or it just about stalls. I've monitored the voltage and have seen it drop down to about 10.8v.

Beginning to unwrap it for spring/summer and always try to replace the current worst item. Last year was an ACT exhaust, and alloy refurbs. This year - fans, I think. There's not much left to replace

I could just go for straight replacements, but wonder if there's a better option that anyone has tried. Cheers.

[jstx]

I replaced mine, but it was a single fan since my car is a non-ac car.
I upgraded to a Maradyne 3400cfm dual fan. I left the one fan closest to the radiator inlet on the ECM and the second fan I wired to a relay and switch mounted in the car. The new fans are so much smaller, more efficient, and far more powerful. The single Spal unit claimed to move 1600cfm.

I went with a Maradyne MSS22K Smart Start, Dual, Electric, 3,400 cfm, 28.5 amps, 10 Blades, 12 in. Diameter, Black Plastic Shroud, 225W Motor

As long as you take the radiator out, the fitment is pretty easy. I think it might be another story if you tried to fit new fans with the rad still in the car.

[Flatplane8]

notaping said:

Anyone updated their radiator fans? Mine are pulling quite a load when they kick in and if at idle the engine drops about 150rpm - which you've got to be ready for or it just about stalls. I've monitored the voltage and have seen it drop down to about 10.8v.

Beginning to unwrap it for spring/summer and always try to replace the current worst item. Last year was an ACT exhaust, and alloy refurbs. This year - fans, I think. There's not much left to replace

I could just go for straight replacements, but wonder if there's a better option that anyone has tried. Cheers.

I've not changed the fans but I did upgrade the wiring so that the TVR loom switches relays which then take their feed from a bigger cable directly from the battery. The ECU turns on the fans at different temperatures (on my car with had AC and two fans...) but I've connected the relays together so that they both come on at the lower temperature. There is a also a switch I've added on the dash to turn them on manually. If I can see a queue of traffic I tend to just flick the switch and leave them running

[notaping]

Thanks. I like both those options. Unfortunately Maradyne does not appear to have an outlet in Europe but hopefully I can source something of similar spec. Cheers.

[mk1fan]

Car Builder Solutions offer a good range of fans with the info you need to choose what best suits.

Flow, push, pull, size, fixing etc ..

[jstx]

out of curiousity this one https://www.amazon.com/Maradyne-MJS22K-Jetstreme-P... says
Amazon can ship to the UK through Amazon Global Store with these options:

Standard Global Shipping to UK:

9-12 business days
$9.69 per shipment + $2.89/lb
Priority Global Shipping to UK:

2-4 business days


The difference is that it is "only" 3100cfm combined. Another idea would be to change out what looks like a 10" spal on your drivers side and refit a 12".
I would guess the 10" straight blade fan would move ~1100cfm and I know you can find a 12" that will move 1500cfm with a quieter s-blade. No idea how much fiddling it would take to fit and make look professional though. I went with 3400cfm because I live in Texas and it's hot, really hot, so I need to be able to move a lot of air.

[Juddder]

Hey Gordon

It looks like these guys will ship to the UK but it was looking at about $422 for the fans + $160 for shipping when I ran a quick check with my address

https://www.jegs.com/i/Maradyne-Fans/303/MJS22K/10...

[notaping]

Thanks all for the inputs.

Alex - I didn't even start looking for someone to ship to the UK. I kind of figured that the shipping costs on something so large would be too much to justify the purchase. But with great specs provided by jstx I can target performance fans available in the uk. Knowing what cfm works in Texas I should be ok in Scotland Also, jstx - looking on Amazon here - they say they don't ship to the uk. Pitty.

I've still do do quite a bit of searching but there is a great range of fans by COMEX available through burtonpower.com. One of their Slim Line combined with a High Power fan would give a similar config to the current setup, with a total CFM of 2360. However, I'm leaning more towards the brushless SPAL - https://www.t7design.co.uk/spal-brushless-radiator... (£318) - for the main fan which is 1804CFM. 2 of those would be great but I don't think the A/C fan needs to be that high powered. Perhaps - https://www.t7design.co.uk/spal-radiator-fan-12-0-... (£160). I can reuse the existing shroud to mount them, and with a few fixings and fittings they'd be good to go.

The current fans do the job of cooling:



It's just the electrical load I want to reduce and the brushless (soft start) main fan will go a long way to help with that. Also the current fans are just about 30 years old - so even replacing like for like would be an improvement.

Slightly side-tracked just now - decided to tackle an oil leak from the engine crank plate at the rear.



Still give me loads of room to get in to the fans

Cheers.

[Byker28i]

First point would be to check or replace the connectors. When I had issues with mine not working/slow running it was because the connectors were all corroded.

[notaping]

That's a good point, however I had it all apart last year when I fitted a new a/c condenser. The connectors were checked and cleaned at the same time.

[jstx]

Fan tech has moved on quite a bit in 25 years so I think it's a very good idea to look into the brushless/soft start technology. It can only help.

John