Fan Position from Rad
Discussion
When I bought my car it came with a Spal slimline fan. The fan had been cable tied through the rad. Its always bugged me and now the cars off the road I am going to be making up some brackets for it.
Does the fan want to be touching the rad or have a slight gap?
Should I make a cowling. The car currently doesn't have one and as far as I can tell doesn't 'need' one.
Thanks,
Crash
Does the fan want to be touching the rad or have a slight gap?
Should I make a cowling. The car currently doesn't have one and as far as I can tell doesn't 'need' one.
Thanks,
Crash
If possible it's best to have a cowl so that the fan is drawing air through the whole area of the rad and not just the circle swept by the blades. However, you do need to make sure the fan area is big enough, otherwise the restriction of the cowl will limit the ram air flow through the rad.
By far the most important thing is to make sure that hot air coming out of the 'hot' side of the rad can't be sucked back round to the 'cold' side. Raising or lowering the air flow makes relatively little difference (10% loss of flow maybe 1% loss of cooling), but diluting the cold air with hot makes a big difference (10% dilution maybe 10% loss of cooling).
By far the most important thing is to make sure that hot air coming out of the 'hot' side of the rad can't be sucked back round to the 'cold' side. Raising or lowering the air flow makes relatively little difference (10% loss of flow maybe 1% loss of cooling), but diluting the cold air with hot makes a big difference (10% dilution maybe 10% loss of cooling).
Cable ties work yes, but I dont like the way it looks. It really lets the engine bay down.
Been thinking of making a cowling that also allows the air to escape underneath the car, opposed to lingering in the bay.
This will, like you say V8, stop air re-entering. Or am I greatly over-engineering what is a very simple task.
Been thinking of making a cowling that also allows the air to escape underneath the car, opposed to lingering in the bay.
This will, like you say V8, stop air re-entering. Or am I greatly over-engineering what is a very simple task.
Edited by CrashTD on Monday 12th January 11:40
CrashTD said:
Cable ties work yes, but I dont like the way it looks. It really lets the engine bay down.
Been thinking of making a cowling that also allows the air to escape underneath the car, opposed to lingering in the bay.
This will, like you say V8, stop air re-entering and potentially have some aerodynamic advantages? Or am I greatly over-engineering what is a very simple task.
To have measurable aerodynamic advantages I think you need a MUCH bigger fan a la Chaparral 2J Been thinking of making a cowling that also allows the air to escape underneath the car, opposed to lingering in the bay.
This will, like you say V8, stop air re-entering and potentially have some aerodynamic advantages? Or am I greatly over-engineering what is a very simple task.
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