Electric fan conversion

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Craig Faria

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I own a 54 studebaker pickup that's had a engine swap with a Chevy carbureted 350 and trans from an 80s model pickup. It has a belt driven fan but due to the motor sitting a lot lower than the radiator inside the engine compartment it isn't cooling properly. I want to put in electric fans and want to hear from others who know a lot more on this topic than I do. How and where and what do I need to know to know where I would I get the right set up for this truck.
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Christian Steffen

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Google search lincoln mark VIII fan swap. There is a two speed fan that they used that pulls a ton of air.

If you look around on ebay I'm fairly certain there are kits for sale that have a temp sender and relays ( I haven't looked at the kits too much). The fans should pull more than enough air for your application.
 

Ken K

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Adding can electric cooling fans is easy if you follow some rules & have some electrical background. Do you have A/C? If so, then maybe you want two fans, one to pull in (Engine side), and one pusher on condenser side, if you have room. Donor vehicle in yards provide a number of fans to pick from starting from size. Fabricate your own brackets as those "Zip-Tie" mount can wear thru radiator skins. Provide a good ground and use a star washer. Those fans with two speed use a ceramic resistor to drop voltage from 12.8-14.2 (Fast) to 8-10 (Slow) volts lets say. The ceramic block will be mounted on the fan, near the bottom (For cooling / They get hot also).Most 92 & up Buick Park Ave uses Two-Speed fans. Now you have two positive wires to control. A simple on-off sensor mounted in the water jacket like next to the thermostat is a good place. The two speed is normally computer controlled, so going with simple on-off sensors will take up two spots and require different "Temp" specs. If A/C is used, the engine cooling fan can turn on with the A/C fan using an A/C switch screwed onto one of several high-side ports. The A/C switch is used to control a relay that control two fans. Mount the relay and provide a fuse power (10 Amp) to the coil side of the relays coil, then use the sensor for ground to energize the relay. Provide a fuse of the proper size for the current used by the fan. It can be measured cold turn-on current & then continuous to determine the fuse size. 20 amps maybe normal as cold copper draws high current when started, then quickly drops current draw during continuous fan operation. If the fan is from a donor vehicle, look to see what size fuse they used. If you have a DMM with a "Min-Max" feature, it will capture the max turn on current, the read the current continuous. Note: Most DMM only read up to 12 - 15 amps before fuse blows inside the meter. Use a amp-clamp to start. The sensor requires some research and is either on-off, or for gauge. Do not buy the gauge type. A single terminal sensor goes to ground thru the sensor body to ground to turn on around 210 degrees F, which most coolant gauges will read in the middle...straight up. Note; Fans with a "Curved" fan blades are usually the most quite.
 
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