Brushless electric fan
 

Anyone using a brushless electric fan from a newer car on there swaps? If so which one. I'm looking for one that fits something around 18x22 radiator core.
thanks

Look up Delta PAG fans. They're amazing. Their new brushless remote mount water pump is every bit as impressive as well.
I really like talking to these guys at PRI every year too. Very helpful, willing to show off their stuff and talk about it all day.

AwesomeAuto,
Delta PAG looks pretty cool. They have really trick products !

18x22 is just about exactly the size of a mid 1990's Ford Thunderbird/Mercury Cougar fan assembly. I know that's not exactly what you're looking for, but if you want an OE fan in that size, that one will probably fit. It's about 3000 CFM on the high speed, about 1800CFM on the low speed, draws under 25A on the high speed, around 10A on the low speed, and it's not a bad fan if you need one in that size. That fan assembly and motor and blades are unique to the 1994-1997 Thunderbird and Cougar, though. Not very wide application, so expect new OE assemblies or even fan motors to be hard to come by.

But it's not from a "newer car" and it's not brushless.

The 18" brushless Delta PAG fan is rated at 4,100 CFM, but when we tested the flow rate it was around 4,600 CFM.
Its very thin, very lightweight, and extremely quiet. 25A full tilt, although again in testing, it was only 22A.

I'm actually considering getting a larger radiator just to be able to fit the 18" fan.

Be careful on the Thunderbird/Cougar fans. The OEM ones are much better than the aftermarket stuff.
Many people have bought the aftermarket ones and tested them to come up with less than 2500 CFM.

I'm not dead set on a brushless fan, I've never needed them in the past as most of my vehicles have ran 140-175 degree depending on outside temps. I would like to run a factory fan as they look better made than most aftermarket stuff.
I know a fan from a 07 HHR is about perfect size but the darn thing is like 4.5" thick, looking for something to give me more room in the front of the 65 nova.

I had twin SPAL's on my supercharged C5, those things moved air like a hurricane.

Much truth in that. Actually, more truth than you may want to acknowledge.

I always try to use an OE fan (and if it's from an older model, get an OE replacement motor for it). They are always high quality units. First, the fan that a vehicle manufacturer installs has to last the entire vehicle warranty period. In addition to that, if a Ford (or GM or Toyota or Honda) radiator fan fails, Ford (the vehicle manufacturer) not only has to replace the failed radiator fan, they also have to repair/replace the damaged engine that results from the overheating from the failed radiator fan. To the vehicle manufacturers, the warranty costs of cheap fans far exceed the price of a high quality, properly sized (usually oversized with a good margin of safety) radiator fan. Aftermarket stuff (especially "performance" aftermarket parts) have a shorter warranty, and if a Spal (or Mishimoto, Delta PAG, or whatever) fan fails, the most you're going to get from the fan maker's warranty is a new fan. There's a lot less incentive for quality in the aftermarket.

Just a side note - SPAL has been an OEM supplier of cooling fans for LOTS of auto manufacturers since the late 50's. That was one of the reasons I have consistently chosen their aftermarket fans for my 'cool' rods.

I believe SPAL makes the factory fan for the 2016 and newer camaro.

And Spal fans sold in the aftermarket are generally of similar quality to what Spal provides to vehicle manufactures as OE fans. That's the one reason that I'll use Spal aftermarket fans from a reputable source (not Chineseum counterfeits) on some resto-mod projects where I can't locate a good OE fan solution, or just to save time and effort in searching. I particularly like the Spal units that come with a shroud and the "flaps" that open at highway speeds, which are excellent design elements that are often present on OE fan shrouds.

Precisely the Spal unit I have on the Volvo - dual 11” fully shrouded with a full-width row of the rubber flaps both above and below the fans. Unit is 20 years old and has performed flawlessly with both thermal-switch/relay control and PWM variable speed control.

This thread is an excellent discussion of OEM vs aftermarket fans. My only electric fan experience (other than factory installed fans in our newer cars) is the Lincoln MKVIII fan along with a DCC controller that I installed in my previous Fox Body Mustang.

I've always felt that the aftermarket fans were inferior to the OEM fans. Part of it is due to the overwhelming positive stuff I've read concerning the old MKVIII fans, Ford Contour fans and 4th gen F body fans. Part of it is due to what I'd heard way back when concerning the crummy, aftermarket "Black Tragic" fans. It sounds like the SPAL fans are outstanding.

I've run Spal fans on all my LS swaps. My LS6 swapped 98 Wrangler has been bullet proof for over 12 years. Novak swap radiator. Single 16" with no shroud. Painless temp sensor in the bottom of the radiator. On at 210 off at 195. Been in 100 plus degree heat with no issues.
I always install the biggest radiator I can fit in my LS projects.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/ls1tech...867a7ccf1b.jpg

For that size radiator, I would consider the C7 Corvette fan. It is rated at 600 watts.

Andrew

My radiator is almost that exact size and I'm running a C7 fan like Andrew suggested. Works really well. Cools both my engine and the heat exchanger for my LSA supercharger.

Here's a couple of measurements for the C7 fan, I'm just trying to figure a few things out in my programming so I haven't run it yet. It's 3 3/4" thick but I shaved it down to about 3" thick.

Sean
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/ls1tech...ea4c580d5c.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/ls1tech...71afe659ed.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/ls1tech...7c4d2ef5bc.jpg

If you're using an OEM ECU this might be helpful:

https://www.tbssowners.com/threads/c...ontrol.241568/

Andrew

Tom Bailey hypes that brand a good bit and rightfully so if it can cool down that beast during multiple drag weeks!


For the average guy without an 526ci SMX in their ride, I wonder how the cooling system is setup to require such high CFM to keep things cool. I run a small radiator (scirocco/pro stock style) with small fan rated under 2000CFM and the thing stays incredibly cool even in traffic. Guessing the electric pump with big free flowing lines with no thermostat has a good bit to do with it, since it ran 15-20* warmer with the OEM water pump assembly in place.