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Electric Rad Fan Fitting


Iain T

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I'm going to fit an electric fan (Spal) to my Vitesse Mk2. In the hot weather and in traffic it just got a tad too toasty.

I can just about fit the standard fan which is 51mm deep but I would like more clearance. Can I turn down the fan spacer 149481 which is 16mm thick to 6mm and then take 10mm off the bolt? I made a mock up of the fan out of cardboard and it seems the largest diameter I can go is 11" before the water pump gets in the way. However its capacity of 856cfm must be far greater than the crank fan at tickover.

Iain

IMG_20200817_134728_resized_20200817_020826399.jpg

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Hello Iain,

I fitted a Stoney Racing 120W pulling fan to my Mk2 which has the following A,B,C,D dimensions:

12" Pull Type Curved Blade 12v 120W SRU-PULLC12-120W 314mm x 301mm x 65mm x 33mm 1.38kg <9a

The attached diagram shows the location of the letters.

I didn't need to do any alterations, just fitted the fan in situ. Not sure this is of any assistance but the key figure is "C" = 65mm compared to your 51mm, giving the impression you should have more space to play with than I did.

Regards.

Richard.

Stoney-Racing-12v-Cooling-Fan-Classic-Kit-Car-4x4-120W-160W-220W-Electric

 

 

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Richard

I'm not keeping the mechanical fan, my rad is perhaps thicker than standard as I bearly have 50mm from the bolt to the rad core hence the need for extra clearance. 

I'm going into my old works Wednesday so could reduce the spacer thickness or counterbore so the bolt head is flush with the spacer. 

I assume taking the bolt off I will have to put the car in gear, handbrake on to lock the transmission? 

Iain 

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i did away with the mechanical fan on my Spit, but I had problems with fuel getting too hot in the carbs in traffic because the fan only comes on when the engine needs it, where the mechanical fan keeps the air moving around the carbs when in traffic. I soon went back to having both fitted.

 

Danny

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Danny, having both is Nirvana but I can only fit a very small fan in the top nearside (admittedly exactly the right position by the hot inlet pipe) and not sure if the small capacity would make enough difference. I suppose for the small outlay I could try it. 

Mmm undecided..... 

Iain 

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I have a Spal 11 inch sucker fan in that position on my 2.5 Vitesse,it is VERY close to the pulley.I do have an aluminium rad though.(see avatar)

It never overheats but i have an override switch in the cab as well, when it`s really hot outside i turn it on to help the under bonnet heat.

On a standard car i would be checking for blockages in the block and the pump etc.standard should be ok.

Steve

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Steve, 

I have to say I'm inclined to do exactly as your setup as it gives total control. However in my car I can't fit anything without reducing the pulley spacer. As I said I assume this is OK as I can't push the rad further forward and inclining it may help clear the water pump housing but nothing else. 

Iain 

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2 hours ago, Iain T said:

I assume taking the bolt off I will have to put the car in gear, handbrake on to lock the transmission? 

Iain 

If it hasn't been off in ages use a socket with a 6 foot breaker bar that you can walk along and jump up and down. Anything else will only give you torn muscles, apart from an impact wrench which will have it off in seconds. I even jacked the car up on a trolley jack under the socket wrench and long extension handle, which lifted it off the ground without releasing...

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I have a revotec pusher on a gt6 mk2 radiator.  Bought from Paddocks.  I assumed I was buying a puller and was slightly peeved when it arrived..  However, works really well and glad i fitted this rather than a puller.  I have a revotec puller on a tr4.  No difference in cooling.  In fact i would say the pusher brings down the temperature faster.  Damn sight easier setting the timing on the GT6 without a fan in  the way!

Bob

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Ah, I see. Please excuse, my ignorance.  TRs,  spitifres and GT6s are my sock in trade.  I mentioned a pusher as it seems a lot of people dont fancy the idea as it seems somehow wrong to fit that way but there are lots of advantages in space terms for TRs and Spitfire derivatives.

Bob

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On my Mk1 Vitesse fitted the largest fan the radiator would take and cut away some of the plastic to miss the water pump and allow the fan belt to be changed. Have now removed the fan boss and replaced it with a turned down shaft collar held by a shortened bolt and stepped washer to give more clearance to the fan motor.

A straight blade fan is noisier but more efficient than a curved blade fan for a given size.

Regards

Paul

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Hi Iain

I turned down the mounting boss on my 6 by about 10mm to give more clearance between the radiator and fan. I took it off the back and then deepened the recess to fit on the crank. As In was keeping the fan albeit a plastic one In retapped  the holes for the fan bolts. And I took a bit off the end of the bolt I also wedged the radiator to make it parallel  to the front of the engine as the fan was uncomfortably close for my big hands to work around it.

I think I posted about it while back.

 

Adrian

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Iain

On my GT6, I used the same approach as Adrian describes, reducing the boss from 32.5mm to 20mm as per the attached drawing.

This gives about 12mm clearance between the nut and the fan. I figured that if I ever want to revert to the original fan I would just add a spacer (or revert to a spare original boss)

I use a 12" SPAL sucker ref VA10-AP10/C-61A. I was initially worried about clearance to the water pump, but that is fine. I also have an override switch to compliment the radiator mounted fan switch.

Ian

GT6-Fan Boss Mod.pdf

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Thanks all, providing I can get the thing off I was just going to take 10mm off the front face as that seems the simplest solution. The depth from the front face to the pulley is currently 16mm probably because of the requirement of the four tapped holes for the original fan. 

Iain 

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Picture is of my modified shaft collar, 1⅜ from memory, and a flywheel lock I made which fits in place of the starter motor. Fan is a 14in. slim line held in place using 4mm stainless studding with a plastic sleeve through the radiator core.

Regards

Paul

 

IMG_20200818_094443.jpg

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21 hours ago, dannyb said:

i did away with the mechanical fan on my Spit, but I had problems with fuel getting too hot in the carbs in traffic because the fan only comes on when the engine needs it, where the mechanical fan keeps the air moving around the carbs when in traffic.

If your car suffers from this in slow/stationary traffic, consider an extra "fan on" relay in parallel with the radiator sensor. This might be a temperature sensor at the back of the engine bay or a motion sensor (e.g. an inductive/Hall sensor on the output of the gearbox). If you wanted to be really flash it might bring the fan on at a slower speed, perhaps even rising as the temperature increases so as not to sound too much like a modern car to passers by!

Cheers, Richard

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Ian,

I removed the Crank Pulley bolt by taking the plastic fan off and using a bit of right angle Dexion of about 3 ft (from memory) with a V shaped notch cut in it, to clear the pulley bolt head. Attach the dexion to the pulley using two of the fan mounting bolt holes and wedge the other end of the bar against the ground. Now get your breaker bar/socket and turn the pulley bolt head against the the direction of the bar. Worked for me. BTW I have an old Kenlowe sucker fan, which seems to work ok.

Gav

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Thanks Gav, I did manage to make the car reverse by jumping on the socket wrench! Obviously I need more leverage....even putting it in top and with the handbrake on wasn't enough so I'll bring some angle home as a fall back to stop the engine rotating.

Jumped in and bought a curved blade Spal 11" pull fan from T7 Designs.

I measured from the crank bolt head to the rad core and I have 55mm, the Spall is 51mm thick at the centre but I will need to mount it on thin pads so it's going to be mighty close without modifying the fan boss. I need that extra 10mm but then I'm not sure if I can position the fan so the crank bolt is on the tapered part of the fan casing?? But I'll find out Friday...

Iain

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