240 General: electric fan conversion

hi folks. Just wondered if it was worth doing an electric fan conversion. The viscous fan on the car at the mo works fine and spins freely. was wondering if it was worth it it terms of fuel saving and even freeing up a bit of power, even if it is only 0.000005 hp or summat .
Cheers Buddhy

Oh yes i forgot to ask, are there any cars i can rob one off if it is worth doing?
Cheers again Buddhy

[LankyTim]

Late 940 or 960 have one that will fit im told, but I believe you have to swap the whole rad as the 240 rad doesnt have a temperature switch in *I think!!* Theres a 240 for sale on the forum that has a fan conversion on it, theres a good pic of it too.

It makes the car much quieter and improves throttle response, as well as fuel consumption.

[James_N]

is this compared to the viscous fan (sp?). I quite like the noise of the viscous fan when your going through the gears sometimes makes it sound a bit like an old truck

[alsner]

I love the sound of my viscous fan to and at least you know it's doing its job. Sure they have there disadvantages but I personally wouldn't convert mine to an electric fan.

Ali

[Clifford Pope]

I hate the sound of the viscous fan, so when it stopped working some years ago I fitted a Kenlowe universal electric fan. Apart from the silence, the first thing you realise is what a waste the old fan was. 99.9% of the time a fan is totally unnecessary. Mine cuts in in slow traffic on a hot day, or climbing a long hill. Otherwise it is a shear waste of energy.
Another advantage is the increased access to the front of the engine. If you fit the fan on the front of the radiator you can dispense with the cowl as well.

On a previous car I did a home-made conversion. I took a suitably sized fan off a car in a scrapyard, and used a fridge thermostat with capilary tube to control it. Get one of those Kenlowe bits of rubber with a groove, and you can put the thermostat bulb back up inside the top radiator hose.

I've heard claims from members of the MG club that removing the mechanical fan adds a few bhp, also improves fuel economy a bit. I didn't make accurate enough measurements before to verify that, but if anyone can beat my recent mpg figure of 35.6 on a 100 mile trip (75% motorway, 25% country roads) then I'd like to know what kind of fan you are using.

[alsner]

What you've said there is logical (waste of energy and increase fuel and BHP etc) but I've got over 170bhp and anything to help cool down the engine and the turbo sounds good for me. However if I was NA then I could see the advantages of just having a quieter and more efficient car.

Ali

[brens-s80]

hi buddhy,


I agree with Clifford. I too switched over to an electric fan as I found the noise of the fan when starting up to be very very loud and makes the car sound like a truck.

Now with a electric fan fitted all is quiet and it rarely if every cuts in ,showing how much work the viscous fan did that was not needed.

have a look at my website for installation pics.

http://homepage.tinet.ie/~bpodonnell/brens240.htm

enjoy

brendan

[alsner]

Ok you guys have got me thinking now, damn you What kind of difference could I be expected to see if I converted my 745 TI into an electric fan rather than the viscous unit thats in there as standard? What kind of cost would it be and how hard is it to do?

ALi

Cheers folks for the tips. I'll look into doing the conversion. my wife went on 255 mile round trip this morning to Manchester airport and back. That meant going over the M62 up over Saddleworth Moor.She said the car never even felt like it was climbing any hills and that was also on the way back with 2 passengers and a boot full of heavy luggage. The tank was full when she left and the gauge is showing half a tank now. Can't afford to fill it back up yet tho so i can't work out how much fuel it used.I think it did better than i expected tho. That said, she spent most of the time sat at about 60-65mph and she had two 1/2hr stints sat in traffic.if it's as good on a run as i'm hoping it is then an electric fan conversion can only make things better. Does anyone know of any other cars i can take one off? I know about the volvo and mondeo fans. But just in case i can't find one of those, any others would be most helpful.
Cheers Buddhy.