Coolant Fan: Electric Pusher?

tbryanh · Jul 1, 2012

Lots of good articles on Oilburners for installing electric coolant fans on the engine side of the radiator.

I would like to install one on the other side of the radiator so that the engine is easier to service.

The fan would need to push rather than pull, and it needs to fit between the front grill and the radiator.

Any ideas what might work?

kc0stp · Jul 2, 2012

Ive always been a fan of Ford taurus fans (3.8L V6 from late 80s early 90s) as their abudent at pick n pulls and put out almost unheard of levels of air movement. To get it to run as pusher vs puller just swap the ground and power wires and it runs as a pusher (Ive never ran any this way but I have verified it works).

Dont know if theres any specfic ones for this truck in pusher form but a quick search for Ford Taurus fan conversion will give you generic wiring diagrams (only thing Ive ever converted is the RX7 track car and thats currently fanless so....)

justinray · Jul 2, 2012

To my knowledge, this is unchartered territory, but I'd like to see someone do it, seems like a great idea.

tbryanh · Jul 2, 2012

kc0stp said:
Ive always been a fan of Ford taurus fans (3.8L V6 from late 80s early 90s) as their abudent at pick n pulls and put out almost unheard of levels of air movement. To get it to run as pusher vs puller just swap the ground and power wires and it runs as a pusher (Ive never ran any this way but I have verified it works).

Dont know if theres any specfic ones for this truck in pusher form but a quick search for Ford Taurus fan conversion will give you generic wiring diagrams (only thing Ive ever converted is the RX7 track car and thats currently fanless so....)

Reversable fans tend to have flat blades. Similar to reversable ceiling fans in houses. They do move air, but not as well as fans that do not have reversable blades. When the direction of rotation of a non-reversable fan blade is reversed, the blade does not move much air at all.

I would like to have the performance of a non-reversable blade, so I think I would like to start with a unit that does not have a reversable fan blade. Then unmount the motor/blade assembly from the shroud, flip it over, and remount it to the shroud. The motor would now be on the inside of the shroud instead of on the outside of the shroud. The assembly would now be a pusher instead of a puller, and the whole assembly would have a lower profile (shallower) and would be more likely to fit between the radiator and the front grill. Hopefully the motor would not hit the radiator.

Wyreth · Jul 2, 2012

I've always been told that a pusher does not work as well as a puller. That makes sense, as a pusher cannot have a shroud to give it a plenum affect.

Mounting them with the motor between the blades and the rad would exacerbate that. You could also remove the blade, flip it over, then when you run the motor reversed. That way you get the blade pitch working for you, and the proper backspacing from the radiator. (yes, I actually just finished taking apart my stand fan to test this)

I've helped build a few gassers that would overheat running pushers. I would worry about it moving enough air in that configuration, one you start giving her a workout. Especially if you have a stock radiator, or an AC condenser or IC in front of it.

RLDSL · Jul 2, 2012

you loose insane amounts of performance when usinga fan as a pusher as opposed to using that same fan aas a puller. I've just *barely* got enoughperformance with my fans pulling with a custom rad to be able to tow heavy down here in hell temp territory. Pushers are great for helping ac performance, but if you dont have some real whoppers, they can actually act as obstructions, as far as using them as primary cooling, forget about it.

tbryanh · Jul 2, 2012

Not sure, but the testing done at this website appears to indicate that pushers and pullers can have about the same performance:
http://martinsliquidlab.petrastech.com/Radiator-Fan-Orientation-And-Shroud-Testing-Review.html

This study only considers the condition when the fan is on.

When the fan is off, the shroud of a pusher can be a restriction to ram air; whereas, the shroud of a puller is probably not much of a restriction to ram air. This is probably significant as a pusher fan might run more often than a puller fan as a result. This issue can possibly be solved by using a pusher fan blade that is larger than the radiator along with a reducing shroud. (http://nissanroadracing.com/showthread.php?t=1687)

RLDSL · Jul 2, 2012

You also have to remember the ac condenser and whatever other crap out in front of the rad that has air gaps that when you use pushers, primarily the air is forced through the condensr, but takes the path of LEAST RESISTANCE after that, take a good look at the front of your rad ad guess where that is going to be, trying to seal that up tight with all those exposed tubes would be near impossibl

smokinpipes · Jul 2, 2012

I did a slight mod with a 2001 Chevy Venture van dual-fan unit on my '86... it leaves the bottom half of the radiator exposed, but those little buggers move a bunch of air. They are used in a pull configuration, but they are slim enough they don't impede front engine work. More than enough room to take water pump pulley off if needed, and very little fabrication ... if one has a dill bit, and several washers, and some 4" wide plate steel, can be installed without too much effort in, say, a couple hours.

eastsideauto · Jul 2, 2012

smokinpipes said:
I did a slight mod with a 2001 Chevy Venture van dual-fan unit on my '86... it leave the bottom half of the radiator exposes, but those little buggers move a bunch of air. They are used in a pull configuration but they are slim enough they don't impede in front engine work. More than enough room to take water pump pulley off if needed, and very little fabrication ... if one has a dill bit, and several washers, and some 4" wide plate steel, can be installed without too much effort in, say, a couple hours.

Do you have any pics of this setup?

smokinpipes · Jul 2, 2012

Ask and you shall receive:

This is the first side detail; Here you will note it is flush with the side of the radiator, and the two upper pins (if you get one you'll see what I mean) are broken off.. mine was nicely done for me via a van / deer accident.