Windstar electric fan on short-wide radiator

[rhkcommander]

Just fabbed up the windstar electric fan on my short-wide radiator.

Fitment wasn't perfect but it does go on decently. I used some steel plate to make up the size difference, along with a piece of wood on one side.

Using one of the push-in probes on the radiator with a controller off amazon. Does anyone have pictures of the narrow and tall radiator with the windstar fans? I will eventually want to swap to the 4-row aluminum radiators and have some neat ideas for my intake.

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Some of this is temporary, I will want to seal up the gaps further if it will let me. I was surprised how close it came to the power steering, but you'll notice I have a saginaw mounted in there too...

Eventually I want to see about mounting the narrow radiator, offset with some plates welded on to the existing core for spacing. This way I could run my intake and intercooler piping through the space where my plate holds the electric fan currently. Not sure if the height is different but I believe it is.

 

[bike-maker]

Link in my sig to these very fans stuck on a tall/narrow Champion radiator. Or you could come look in person. I'm not far from you.

 

[rhkcommander]

I might have to take you up on that offer, I'm down in Albany a lot too.

Your setup looks worlds better. Now I just have to figure out if I want to swap to the narrower radiator

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Look into the Moose truck, IIRC Mel was running a pair of Taurus fans on it, and they looked like they fit well. Gonna pull more air thru the rad, you need all the air you can get. Windstar fans ain't enough to cool an IDI in your area when loaded heavy, if you think driving by the pyro is bad you're really gonna hate driving by the temp gauge. We have since switched back to mech fan with a pusher on the left side of the rad for those special situations, seems to work well.

 

[Agnem]

As was said, I used twin Taurus 3.8L fans. That's two cars worth of fans. They are dual speed, and are the same height as your rad. The shrouds can be grafted together to provide coverage for the entire rad. Never had an issue with staying cool.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Yeah I bet you got no cooling issues, them Taurus fans are monsters That'd be what we'd be running if the rad allowed it. But we got the tall skinny one, so we get jipped off on both the fan fitment AND aftermarket rad support availability if ever needed.

Actually maybe the Windstar fans would work better if we installed them towards the bottom of the rad, there's a big section there that's blocked from the front by the bumper so it sees very little air flow. So make the fans pull thru that, and leave the upper area open for forced airflow thru the grille. Ah well, too late now, maybe next time.

 

[rhkcommander]

Good to know, I will look into it. The underhood temperature of my engine compartment is a lot lower since I have everything ceramicoated inside and out from the heads to the downpipe, turbo, and everything between.

I had no issues running fanless other than NO IDLING but I never dreamed of towing with it like that. Before ceramicoating the exhaust the thing was a furnace, in the mountains the hood would sweat, sometimes be uncomfortable/hot to touch. Now its nice. Your mileage might vary but I know the temperature underhood is greatly reduced now for me. So far this fan is working fine but I want to add a timer to have it run when I park it for several seconds - right now I just turn the rig off then turn the key on and let it run until the sensor is happy with the temperatures.

As for the bumper, I was thinking I would cut the holes in it like the later powerstroke trucks have for better airflow down low.

as for rad selection, I thought the tall narrow ones were much more commonplace than the low-wides, all of those 4-core champions and rodney reds are based on the tall and narrow i thought?

 

[LCAM-01XA]

DEI used to make a nice cheap timer that would work for what you wanna do.

Didn't realize you got the fancy exhaust coatings going on. Yes that would make perfect sense then that you'd have way less underhood heat to deal with. Tje increased temp differential between rad and underhood ambient probably also works well in your favor as far as shedding heat from the coolant goes.

Good call on the bumper mods, yes those would help with airflow. But throw a big winch in that general area, and it kinda puts the kibosh on all things air-flowy

Yup tall and narrow is better supported by the aftermarket, good point there. I'd still rather have your setup tho, it seems to me that it's better suited for the e-fan use than the tall & narrow...