Best Electric Slimline Fan

[b3nson]

I'm going to upgrade my Dolomite to an electric fan in the New Year, any recommendations? Kenlowe and Revotec stuff looks pretty expensive, then there's the cheap chinese ebay stuff. I don't mind spending the money but want a good product!

[ChasR]

Kenlowe fans can be good. On hoopsontoast 's Dolly Sprint it did the job well, and IMO gets away from the poor quality viscous couplings out there. If it were me however I would see what OEM fan would fit from the scrapyard. IME they seem to be very reliable too, snd then use an aftermarket controller or rad switch .

[fordperv]

I'll be honest dude I've fitted those ebay universal electric jobbies to cars for people and they have been more than up to the job, you just have to make sure you fit the blades in the correct orientation to the polarity

[SamR380]

I'd recommend fitting it to suck through rather than blow through if you have the room, you need to get a really good seal around the fan for a blow through to work well. I bought the cheapest kit from ebay and the fan and fitting kit were fine.

[blower]

Personally id have a root around the scrappers

Vdubs such as polos had slim set ups

You may also find a slimline radiator to fit as well ...?

[ChasR]

When one of my SPAL fans was working on the Escort when it had a wiring issue, which is an archetypal slimline fan, it really struggled to stay cool even with the curved blade design. When you look deeper into the CFM ratings it makes sense as to why. When the second one was working there was a marked improvement. Not quite as good as a factory OEM fan but not bad nonetheless. I certainly would not have trusted one on another car as a means of keeping it cool (that is one fan alone).

My XR3i with 1 genuine Ford fan in comparison would cool down within 30 seconds even with it being stuck at a Spanish toll booth during the height of the summer.

On the driveway one fan was OK but during the height of the summer/stuck in traffic the gauge would continue to nudge itself closer to the red...

As a rule of thumb most OEM fans will flow over 2800CFM and that is for 1980s car as well! My Twin SPAL arrangement in the RST will only do 2200CFM tops. However, I have little choice there since space is an issue with a larger intercooler (or chargecooler in my case). However, it seems that with higher CFM you also get far higher current consumption.

You should be able to get a blow through fan for your car .

[Iain]

I've heard of people using mk4 Astra aircon fans I think.

[hoopsontoast]

IME its also important to make sure your Rad/cooling system is OK first, no point upgrading the fan if the rad or water pump is knackered.

My 1850 had no issues with heat, that was with a recon rad and standard fan. The Sprint had an old rad and the Kenlowe mentioned, it was pretty good although did get warm on extended runs.

The TR7 was just no hope, bad rad, standard fan and head gasket failure......
I had endless problems on the Metro with the Temp Sensor for the Rad Fan, even with new stock, I went through a good few as they either broke or did not work, ended up just having it on all the time in the summer and manually turning it off (wired in a switch) in the winter.

Back OT, the Kenlowe was a great product though, worth it in my opinion.

[georgexs]

Dec 17, 2015 23:52:13 GMT ChasR said:

When one of my SPAL fans was working on the Escort when it had a wiring issue, which is an archetypal slimline fan, it really struggled to stay cool even with the curved blade design.

Just an FYI, curved blade fans are less efficient at cooling, but are quieter than straight bladed designs.

[b3nson]

Dec 18, 2015 14:43:17 GMT hoopsontoast said:

IME its also important to make sure your Rad/cooling system is OK first, no point upgrading the fan if the rad or water pump is knackered.

My 1850 had no issues with heat, that was with a recon rad and standard fan. The Sprint had an old rad and the Kenlowe mentioned, it was pretty good although did get warm on extended runs.

The TR7 was just no hope, bad rad, standard fan and head gasket failure......
I had endless problems on the Metro with the Temp Sensor for the Rad Fan, even with new stock, I went through a good few as they either broke or did not work, ended up just having it on all the time in the summer and manually turning it off (wired in a switch) in the winter.

Back OT, the Kenlowe was a great product though, worth it in my opinion.

Yeah, the rad had been re-cored by the previous owner and is now thicker than standard. It actually takes quite a long to warm up and I believe this is due to the bigger rad and the viscous fan not working properly, hence the reason to upgrade to electric. Plus less energy from the engine used to spin a fan around.

[colnerov]

Hi, If it's taking a while to warm up then have a look at the thermostat to make sure it's operating properly. The thermostat not only helps warm up but aids cooling by restricting the flow of coolant round the system by keeping it in the rad longer to lose more of its heat. More so if there is no stat at all.

Colin

[elmotheewokking]

My Dolly is exactly the same with the bigger rad fitted. Takes an age to get up to temperature, even with a brand new stat fitted.
Anyway, have an eBay special 12in fan fitted with a 95°C switch fitted and a override.
When curse word about with the carbs the other night, idled for well over 1/2 hour with the fan kicking in every 3-4 minutes. Not bad on a head gasket killer of an engine.

[drake1994]

mg zr have a really slim set up, mounted by 4 m6 bolts, one in each corner but a plastic housing thats solid, i suppose you could cut it out to aid flow?

[ChasR]

Dec 18, 2015 14:53:29 GMT georgexs said:

Dec 17, 2015 23:52:13 GMT ChasR said:

When one of my SPAL fans was working on the Escort when it had a wiring issue, which is an archetypal slimline fan, it really struggled to stay cool even with the curved blade design.

Just an FYI, curved blade fans are less efficient at cooling, but are quieter than straight bladed designs.

That would make sense ; I think the straight SPALs quoted higher CFMs but not by alot. OTOH the fans are near silent on the Escort.

Dec 18, 2015 17:55:28 GMT b3nson said:

Dec 18, 2015 14:43:17 GMT hoopsontoast said:

IME its also important to make sure your Rad/cooling system is OK first, no point upgrading the fan if the rad or water pump is knackered.

My 1850 had no issues with heat, that was with a recon rad and standard fan. The Sprint had an old rad and the Kenlowe mentioned, it was pretty good although did get warm on extended runs.

The TR7 was just no hope, bad rad, standard fan and head gasket failure......
I had endless problems on the Metro with the Temp Sensor for the Rad Fan, even with new stock, I went through a good few as they either broke or did not work, ended up just having it on all the time in the summer and manually turning it off (wired in a switch) in the winter.

Back OT, the Kenlowe was a great product though, worth it in my opinion.

Yeah, the rad had been re-cored by the previous owner and is now thicker than standard. It actually takes quite a long to warm up and I believe this is due to the bigger rad and the viscous fan not working properly, hence the reason to upgrade to electric. Plus less energy from the engine used to spin a fan around.

Dec 18, 2015 20:50:15 GMT elmotheewokking said:

My Dolly is exactly the same with the bigger rad fitted. Takes an age to get up to temperature, even with a brand new stat fitted.
Anyway, have an eBay special 12in fan fitted with a 95°C switch fitted and a override.
When curse word about with the carbs the other night, idled for well over 1/2 hour with the fan kicking in every 3-4 minutes. Not bad on a head gasket killer of an engine.

If you have the correct thermostat fitted it should be OK. Alot of the thermostats sold for the slant 4s or Stags IME are either of a poor quality or simply the wrong one. The latter can also potentially promote head gasket failure since the bypass hose will never be shut off, meaning that uncooled coolant will always be entering the system.

While I admit it was a Stag it was fine with a new radiator and thermostat come the winter or summer, where it got to halfway and stayed there.

On cars I have fitted genuine certain brands (Calorstat is one) of thermostat with the correct (thick in this case) gasket/seal the car has never overcooled and so far seem not have overheated with a good rad. I don't think apart from 10 years ago with my MGB ever seen an improvement using a QH or First Line item ; Pug 106 GTi overcooled with one as did my Spitfire which was better with the Waxstat item I took out ; I only changed it to make the needle come closer to the middle, not further away!

FWIW the Stag/Dolomite thermostat should look like this:



www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-STAG-TR6-etc-82-degree-thermostat-and-gasket-NEW-TR7-/231637517144?hash=item35eeac0358:g:0jcAAOSwu4BVui~C

Apologies if it seems I am preaching but it is my experience of cheap vs. Genuine/OEM branded thermostats on a variety of cars and in theory if the thermostat and seal is good the engine in thermostat should not overcool, especially in cars with a bypass hose arrangement like the Dolomite. Even with a Davis Craig pump my old Sprint with a new rad was fine with not overcooling .

[elmotheewokking]

No Chas, I totally appreciate the post, it will always be useful to others that don't know. Mine does have the foot however, I've also tried two different temperatures behaved a little better with an 88° stat as opposed to the 82° for summer.
Just a weird one.

[ChasR]

Does it have a jiggle pin or simply a slit for bleeding the air out when refilling the cooling system? IME alot of the cheaper thermostats simply have a slit pressed into them . I never used to buy a thick gasket and use sealant on a few occasions but the last couple of 'stat changes have improved things for the better ; my BMW was horrific when I first got it.

OTOH maybe I am making you worry too much . The temperature senders are a known issue on Triumphs now ; When there were 5 different sensors for the Triumphs there are now around two .

[colnerov]

Absolutely, temperature senders and gauges are not precision instruments.

[elmotheewokking]

Quite right. Unless you swapped it out for a capillary gauge that you've tested...

[b3nson]

I find on mine it takes along time for warm up in the morning, I'm not off choke for about 10-15mins, although that may be normal?!
Once warmed up it sits rock steady at just below half way on the gauge, it creeps just past half way when idling but no further than that. Haven't had it for any 'hot' weather yet though.

[Vintage75]

REVOTEC!
Great quality and easy to fit, and there temp sender unit is miles ahead of Kenlowe.