WOW!! this is an eye opener on mechanical fans

im blown away (pun intended) by how much power a factory metal fan can kill. in a case like my 200 which has iirc 105hp, this is a huge gain by just going electric. time to put it to the test.

 

Yeah I watched that a couple weeks ago...

I can relate as I remember switching to a fixed seven blade fan from a four on my '64 Galaxie, 390 4 speed... Killed so much power I pulled it off and sold it for scrap...

 

Wow...did not expect that much.

 

Main reason I went to E-fan -SAFETY. The fact it reduces pwr loss is an added benefit. A spinning fan is an "accident waiting to happen". It's worth upping the alt. power to handle E-fan draw -- after all --" what's a limb worth to you".
As a long time RC Aircraft hobbist, I have seen propellers in the 6" diameters do serious finger/hand damage. I wud never go back to engine driven - regardless of cost or difficulty.

 

im eventually going to put a 347 in, but itll be a few years. so after seeing this just to see if i can feel the difference im going to get an electric fan and take the factory one off. im am still amazed that you can lose up to 40 hp just with the original fan. thats huge for any motor but very HUGE for a 200cid.

 

Well I've never seen an O.E fan come apart. But agree they DO rob power, but 40 HP ? The fans on heavy truck diesels take 50 HP or more to turn. So much so the manufacturers started wiring them to engaged with the engine brake to aid in slowing the truck.

 

I saw a guy at the strip removed his mechanical fan and run without it.
so if you want to see if there is a seat of the pants difference, take it off and take a spin around the block......

 

I posted this on another forum a few weeks back as I too was "blown away" by the dyno results they obtained in that test.

Not saying it wasn't legit, but the memory of the Car Craft 400 HP 302 with nothing more than AFR 165 heads and 1.7 rockers (stock HO cam) still sticks in my head with dyno numbers backing that one up too. No one to my knowledge has come close to duplicating those numbers with the same setup since, including me.

 

So to sum it up you could lose up to 30 hp using a fan and with an electric fan you may lose 1 hp due to drag of alternator. With an electric fan you have better cooling and more hp win win situation.

 

The answer to that is simple. The test was done on Westech's dyno. Every engine makes more power at Westech, that's why all the magazines use them. I think it has something to do with the way the earth rotates in that location and the building is right on top of one of the earth's energy lines that the alien ships are always hovering over...

 

going to do this saturday and ill report back. the low hp of the 200 should be a very good test for feel.

 

I'd like to see that a alternator only requires one Hp to spin with a 30A load, I'll bet it's more like three or four... Still far lower than the mechanical fan...

 

One thing to consider also that's 40 hp on a 300 hp engine at high rpm. You not going to be running that kind of rpm.

 

Exactly, a stock four blade fan at maybe 4500 RPMs max probably won't soak up more than 10HP, if that... At low RPM, just off idle it's far less...

 

one more thing id like to know is, does moving air through the radiator at highway speeds help any at all with the HP losses? thats the only thing they didnt consider in the test video. so on ward with my seat of the pants test....

ok so i went to see my parents today and it is 1 1/2hrs each way (58 miles total with some slow areas) (90% freeway speeds and 10% stop and go with a 8% BS factor because i dont math too well lol) .and i kept it at 60mph mostly and sometimes 70 as i usually do.

on the way to blue ridge i ran without the fan. all that was on the front of the motor was the pulley of course and the spacer with the 4 bolts holding it all on. i didnt really notice any power difference at anything below 40, but i did easily notice a more smooth response in throttle. it just felt more fluid and easy to drive.

the biggest and very noticeable difference was anything above 40mph and the faster you went the more noticeable it became. it seemed i gained a little bit of get up and go and it pulled smoother. the biggest thing i noticed was how easy it was to hold my highway speed with almost no pedal. id guess i was pressing the pedal 1/8" to hold 70mph. the up hill pulls were very easy as well and didnt lose any speed at all. another thing that was very very noticeable was when i would let off the throttle 100% to slow my pace for whatever reason, the car didnt have as much engine braking as it does with the fan. usually itll pop your whole body forward when letting off at this speed (3000rpm) but without a fan it was only about half the engine braking it had before. also the engine didnt sound as stressed as normally. im not sure exactly how much gas was saved since our gauges arent exactly detail oriented, but the hand only moved about 1/16 . on the way back it moved about a 1/4 of a tank.

defiantly sounded like it saved the engine from working as hard as before, felt smoother, and used less pedal to make the same run. i will absolutely be going electric asap.