Electric Fan conversion

[Sniper]

Oddly enough, I was at the Aircraft Spruce website yesterday and saw a continuous duty starter solenoid looking device, but its 12v at 100A continuous.

 

I think Speedway Motors sells a 6v electric fan getting the specifications, especially cfm is tough.

 

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway-6-Volt-Electric-Cooling-Fan,56152.html

[Sam Buchanan]

10 minutes ago, Sniper said:

Oddly enough, I was at the Aircraft Spruce website yesterday and saw a continuous duty starter solenoid looking device, but its 12v at 100A continuous.

 

I think Speedway Motors sells a 6v electric fan getting the specifications, especially cfm is tough.

 

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway-6-Volt-Electric-Cooling-Fan,56152.html

 

That solenoid is known in aviation as a master contactor. It feeds the entire electrical system of the aircraft so everything can be disconnected from voltage source in case of an electrical fire. It uses a connection to ground to activate it.

 

I suspect the CFM of the 6v Speedway fan is kinda weak considering it only pulls 10a @ 6vdc.

 

Thank you for editing the title of the thread, future owners need to be able to find this thread. 

Edited May 18, 2022 by Sam Buchanan

[Sniper]

I agree with your cfm comment, I read in the Q&A section that the 16" fan is rated at 2500 cfm.  My 17" Derale fan pulls 22.5A at 13.5v on high speed as measured with my recently calibrated Fluke meter.  It is rated for 2400 cfm by Derale.

 

There is no way that 6v fan is pulling 10A and pushing 2500cfm.  The 6v fan has straight blades, the Derale has more efficient curved ones. 

[chris 48 P15]

nicley done 

do you know how the flex fans compare with the original blade fan and the electric fan

the 6 volt fan blades are thin can that be how they come up with the 2500cfm less drag resistance?

 

[Sniper]

The flex fans Engine Masters tested performed horribly, IIRC.

 

 

[James_Douglas]

Thanks Sniper, interesting video. I noted that at 3500 RPM it looks like they loose 25 foot pounds of torque and 50 foot pounds of HP. That works out to 6% on torque and 14% on HP.

 

For a 265 of 120 HP that would shave off about 16 HP.  Of course this is more or less as the torque curves of these two engines is so  much different. But the fan RPM is the fan RPM so it should be close.

 

That is why I am interested in taking both the fan and the water pump off and going all electric.

 

James

[Sniper]

I figured recovering HP and TQ not to mention mileage is a no brainer.  The costs wasn't too outrageous, probably $250 total, labor not included.

 

It'll likely not sound like a B29 going down the road either, lol.  Even at full tilt the electric fan is quieter than the mechanical one, which reminds me I need to do a video.  No, I am not going to put the mechanical fan back on for a before and after either.   

[Sniper]

I promised a video so that one can hear how noisy this fan is.

 

This video has the hood up, fan run at low and high speed as well as off so you only hear the engine noises as it runs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sniper]

This video is with the hood down and the fan on low.  The engine never got how enough to go to high speed.  In both videos I am talking in a normal voice.

 

 

 

[JohnTeee]

@Sniper and @keithb7 thanks for all the good information. I've saved a lot of links for products for future reference. As I told Sniper in my thread, I'm going to start with the radiator and then see where it goes, though, I think a 6V Alternator upgrade might be good.

 

Cheers!

 

John