Thread: Newbie Radiator Questions

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Have just bought my first Rod, 1934 Ford Tudor, 350/350.

Had a leak in the Radiator seams (top and bottom) on the engine side which the radiator shop said could have been caused by too high pressure, too high temps, wrong radiator cap, etc. Until the leak occurred, the engine ran just under 180 consistently. This number may be off somewhat as the car has a LED digital display which shows temp as a moving bar graph. He fixed the radiator, flushed and tested it to 20#, looks like new.

I have two electric fans on the front which take up most of the surface area and the "mechanical" fan on the engine which appears to only come up 1/2 of the distance of the radiator. The electric fans turn on when the engine is hot and off when not.

Okay, my questions, dumbest one first, are the outside fans called pushers and the inside one a puller?
Do I need a shroud on the inside fan. If so, is there a "standard" one to buy or is it always a fabrication?
Should I put another electric fan on the inside on the top of the radiator not directly in line with the engine fan?
Do I need shrouds on the front side? (again, most of the area is covered with fans).

I'm confused.

Thanks!

pull the front (pushers) off.
They are blocking the air flow.
Mount a 16" puller on the back side.
? what type of hood sides?
Ya need to get the hot air out.

I would not run 3 fans, 2 electric & 1 belt driven, (one or the other) but why change it if it's running @ around 180? Isn't that what everyone wants?
It doesn't sound like it's keeping the heat under it's hood, cause it's running normal temps.

My .02 worth!

Pat

I work for a cooling company and have found that getting an electric fan centered in the radiator is best, also having a good shroud is key as well. If you can fit a 16" on the inside of the motor compartment(this would be a puller),that would be the way to go.
Some of the electric fans on the market have a CFM rating but they can be deceiving too. We tested some fans and have found that they claim 3000cfm and after they are mounted on the radiator only pull 900-1000 cfm. Its due to static pressure created when the fan is attached , if you hold the fan above your head and turn it on, sure it will pull 3000, but when you apply static pressure to the mix, cfm is greatly reduced.
We have found that Spal fans have the least amount of pressure drop. There cfm ratings are 2750 and at the radiator still pull 2350cfm.

I agree with all that has been said.

Yes, run only a puller behind, 16 inch is good.

A shroud is very important, and easy to make up out of either aluminum stock or sheet steel (18-20 gauge), it should cover the entire finned area so air is drawn across the entire core when the fan is pulling.

I agree also that SPAL fans are very efficient. My Jeep/5.0 ran warm until I put a SPAL on it, never had a problem after that.

Here is how we fabbed up one shroud.........nothing more than a square pizza pan with a 16 inch hole in the middle.

Don

btsave,
I'm glad you found your problem, and that it was not a cooling/over heating problem!

btsave,
"Spoke to the Radiator shop again, what he meant (He's Cuban so his English was limited.) by "too much pressure" was that the radiator itself was mounted to tightly to the frame and hood! When the body flexes, there's stress on the radiator which is why the seem split after I damaged the right fender in the blow out! In a normal sized radiator, such as in modern cars, it's not such an issue, he said, but with one as big as this, with an X-frame, it's an issue. I looked at the mount and will be adding some rubber pads and spring bolts to eliminate any problems in the future."

If it's running at 180, and it doesn't look bad, I'd leave the fans the way the are. After all, 180 is normal temp to run at! The only reason to change it would be for looks, and only if it looks bad to you!!!

Running two pusher fans is not doing it wrong, it's just not the way "some" people do it.

Save the $400.00 plus and put the time and money else where.

Pat

Just some FYI for anyone who is going to use and electric fan.
Do not buy a fan that says to reverse the blades and that will make it a "pusher".....it won't........I know for sure Spal does make a true pusher or puller fan. There may be some others now on the market that do have either or, but I know for a fact Spal does.
I had used a Spal pusher on my pro street car and it worked very well.