I'm planning to get rid of the viscous drive OEM fan on my 1989 V12, & replace it with a dual setup off another car which fits. Planning on wiring it so both fans are on half speed with a/c on, & full speed when triggered by coolant temp switch.

Can anyone recommend a set which fit nicely? I'm located in the UK.
I've seen the Ford thermo Au setup recommended as a good fit, unfortunately they aren't readily available here.

Sadly there are no scrap yards nearby which are open to the public to look around so I'm struggling to find something suitable.

 

It is easiest to use the current shroud if you cannot find a drop-in unit at a scrapper. An 11 inch and a 16 inch Pacet (reasonable quality/price compromise, Spal are the very best but expensive) will go into the OEM fan shroud. Pull the shroud (which you have to do to remove the mechanical fan) and remove the mechanical fan boss from the engine. You will have to thread the studs it was on a bit, or use spacers as the threaded section of the studs will not be sufficient, these studs also secure part of the water pump casting.
Then it is easy enough, cowl out of car, to fix the fans to it with some bits of bracketry. BUT buy the Pacets with the slimline motors (or any other decent brand, from a scrapper etc etc). There is only about 4 inches MAX depth from the rad to get them into. Also get the fans as close to the rad as possible.
Controlling the fans is not easy. Grant has a demon tweak to use the OEM water pump thermostat, and you can get two stage switches to fit it, if that is what you want; but the smaller always on with the aircon, and the larger controlled by the thermostatic switch works extremely well.
Greg

 

My twin electric fans are wired so the RH is on all the time and the LH is switched by the thermoswitch in the water pump inlet.

When wiring the fans use 2 circuits 1 for each fan do not put them on the same fuse.

Being an 89 you can use the aux fan circuit to power the LH fan and then run a new circuit ( fuse and relay) to power the RH fan. There are spare fuse spots in the fuse panel on the LH side of the engine bay. You can use spade terminals under the empty fuse spots so regular Auto fuses can be used and the install looks like it is OEM.

 

Hi Greg

I could be in on this as well, so if you ever get a spare moment any chance of a Pic to give an idea of how the set up looks under the bonnet/hood.

 

I rather foolishly did away with the OEM shroud as I bought a 12 inch to replace the OEM electric that will not go into the shroud and a 17 inch to replace the main fan. 11 and 16 next time!. Basically, fitting electric fans without the shroud is a nightmare unless, like the Lucky Country's citizens, you can buy an entire rad and shroud combo from a Holden and drop it in.
After various bodges I eventually built my own fan framework to which I attached the fans themselves, and attached the frame at the bottom using studs I welded onto the crossmember under the rad, insulated by those rubber cotton reels used to insulate the OEM shroud attachment holes. At the top it is suspended from the radtop closing panel insulated similarly. In fact it is a really good attachment system, but real grief to design and install the first time. So as I say, stick to the OEM shroud!
The thing to remember is that the aftermarket fans do not actually need the shroud for air-guidance purposes, as they all have finger protection rings round the outside, and these need to be as close to the rad as possible so that the fans suck as effectively as possible through the rad. The rings act as the fan shroud, in effect.
Some pics attached, you can see how close to the thermo switch terminals the smaller fan is, because when I bought it I had not realised how tight the space was from the depth point of view and did not specify a thin motor. The larger fan is the thinnest available, and you can see from that how tight clearance is, and how, if the mechanical fan spindle and bearing casting is not removed, it will not go in.
Finally, before finding out about the WoOZ's demon switching system, I installed a Revotec adjustable switch into the top hose as they suggested. The problem here is that there is not enough hysteresis (ie temp gap between on and off) in their unit for the V12 tophose and this aspect is not adjustable, so it was switching on and off too much in traffic. This was because when you start off after the lights there is a surge of hot water from the engine so fan on, and then it switches the fan off a few seconds later as the cool water comes through from the rad. As I posted earlier, because my bumper slot rad airflow system is so effective, I suffered a bit from this even with the WoOZ's sytem, so I fitted an OEM-type thermo switch into the water pump inlet with a 5 degree gap between on and off.
Greg

 

Wow Greg, that is a pretty tight fit but thanks for the Pics, they've given me something to go on

 

It might be possible to modify fan shroud on XJS V12 to enable fitting this original twin electric fan from x300 (V12 saloon)

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Jaguar-Radiato...-/201380332378

 

Interesting idea!

Many Thanks

 

Great idea, as long as the fans are in some sort of framework, attaching it may not be too bad a job. It is when you do not have one at all the trouble starts. Just the depth clearance issue to look at though.
Greg

 

Hi Greg

This could be the 'Holy Grail'!

What say you?

 

Great if they will fit in.
Greg

 

I dunno.

I just went to the ?bay.UK website, and asked for "Ford Electric Fans", and heaps of hits.

Then I got real adventurous, and I simply typed in Falcon Fan, and there were a few, and one Aussie mob that ships to the UK????.

NO idea of the shipping costs, but sometimes a tried and trued unit that works, the shipping becomes a no brainer, well to me it does.

Just my 2cents after work haha.

 

Completely agree, Grant. Doing that will save all sorts of grief and pain, and what is more, they will do the job for sure.
Greg

 

Are these the correct Ford Falcon fans which definitely fit?

TWIN THERMO FANS & SHROUD ASSEMBLY SUIT FORD AU FALCON 6CYL & V8 9/1998 - 2002 | eBay

I'm inclined to agree that a drop in replacement would be more sensible. I quite enjoy fabricating things but it will no doubt take many hours, hours which could be spent fixing some of my other problems!

Control wise, i'm planning on using a small 12v temperature controller to control the fans on high speed, similar to this one:

10A 12V Digital Temperature Controller w/Sensor Thermostat Switch -40~120°C UK | eBay

They have adjustable switch point, adjustable hysteresis, calibration offset etc so are actually really flexible & work well. I was going to mount the sensor in one of the top hoses (of whichever bank runs hottest I guess) & hide away the controller in the glovebox.

Then I was going to look at having both fans running at half speed when the A/C compressor clutch was on, to keep the noise down. Not that I have the A/c working yet but that's a separate issue!

 

Yes those fans will fit.

They need minimal modification to the shroud. I cut the mounting brackets off so the shroud fits neatly against the radiator, I didn't seal around the shroud.

I drilled 2 holes in the bottom of the fan shroud and inserted grommets. Welded pins (cut M10 bolts) on the bottom of the radiator that fit inside the grommets. The top is held by 2 U shaped brackets that hold the top of the fans to the radiator, the radiator top support holds it all in place. So to remove the fans I only need to remove the top support and the fans come out easily.

 

Here ya go.

A lot of this you will not even touch on, but since you are clever, you can skip whatever is not related.

Cooling system upgrade.doc

As said, those fans are just fine.

 

Excellent info, many thanks for that. I particularly like what you did with the atmospheric expansion tank. Sadly mine has ABS in that location so it probably wouldn't fit.

 

That tank is like your appendix, totally unnecessary. Just remove it and replace it with a short hose from stub down past chassis rail to stop mess from overflow just like countless pre HE jags did.
The thermal expansion displaces about 600ml first time after fill and the tank in engine bay is more than enough for that purpose, it is after all what it was designed for.

 

My car does not run an atmospheric tank, no issues with overheating. As Bax said just delete it. My overflow is plumbed down the engine bay so if any coolant is discharged it runs out and not into the chassis.

 

MAAAAAAATE.

You need to drink more and expand your imagination, Aussie style.

There is always a place with some spare room somewhere under the bonnet. There is more room than most people think when you look "outside the box" as we say.

For example, you could use a universal windscreen washer bottle. Those things come in a few different sizes and shapes.

A wrecking yard (breakers in the UK I think) have all sorts of cars, and if they allow you wander around who knows what you will find.

It only needs to hold a litre or so.

My X300 has a Hyundai power steer cooler, and a Ford Falcon trans cooler, thus removing both of those items from that actual radiator, and reducing the load on the cooling system.