well i have a 92 rs camaro, v8. single electric fan. well i want to instead have a flex-a-lite fan. my question is is this possable?

i now the mechinical fans take like 5-10 hp away but im willing to spare that little amount for a reliable cooling fan. this is my decesion i do not want a electric fan at all, ive had bad bad experines(spelling) with them.

 

you know i would rather do this as well. if i could find a shroud then i would do it.

 

haha glad to see im not the only "crazy" one and thats why i was asking bc if im not wrong then isnt the electric rad and fan at a sharper salant then the mechinicals? and did the v8s even come with a mechinical fan? bc im pretty sure all the 350s had electirc but surely some 305s came with it (90-92 incase they changed the rad design in 1990).

and unless they changed the rad design in 1990 then wouldnt a mechinical fan and shroud work from any 82-92 v8?

 

Wouldn't you have to change the whole front of your engine around? Current water pump pulley turns the wrong way and you would have to change to V belt pulleys as well ? I don't really know, but it seems like a lot unless you are swapping engines or something? I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong...

 

Good point. Swapping to a mech fan will not only require a shroud to be efficient ('86 and earlier LG4s came with mech fan and shroud) but the reverse rotation water pump will turn it the wrong way.

 

real easy swap if you can find a shroud from an earlier
third (or can fab one up)
reverse rotation flex fans are avalible or a clutch fan can
be salvaged from a reverse rotation car or truck-stock
shrouds are meant for 18.5"dia.fan(17"F/B shrouds)
I am pretty sure '91-93 caprice clutch fan is suitable,
but i have not actually checked one.
Also i think the upper radiator hose and A/C tubing will
need changed/reworked to clear a belt drive fan shroud

 

i still want to do it.

 

I too would like to add a mechanical fan. My electric fan no longer works so I am in the process of fixing that. And I would like a more reliable fan. Does anyone have any more in depth details and parts that would be needed?

 

my man. so then just adding the shroud i may have to change the a/c/coolant hoses (no biggy) and ya im going with a flex fan. but will have problems with the fan to close to the rad? or the fan to high up for the shroud?

does any one have soem measurements of the distance between the fan and rad? how bout where the water pump is compared tot he rad? like my water pump is bout 2/3 way up fromt he bottom, it isnt center of the rad.

 

Lol thats funny, I want to go from a mechanical fanto an electric one.

But anyway, I just thought id add a small fact i learned in school. You cant use a flex fan if you tow anything of moderate size or larger with your camaro. Because you will have low speed and high RPM's. So you wont be going fast enough to have sufficient airflow to cool the engine at lower speeds, but your engine will need the cooling from the higher RPM's.

I know camaro's arnt the ideal towing machine, but i have seen alot of camaros on this site with tow hitches lol.

 

Actually flex fans are the best for towing-they do not
flatten all the way,they just reduce pitch at high rpm-
still providing lots of airflow(along with some HP draw)
The worse for towing is electric(the small motors lack
the power needed to generate lots of airflow) 2nd worse
for towing at lower speeds is clutch fans(they just
freewheel at high rpm,regardless of temp)
Years ago i did a test of a good flex fan VS my clutch fan
to see if it would provide more airflow to my radiator at
high speed than ram air was providing-it did,even at 80
mph(i placed a spare small electric fan in front of the
radiator and hooked the wires to a voltmeter to recon
the airflow by the voltage generated)
The HP draw of the flex fan was noticable at over 4500
rpm though,so i put the clutch fan back on-the only
thing i do not like about the clutch fan is it kicks up
a lot of dust,some of which gets circulated into the
engine compartment.

 

the hardest part is going to be finding a shroud.

 

Use one from an early 3rd gen. The whole shroud/fan brackets are bolted to the unibody radiator structure and interchange freely

For a WP, use one from any SBC with a serp belt and the fan. Early/mid 90-s including vortec trucks are super common. The fan clutch is just as common and available at any local parts store if it doesnt come on your new WP

All that being said, you're likely going to HATE the mechanical fan because it makes any small engine repair 10x more difficult from being so darn big. A better solution is to fix the electric fan. If you cant find where the problem is in the wiring, replace the whole circuit. Several inexpensive wiring kits are available or you can read a diagram and build your own for under $10. If you simply dont trust the electric fan, tee into the ECM wire and override it with a toggle switch going to ground

 

W/P is the same-will just have to use longer bolts or
studs/nuts.For the shroud you will want one from an
earlier 3rd gen camaro with a/c as some of the non-a/c
cars have a smaller radiator.A firebird shroud will also
work if a 17"fan is used.If a flex fan is used,a 2"spacer
works gives about the right fan spacing.

 

WP is not the same. All mechanical fan 3rd gens used V belt WPs. When serp came around, the WP was changed to reverse rotation. For 3rd gens, they did this and switched to electric fans for just about all you will find commonly

You need a serp WP from a mechanical fan car or you will not get the threaded center section to mount the fan clutch to. A rare few have a bolt on thread adapter, but the vast majority are built into the main shaft which is pressed into the pump assembly

 

thats an interesting test. i think you should of done the test parked, and reved the engine to higher RPMS. To eleminate the ram air, cause my point is that at low vehicle speeds and higher RPMs from towing something. The flex fan wont push/pull enough air to cool the engine in that situation. And also where you towing a heavy load at the time of the test?

Cause what i was being told was that the flex fan straigtens out at higher speeds (higher RPMs, if ur not towing something) to gain back a little HP, and at higher vehicle speeds u have enough ram air to cool the engine anyway so you dont need the fan.

But this is just what i learned in school a couple of weeks ago. But that test u performed is a cool test, I like the idea of it. Maybe ill do it some time.

 

wow lol this took off. but anywas i have a serp belt system...and the water pump looks like a mech fan will bolt onto it but i will double check.

and ya...i use a truck to tow my things haha i use my camaro to go fast

and early 3rd gen shroud, from any camaro...wut bout a firebird/trans am? and how early? lik 82-85? bc i now chevy changed a good deal of things in 90-92

and you guys sure the shroud will fit no problems?

and ya the eletric fan works great, kicks on at 220 cuts off at 180ish cools ok. its just i had 2 electric fan motors cut off on me for no reason cost me 2 motors so ive always been like f*** electric fans...besides that 5-10 HP the fan will use...will just be coming from my soon to be removed non-working smog pump

 

lol ur smog pump? thats a good way to gain the lost hp back lol. how do u know its not working?

 

Watch your temp gauge more closely

Of the 14 3rd gens Ive had, maybe 3-4 actually had both working fans and functional pop-up headlights. Figure out whats wrong with the system and you wont have a problem ever again. Generally its a cooked fusible link, bad thermal switch, or poorly modified wiring from a failed attempt to remedy the first two

FWIW several articles have been done with back to back dynotests using a mech fan and electric. End power gains were negligible. I can tell you now the smog doesnt draw much of anything

 

>.>
<.<
>.>
theres no vaccum in the emission system, the cat is litteraly has a pipe tho it, and theres a bunch of blocked off hoses, basicly its there for the look of a working system.

and ya but i just dont want to hassle with the dam thing lol.

and the smog doesnt take much huh? i thought it did, like 10ish HP.

 

I have a mechanical fan shround from my 84 t/a if anyone is interested. I have top and bottom halves.

 

how much do you want for the shroud.

 

>.< i wanted it lol, its my thread. but ya if he/she doesnt want it give me a price plz.

 

Not really sure, only thing wrong with it is one of the spots where it mounts on the core support is broken.

 

sell it to darkmj he needs it more than i do. and i am not a she.

 

well i might not be able to get it right away lol, besides you had 1st dibs. and no insult intened, why i had he/she

 

heck man im sure it is a good price. but i will be looking for one that isnt broke so go ahead.

 

So which is better, I was thinking about ditching the clutch and go to straight flex fan and I also considered going to dual electrics.

 

i have 4th gen fans on mine and it cools really well. was wanting to try the mechanical fan to see what is was like.

 

not trying to hijack this thread but what mods need to be done or is the radiator the same size?

 

do you mean to put on 4th gen fans?? if so you have to modify the fans themselves a little bit and make some mounting brackets. really easy. then get an aftermarket controller.

 

Ok, thanks!

 

Flex Fans [without a clutch] are Dangerous

search the net, you can find all sort of diaster threards where one let lose destroying everything in front of the engine and then shoots through a steel hood into the air.

they are dangerous bad, run a clutch fan or stick with electric.

 

ya i was thinking clutch bc as i understand it the flexfan would spin at the same rpms as the motor. not sure if i want flew or clutch yet, really gona depend on how much room there is.

 

i think it all depends if you buy a cheapo or a good one. i have used good ones for years without problems on more than one vehicle. but now i would go clutch.

 

u can use the silverado shrouds i used the shroud from a 91 chevy truck and the fan. works fine. doesnt go over 200

i wanna go electric now thoguh
looks cleaner and better
i have bought the dual fans all i need are the relays and thermal switch, but i have no idea where to get the thermal switch.

 

autozone. working there i came across these electric fan wiring kit things and it has everything to hook up a fan, the wiring relay and thermo switch. and its like 25 bucks for it. but if you do go there get someone who nows what they are doing. and the 91 shroud fit in correctly? no adjustments or anyhting?

 

You can get the stock fan switch that goes into the head pretty cheaply, but most complain that it turns on at too high a temp.

Any thermal switch, mounted anywhere that works will be OK. If you use the stock relay and wiring all you need to do is have the switch ground the control lead of the relay. Whether the switch is in the head, the water neck, radiator or in the dash the stock stuff can still be used. You can even wire more than one switch to the relay if you want a manual override.

 

You can find lower turn on thermal switches at Jegs/Summit/ebay

If it worries you that much tee a toggle switch to the thermal wire for a second layer of redundancy