Thermofan, Brand Or No Brand?

[AlexCim]

Tossing up between what thermofans to buy.

Bursons wants 279 + ~40 bucks for a Davies Craig 16inch and thermo

A sponsor on NS wants 165+50+10 for a chinese style thermo http://www.nissansilvia.com/forums/index.p...howtopic=126191

Not sure what to buy, I stand by the idea that for an extra 100 why shouldnt I buy the best, specially with something this important.

Anyway, ill be keeping the shroud and just mounting the fan on top where the current mechanical is.

Can anyone vouch for any improvements of the thermo over the stock mechanical?

Ill post pictures and how to when i am doing/done it.

[Jay95R33]

When I had my R33 the clutch fan was getting a bit noisey so I changed it over to a 16 inch DC fan. I also used the optional temp sensor that mounts in the top radiator hose.

I couldn't get the shroud to fit over the fan so I ended up not using the shroud.

The first thing I noticed was that the motor was so much quieter it wasn't a joke. Could bearly hear the motor when it was idling, but once the fan turned on it was like a jet taking off.. lol The 16 incher moves a lot of air !!

Throttle responce was slightly better. I wouldn't say it was a massive difference though.

The thing I noticed was that the water and oil temps were slightly higher, and in summer the fan stayed on for a while to get the temps down.

Over all, if your standard clutch fan is fine then I'd look at spending the money somewhere else. The standard fan does a very good job of cooling the car down, and if the clutch is OK then it won't suck that much power. It's only when they stuff up they lock up and start to suck up power.

I remember I had to do something with the AC fan too... Ahh, that's right.. I had to wire the new DC fan up to the AC fan so when I turned the AC on the the DC fan would come on too, otherwise the AC would over heat and you'd hear it let off presure (freaked me out the first time it did it !! ).

J

[AlexCim]

I have read up on this and it seems that its a very good idea to keep the shroud, as removing it reduces the overall effciency of the fan.

This could be why you saw slightly higher temperatures?

Thanks for the info, was your fan a brand name aka davies craig or just a generic style fan? Also was it straight blade or curved blade?

Cheers,

Alex

[Jay95R33]

G'day Alex,

Yep, it was a Davies Craig fan and controller. The model with curved fins if I remember right.

I tried everything to get the shroud to fit but it was a no goer The Stagea's may be different but on the R33 where I had to mount the fan to get the shroud to work proberly, it would then hit on the mount on the water pump

The DC fan is also about 20mm taller than the radiator, so I had to cut a channel in the top part of the fan so it would sit flush against the radiator. If the fan is mounted wrong and is warped the slightest bit, the fins will rub on the fan body or the radiator.

The other thing I found with the DC fan is they have a running current of about 18-20 amps, but the startup current can hit 30-35amps !! So use a 35 or 40 amp fuse otherwise it'll blow the fuse when you least want it to blow.

If you can get the shroud to mount over the DC fan on the Stagea then it'll work well.

The other thing to do is to hook the AC fan up to it too, so when the DC fan comes on the AC fan does too (as well as what I mentioned in my first post about the AC fan). This will help cooling.

J